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Dale Carnegie argues, and I tend to agree (as the loaf who often forgets people's name), that asking for someone's name after they've told you is very offensive.

An interesting tactic.

All of the "referenced" studies aside though, it will be easily identified and called out as positional negotiation and defeated by anyone who's read "Getting to Yes".

It was recommended to me by one of the most skillful negotiators I've had the pleasure of seeing in action.

A highly recommended read for anyone who needs to defend against dirty negotiation tactics :)

the way he talked was straight out of a negotiation textbook, the dude was a master negotiator for sure.

I highly suggest everyone here takes as many negotiation courses as possible; here's a free go-at-your-own pace version I'm going through: https://www.coursera.org/learn/negotiation-skills/outline

edit: an word

Reminds me of this oldie.

The site itself unfortunately no longer exists but gave the following response:

We did not find your word "s3nxuwafyxqquxux" but since you seem to be dumb enough to hand it out to just anyone, take it from us -- it's not safe!

I've been gathering and working my way through this list:

Influence
The Art of Human Hacking
How to Win Friends and Influence People
Games People Play
48 Laws of Power
Art of War
The Precepts of War
Wu Zi On The Art of War
What Every Body is Saying
The Definitive Book of Body Language
The Prince
Scripts People Live
Thank You for Smoking (movie)
The Go-Giver
Influencing Human Behavior
The Mind in the Making
Benjamin Franklin's autobiography
Heroic Leadership
Attraction Formula
Getting to Yes
Mastery
How to Have Confidence and Power in Dealing with People
11 Laws of Likability

The technique I associate with this tactic is something I call 'reminders.' People are tribal at heart; they are naturally very aware of and interested in other people who share their own core values, common interests, or common goals. Trying to bring feuding parties together starts by reminding those parties of their shared values, interests, or goals. Without that foundation it is very difficult to get people to set aside their differences; but once the reminder is in place, and people view themselves as united by those things they share, then they can work most effectively on settling their differences. Sometimes this has to be as banal, basic, and universal as reminding warring parties that no one wants their children to die in war.

Getting to Yes remains a core work on the topic. More currently, you can see these tactics in things that are being said regarding the Russia/Turkey situation, as well as the Palestinian Authority/Israel situation.

www.state.gov is a sort of real-time documentary snapshot of what American folks are doing worldwide along these lines and it is always an interesting read.

Gustavo Fring from Breaking Bad.

He uses strategies from "How To Win Friends and Influence People"
He has a mask of being an outstanding citizen, philanthropist, and donates to the DEA while having a drug empire of his own.
Keeps the head of DEA very close to him, even goes to his family cook-outs.
Uses indirection to deal with conflicts.
Is very patient and doesn't make decisions due to emotions.

watching some police interrogation/confession videos lately I recognize a number of patterns in questioning a suspect. Let them think you know certain things about them (social media) and you want to hear their side of the story.

Leaving a captive alone for a while gets their thoughts going over all the possible things you could know about them. Usually an interrogator will take sides with the suspect, creating a (sometimes fake) sense of security. Offering positive outcome of the situation if they come clean.

PS. I hope it doesn't turn out like any of These experiments...

IMO, Models by Mark Manson is better and more geared towards honesty and true confidence, not just some fake alpha bullshit.

from http://www.reddit.com/r/PullTheStrings/ :

48 Laws of Power
The Craft of Power
The Prince
33 Strategies of War
36 Stratagems of War (better than 33 Strategies book)
Influence: Science of Persuasion
The Composite Persuasion
One Sentence Persuasion
The Forbidden Keys to Persuasion
Never Eat Alone
Yes: 50 Scientifically Ways to Get Someone To Say Yes
92 Tricks: How to Talk to Anyone
How To Win Friends and Influence People
The Art of War
Book of Five Rings
Social Engineering: The Art of Human Hacking
The Art of Manipulation (Sparkman)
Animal Farm
Pitch Anything
Straight Line Persuasion

These are what I've got

Body Language and Microexpressions:

