Words That Change Minds

Shelle Rose Charvet sets out 14 language patterns for influencing people without manipulating them. The premise is that each person unconsciously follows particular ways of getting motivated, handling information and reaching decisions, and that persuasion works when words fit those habits. Charvet uses the image of a communication wall around every listener, with gaps of a specific shape that only matching words and behavior can pass through. The patterns are applied at work, with colleagues, bosses and clients, and at home with partners and family, and any communication problem is treated as something that can be decoded and solved. Her approach draws on neurolinguistic programming and the psychology of persuasion.

Seth Godin endorsed it, saying Charvet lays out clearly what is happening as power shifts to the customer and how to think about it.