What Every Body is saying - Joe Navarro
The Definitive Book of Body Language by Barbara Pease and Allan Pease
Unmasking the face - Paul Ekman
Telling Lies: Clues to Deceit in the Marketplace, Politics, and Marriage, Third Edition by Paul Ekman
Nonverbal Communication: Science and Applications by David R. Matsumoto

Persuasion

Influence by Dr.Cialdini
Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive by Robert Cialdini
The Little Red book of Sales - Jeffrey Gitomer
Fascinate: Your 7 Triggers to Persuasion and Captivation by Sally Hogshead
Predictably Irrational - Dan Ariely (He's got a course on Coursera coming up and a few TED talks)
The Sandler Rules: 49 Timeless Selling Principles and How to Apply Them by David Mattson
Sandler Success Principles : 11 Insights that will change the way you Think and Sell by David Mattson

Elicitation

Confidential: Uncover Your Competitors' Top Business Secrets Legally and Quickly--and Protect Your Own by John Nolan
Introducing NLP: Psychological Skills for Understanding and Influencing People (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) by Joseph O'Connor and John Seymour [I'm skeptical about NLP but there are some brilliant methods here on asking questions in a way to elicit information. Lot of therapists seem to use these techniques. Not a believer yet on the whole influence / hypnosis part of NLP though]

Other

Social Engineering: The Art of Human Hacking by Christopher Hadnagy and Paul Wilson
The Art of Seduction by Robert Green
48 Laws of Power by Robert Green

Websites

www.social-engineer.org [big fans of these guys...check out their podcasts]
http://www.socialpsychology.org/
http://www.psychologytoday.com/

Reminds me of that time when that guy accidentally deleted the Toy Story 2 movie by issuing the wrong linux command..

> Topics include: Intro to social engineering, exploitation lifecycle, digital information gathering, targeting, digital profile reduction, psychology of social engineering, elicitation, pretexting, cold calling, bypassing physical security, post exploitation, binary evasion and more. > > Tools include: Kali Linux, Social Engineering Toolkit (SET), Google, Maltego, Scythe Framework, Recon-NG Framework, Creepy, Portable Virtual Box, Metasploit, Hyperion & Veil

https://www.cybrary.it/course/social-engineering/

There a lot of SE forums out there but most are outdated or not dedicated towards social engineering or just contain outdated/overused methods of getting things for free (most illegally).

If you really want to learn the art of manipulation you're better off reading a book so you can gain an understanding on how people work/react/think so you can easily manipulate them. A good starter would be " How To Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie.

Much of this list is from my booklist that I made in another thread - just want to point out that Six Easy Pieces, Seeking Wisdom, Propaganda, Meditations, The Black Swan, Brain Rules, The Malcolm X Bio, Predictably Irrational, Language Intelligence, A Guide to the Good Life, and How to Be a Gentleman are NOT books about manipulation. They're good books, but not manipulative. Also add Games People Play to this list.

I attribute it to my father.

I used to hide under the couch rather than meet new people - so my father worked with me on this. He got me books on the subject (I was a bookish kid) like "How To Win Friends and Influence People" (really good book). He taught me public speaking, and encouraged me to do my magic tricks for people.

Also, Dad was awesomely well-informed and I've tried to keep that up.

I have never owned a television, and so I've always read a lot. I recommend this.

I also have to say that a good part of it is simply not out of my control - I'm a cheerful person for the most part and that conveys.

The key think above everything is caring about people. It makes life more intense - more sad in many ways, because there's a lot of grief out there, but also more beautiful. I'm actually interested in people, and it conveys.

Instead of just writing off Tor, it's better to understand the issues a bit more clearly - you can't really have privacy or security on the modern Internet without a good understanding of the technicalities. See the Tor FAQ entry Can exit nodes eavesdrop on communications? Isn't that bad?

Obviously it is.. I just thought that the date on Amazon and in Mitnick's tweets were the correct date, obviously the publisher pre-released it.

https://twitter.com/#!/kevinmitnick/status/50948640755302400

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion - Robert Cialdini amazon

Not all of them are what I would call "attack language". But even with "we have to talk"; everyone in the world knows that has a bad connotation. You are definitely going to bring up some anxiety once those words leave your lips.

Again, if thats what you are going for then great. And that one might not sabotage further efforts. But again I question: whats the point? I mean, if you just want to hurt someone or make them feel bad, is that the ultimate goal? If so, use them. But don't use them thinking you are engineering some social situation. With most of these you are probly just breeding some social enemies and sabotaging your future efforts.

That's my opinion. Personally, I get much more satisfaction from blending into the crowd so they think I am one of them or they are in on something with me. Dale Carnegie wrote (in How To Win Friends and Influence People) a whole chapter explaining why this kind of behavior will get you nowhere with people. He was correct, IMO, based on my experience.

When I think of socially engineering people, it's usually using flattery, flashing smiles, playing up their strengths, exploiting their weaknesses, and offering them perceived value to get my way. I also think of gathering a buttload of information to use for background, in most cases.

Just to elaborate on my views. I am not saying there is no place for the stuff in your OP, I am simply saying you will be shooting yourself in the foot if your end goal isn't to make somebody feel bad.

Edit: Consider this - What will you do when the person you pull those phrases on decide to tell other people what you said? It could sabotage all your social work. If you are crafting a persona and it doesn't include this stuff (and if it has an effect, its probly because you havn't been talking like that, thus it probably isnt included), you have to assume someone is going to blab to everyone else about this new side of you.

Stop saying "uh" and "um"

It's annoying and gives off the impression that you're nervous, lack confidence and probably not an expert in whatever you're talking about.

Here's a free public speaking class on coursera:

https://www.coursera.org/course/publicspeak

The info was decent though, for beginners that is.

MailTrack.io is a simple Gmail/Google apps plugin that will let you know when others read your messages. Viewed as unethical but not something to use everytime of course. I have noticed, most e-mails are read very quickly.

I like it. It goes over a lot of different subjects. I’m reading the fourth book out of the 10 on persuasion. It feels tbh like I should read a separate book on each subject for more information.

But like I read the books on body language, NLP, and a couple of other things. This stuff is very good.

I think a sales training would help me also tbh as well as be more effective because I would learn to do it at an advanced level and get higher levels of skill as well as correction on my mistakes.

Here is a link to the Dark Psych book I am reading:

https://www.amazon.com/DARK-PSYCHOLOGY-Persuasion-Manipulation-Intelligence/dp/B092XGRNC8

The first book is kind of an intro to the other books. I think I may want to read separate books on each of the areas discussed in this 10 books in 1 book. It would be more effective probably.

There are three strategies when it comes to giving. You can be a:

Taker
Matcher
Giver

You should apply the strategy that will give you the best results in the long run. Each person is different, and you can't be sure how any single individual will act in the future. But in the long run things average out, and one strategy will give better results than the others.

According to the book Give and Take the givers win out in the long run if they're aware of Takers. You will gain more, on average, by giving without making it explicitly transactional, as long as you avoid people who deploy a Taking strategy.

Men of /r/SE: Have you a deep voice to start with or is it kinda mid-range? Would you recoil from acting coy, flirting, or otherwise toying with nerds libidos, or relish it with an evil grin?

If so, i may have found the product for you! **MorphVOX Pro for Teamspeak servers; you could pimp out 3 characters to make bank.

With a little tools, acting, and the power of eeeevil, you too could be swimming in E-Sugar Daddies for the profit of your Main.

48 laws of power is a great book. It really helps you read the reality that lies beneath the surface, and almost lets you (pretty accurately) predict the future in certain situations.

However, I'd add one more book to your list: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

The 48 laws gives you a lot of tools to defend yourself and cut others down, but the 7 habits helps you get the most out of your own principles. It's more generative than strategic, which makes it an important piece in personal/business philosophy.

48 Laws of Power The Craft of Power The Prince 33 Strageties of War 36 Strategems of War (better than 33 Strageties book) Influence: Science of Persuasion The Composite Persuasion One Sentence Perusasion The Forbidden Keys to Persuasion Never Eat Alone Yes: 50 Scientifically Ways to Get Someone To Say Yes 92 Tricks: How to Talk to Anyone How To Win Friends and Influence People The Art of War Book of Five Rings Social Engineering: The Art of Human Hacking The Art of Manipulation (Sparkman) Animal Farm Pitch Anything Pitch Mastery *** Straight Line Persuasion Spin Selling The Ultimate Sales Machine

How To Win Friends and Influence People is a great book about exactly what it's title implies. It mostly focuses on business relationships. It's not exactly what you're looking for, but a valuable read nonetheless. Good luck.

I agree that manipulation isn't always bad. It isn't. We manipulate things all the time, every day. We're manipulated by external things on an average of more than 300 times a day. It's just common practice. Totally get that.

But your idea to cozy up to rich people and manipulating them in a good way to get both of you rich is pretty ridiculous. No offense, I hope. Just trying to help. Unless you have a specific idea how you plan to do that - not just a vague idea - it's not going to work.

You don't need rich people to become rich. You need discipline and time. That's it. And if you want to improve your odds, you need to learn everything you can about how money works.

To start, read The Richest Man in Babylon. You'll find a pdf by doing a google search. It's free. Or if you want to get to the gist of things, basically you have to save 10% of your earnings and then put those earnings into an investment that gains interest. Pretty simple? It's not, actually. It requires discipline. But it adds up.

I would guess you're a young person, probably a guy, but that's just a guess. Read I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi. Listen to the Khan Academy Banking and Finance lecture.

When you're done, PM me or something and I'll give you more ideas for becoming wealthy. In the meantime, it sounds like you might want to consider becoming a broker or a financial advisor if you really want to cozy up to rich people and make mutually beneficial transactions that improve your pockets.

Thinking, Fast and Slow touches on the concepts. I also recommend everything by Malcolm Gladwell.

Edit: I first heard about Game Theory from this History channel show, The Next Nostradamus.

In simple words, hit where it hurts. Use humor to target their vulnerabilities. If it doesn't come naturally to you, you will have to get in a "plotting" state for a while.

But pushing people's buttons deliberately is not a habit you should develop. Unless you have a strong reason, avoid it. It will only push people away from you.

Tangent: If you are really curious about the big picture, read The Art of War by Sun Tzu.

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

In terms of further reading, I think the recommendations above are all good starting points. The researcher of this latest study, Jay Olson, says he was inspired by Nudge by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein - which is an excellent on the subtle ways we can be influenced.

You're welcome. A lot also depend on your personality and the personality of your customers and their state of mind.

Try various things, change things up and see what works.

Check out Dan Ariely's book Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions.

Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases by Daniel Kahneman, Paul Slovic and Amos Tversky

Heuristics and Biases: The Psychology of Intuitive Judgment by Thomas Gilovich, Dale Griffin and Daniel Kahneman

Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein

Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely

Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

The Black Swan: Second Edition: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

I'm new to this sub, but I'll try to give a reasonable answer.

First, you have to be willing to do what it takes. You rightfully think 'I'm a collegiate athlete, I'm used to hard work.' And I'm sure it's very true. But with people, the hard work is in reserving judgement, and being a good listener. Look at things from other people's perspective, and genuinely try to convince yourself that they're right.

Talk to him and tell him that you know you've had issues and disagreements before, but you've seen the negative impact it's having on your relationship and team. Be humble, and far above all else honest. Tell him you'd like to learn everything you can from him as both a better athlete and as a leader, because you want to be captain after him but only if you know you're the best.

For it to work you'll have to listen to what he says, and follow through. Don't offer your opinions unless he EXPLICITLY asks. Never correct him, definitely never insult him. If you haven't, read the book How To Win Friends and Influence People. Follow it's guidelines, even the part about taking notes and keeping a log.

The benefits to this are incredible. Not only will you undoubtedly learn a lot about him and about being a leader, you'll learn plenty of life skills to use. But the key is you have to honestly want to be captain enough that you are able to want to learn from him.

One of the best easy principles: Never criticize, condemn or complain.

tl;dr tell him what you told us, and that you want to change and learn what you can from him. Be honest about that, and follow through with his advice.

Not necessarily true. Milton Erickson was a genius of passive hypnotic techniques and one of his main physical particularity was a crippled leg due to polio. If you don't accept your weaknesses and even showcase them you lose a good lever on other people. (Read The Art of War for some insight on that matter.)

These Are not actually SE books, still they are very good readings on topic of persuasion and negotioation psychology:

William Uri: Getting to Yes. (harvard negotiation course)

William Uri: Getting past No.

EDIT: also, this is very cool list of related books.

FYI I'm an Filipino-American having lived in both countries. The touching is so true about the USA. We are conservative there. Indians get right up close to you since parts of that country are so crowded. The head nod always gets me.

I actually don't find most Americans friendly. Small talk and surface level convo sure. But anything deeper is reserved from a BnB or meeting 2. Maybe it's because I am dark skinned and we are under the Trump administration. Maybe technology can isolate us and atrophy our social skills if we let it. Maybe it's the political divisions we are facing now. But I've been to all (50) states. I spent (7) months in the Deep South. I've lived in some for over a month. I am a gregarious guy and I've found it hard to make friends.

Our country is so diverse that it's tough to vibe with everyone.

I have found it the hardest to meet people cold in a coffee shop or tour group. Concerts usually don't lead to a solid friendship. It's better if its a spa, yoga class, shared activity from Meetup.com, etc.

I encounter the "two trains passing by at night" effect where I BnB. The first night always becomes some inappropriately deep conversation you would never tell a stranger in a bar or your hometown. Then the subsequent nights are normal conversation. I feel that's a common phenomenon.

I thought chris hadagnys book was a good introduction. There are also countless talks on youtube he taped.

https://www.amazon.de/Social-Engineering-Art-Human-Hacking/dp/0470639539#:~:text=Social%20Engineering%3A%20The%20Art%20of%20Human%20Hacking%20does%20its%20part,critical%20information%20within%20its%20pages.

Have you ever the The Wave by Todd Strasser?

From what I remember, this teacher uses some kind of Hitler Youth techniques to manipulate his students. I read it a long time ago so that synopsis may be grossly inaccurate.

Shadow goverment you say !

>Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism [social engineering] of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edward_Bernays

>The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society.

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edward_Bernays

Now we are in the field of socio-political social engineering and not security (or even interpersonal relations). While both are related and are (somewhat) interchangeable, it is important to remark their differences both in scope and objective.

Your site looks a little bland and it doesn't seem like it offers much to the customer. Nice style of course but people want to see it in action. How am I going to purchase something if I don't even know what it does or how it works? I suggest making a youtube video of it and/or giving people a trial for like half an hour? Look at Shodan for example. That has a nice style and looks interesting. Hope this helped a bit.

http://www.yesware.com/blog/cold-calling-strategies/

1 and #2 on this list work for me. Within thirty seconds or so, I can pretty much do anything.

If you are looking to become extra chatty, caffeine works wonders.

And when you drink something it usually passes through and around your teeth like mouth wash and toothpaste, which you don't drink or ingest.

It only affects the enamel which is the outer layer of the tooth which is not in contact with the bloodstream.

https://www.webmd.com/oral-health/guide/fluoride-treatment

This article reads at an 8th grade level, and receives a "good" readability score from the Hemingway App(a popular and proven analysis tool for the quality of written content).

For some reason, in business talks whenever I ask "how does that sound to you?" I always get 'Yes'. Of course, I have to 'build up' things before asking.
BTW: is this the 2nd book you're talking about? https://www.amazon.com/Influence-Psychology-Persuasion-Robert-Cialdini/dp/006124189X

I'm not a natural at it either, so I can only advise to learn it from people who know better:

On how and why to build a network: Reinforcements: How to Get People to Help You by Heidi Grant.

On networks influencing job selection and career advancement: The Meritocracy Myth by Stephen McNamee.

Good luck.

My friend, you need this book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Assertiveness-Step-Overcoming-Common-Problems/dp/0859699250

The issue you will have in any aspect of your life is assertiveness - being able to speak your truth confidently without taking on any guilt of rage for others and how they react. Simply by better understanding what assertiveness is and how to foster it in yourself you will grow in all the other areas of your life.

Other books may offer systems or quick, easy answers. I recommend looking at counselling and soft psychology books as routes to improving yourself directly without the worry that someone is trying to sell you something that works for everyone.

It will talk effort and some deep introspection, but it will be worth it! DM me if you'd like to talk more :)

It's coming to Android as well:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.LighthouseGamesStudio.PrankCallGame

Hey, just wanted to let you know that we've launched Nurture if you'd like to give it a try :) A lot of users have said that its been more effective than calendars for them
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.devemperor.projects.ezchat&hl=en_GB

Hey, just wanted to let you know that we've launched Nurture if you'd like to give it a try :)
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.devemperor.projects.ezchat&hl=en_GB

Thanks. Truth be told (re: peeling back the onion) those same people and groups have had at least 70 years, to establish many barriers to thwart those type of efforts. Front organizations, cut-outs, middle-men, NGO's, non-disclosure agreements, national security, (secrecy oaths), bribes, payoffs, blackmail ... you get the idea. Every decade, for the last five decades, the general population (forgive my honesty and bluntness) has become dumber, less informed and more reliant on the social engineering platforms (TV, Movies and Social Media) to tell them what to think, how to behave and what to feel. I HIGHLY recommend this book to understand our plight, much better than you'd care to (but MUST) understand: https://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Men-Anthony-Napoleon/dp/1621377288

https://www.amazon.ca/Hooked-How-Build-Habit-Forming-Products/dp/0670069329?SubscriptionId=AKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q&tag=duc12-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=0670069329

Because if you had read any of his books - but most especially 48 Laws of Power - you'd recognize the authoritative measure of the book. It's packed with insightful stories and quotes, there is no volume written that comes close. I mean, honestly - what book do you think is better?

Go find a Social Engineering thinker, like an author or a blogger, who wants to denounce 48 Laws Of Power. Instead if you do any search on this topic at all, you'll see universal praise.

48 Laws of Power is as much of a cornerstone as How To Win Friends and Influence People - and HTWFAIP is, in the author's own words, "common sense", yet we can all adore that book. Maybe it's because even though things are "common sense", it takes a skilled author to interpret the unwritten common sense into prescription.

Firstly, I do agree with you that many people here are idiots in the sense that they literally haven't done any work for themselves. Looking at the front page, half of the topics are those which can be answered by reading HtWFaIP.

Mainly, thanks for the future recommendations. I'm going to get into reading more books as soon as my finals for college are over. I was planning on reading things like Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, and some books recommended by famous entrepreneurs.

Thanks for including other things I should look into. I definitely will, because I want to keep improving.

Like KeenJAH said:

Change up your style! Wear perfume Read books: The Game, Models by Mark Manson. Become more attractive

Now, start talking to other people, this is a long term game, make other people fawn over you. Sooner or later she will want to do the same.

> On a side note, we should have a sub dedicated to questions and advice on how to influence someone. On another side note, it seems as if a significant fraction of people here are 'psychopathic' pre-teens trying to feel cool.

Yeah, there's been at least 3 different subs that have spun off of /r/socialengineering because the content here is so terrible. Unfortunately we practitioners haven't been able to contribute content enough to the other subs and keep them alive.

My latest proposal was to do a sub dedicated How To Win Friends and Influence People (perhaps, /r/htwfaip) - with the premise of the sub being that the moderator team would simply delete any questions that are covered in the fundamentals of that book. But, we'd still have a lack of submitted content.

I just finished this morning! It was incredible, easily one of the most interesting compliance books I've read. I'll probably get to The Art of Deception one day, but next on my list is "Thinking, Fast and Slow"

I intend to start "Predictably Irrational" by Dan Ariely soon. I have watched some parts of his online course at Coursera (too bad there are no new sessions yet) and it seems there are some similarities between what Ariely and Cialdini teach.

Robert Cialdini - Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion + Influence: Science and Practice

Getting to Yes

Spy The Lie

Everything by Paul Ekman, especially "Unmasking the Social Engineer"

Social Engineer: The Art of Human Hacking

No Tech Hacking

I got a suggestion: Contemplate the things people are trying to push you into accepting. Really do. But from a worst case scenario. Try to nitpick them to hell and back. Find all the flaws in them. Then do the same in the rest of the options. Really weigh everything. And be prepared to accept when other people are right, and acknowledge them for being right. And remember the instance.

That way, when you disagree with them, it will have a greater impact, and if they tell you that you always disagree with them (trying to shame you into agreeing now) remind them all the cases where you actually agreed.

In short, be right. Always be right.

And when you're wrong but it doesn't harm you, admit you know you're wrong, and that you're choosing that course on purpose.

Usually advice comes for things that resolve a long way ahead, and if you don't follow peoples' advice they'll scold you. Just tell them that time will prove if you're right.

In general, you value other peoples' opinions, but you value your own more. Drive that point home, with a calm voice, repeating it as many times as it takes to make it clear.

Other than that, you could really use some philosophy tutorials. Go hit The Republic by Plato, it's a great conversation trainer. Also learn the Socratic Method and how it works. Both great conversation tools.

Get a read of this guy's books too! "Getting to Yes" and "Getting Past No" are just great. Especially the latest one.

Oh, I am sure you could get an edge on other candidates through elected pity. There's also other applications as well. For example, if you have anything that could hurt an opponent's reputation it could also be used to gain an edge. (Even if it's just planting a bad idea about the person in a co workers head.) If you make your competition weary of you, pretending to attack when you aren't actually planning on doing anything will cause complete chaos. Any chaos under your control is the best kind.

Have you ever used any of The Art of War's guidelines to get yourself ahead? How did it work out for you?

Or a camera button that you replace a shirt button with. Here's an example. I don't know about camera glasses, but this'll probably be less noticable.

I feel like your question is geared towards the validity of this book. I read it and it helped me.

Really honestly, if you want to learn how to practice shit like this read The Rules of The Game by Neil Strauss. It's a book designed to impart pick-up-artist skills to guys who are unwashed, awkward, and introverted. Don't read it with the intention of learning pick up, read it to see how one puts into practice new skills (social or otherwise) on a day to day basis scaling up from "totally theoretical" to "used to trying new things." There's a lot of overlap between the pick up and social engineering communities, this is just a book that can show you how people with one goal learn to implement new behaviors outside of their comfort zone.

Frogs into Princes by Bandler and Grinder.
Or form your own cult with this one: http://www.amazon.com/Mind-Games-Guide-Inner-Space/dp/0835607534/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1435518382&sr=1-1&keywords=mind+games+houston

My old Boss and crew wrote: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Social-Engineering-Penetration-Testing-Assessments/dp/0124201245 Shows you a lot about professional SE.

My favourite book ever is: James Borg, Persuasion Teaches you a lot about people.

I'd also recommend The Challenger Sale if you want a specific process. Here's a recap.

Everything.

>If CEOS, consultants, top managers, and other financial wizards are so smart, how come they screw up so badly? Why is there no correlation whatsoever between a business school education and success in business? Why might you be better off studying something as irrelevant as—philosophy?

In The Management Myth, Stewart offers:

>A clear explanation of why the MBA usually amounts to so much BS With wit and wisdom, Stewart makes an electrifying case that the questions and insights of management theorists belong not to the sciences but to philosophy, and that, in the final analysis, “a good manager is nothing more or less than a good and well-educated person.”

An insightful romp through the entire history of thinking about management, with memorable sketches of Frederick Winslow Taylor, Elton Mayo, Peter Drucker, Michael Porter, Tom Peters, and other management celebrities
A devastating critique of pseudoscience in management theory, from the scientific management movement to the contemporary disciplines of strategy and organizational behavior
A swashbuckling account of the rise and much-anticipated fall of management consulting, laced with personal tales about cryptic PowerPoint presentations; the bait-and-hold techniques that keep clients paying to be told what they already know; and the colorful internal politics at his own ill-fated consulting firm, where rivals for power found imaginative uses for an in-house shrink
Historical perspective on why so many CEOs make so much more than they deserve

The Management Myth: Why the Experts Keep Getting it Wrong

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1 and #2 on this list work for me. Within thirty seconds or so, I can pretty much do anything.

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