I really like the point you make about looking at it from the other person’s perspective. I’ll give it a try next time… I’ll try to find a parenting dilemma they are going through and explain the solution from our philosophical standpoint. Huh, I learn something new every day!

Here’s a real world example. A classroom of students decided to see if they could control where their teacher located himself during class simply by their response. When the teacher got close to the radiator the whole class acted really interested in everything he said. The further from the radiator he got the less they paid attention.

Within one week they had the teacher sitting on the radiator. Why? Because he liked it when they were attentive (positive emotional anchor) and his subconscious linked that radiator to that positive emotion.

Everything we do is linked to moving away from pain or toward pleasure. If you want your passion to be important to someone else, find a way to help them associate it with something they already enjoy.

And, absolutely, how you communicate that vision is critical to your success, no doubt using visual, auditory and kinesthetic approaches helps bring it all home.

What I am suggesting actually adds to this, saying that when you do choose to communicate, you best hope at lighting the same fire is doing the work to understand why and how your passion is most relevant to the base needs, desires and predispositions of the person you hope to persuade.

@ Shama – Okay, just tell him you read a new study that showed that 93% of guys who don’t like dogs earn 50% less than dog lovers, succeed at half the pace and were more likely to be bed wetters as kids. KIDDING! Do not, I repeat, do NOT do that (well, maybe just a little).

Actually, I love Brandon’s advice, just bring the pup along when you guys do things you both love to do. Fact is, a lot of new parents don’t bond with their newborn children for some time, too, but, given time, that usually resolves itself.

@ Ankush – Dude, coffee? Thanks for the link, wil definitely check it out. No doubt, the job of persuading someone else to love what you love is a tough one. And, I do agree that, in the end, the process has to involve a healthy bit of self-realization.

But, you can facilitate that realization by providing the experiences, information and proof needed for someone to come to the conclusion that they do, in fact, like what you like. This is at the heart of all masterful persuasion and sales.

And, step one is always understanding what’s most important to someone, then seeing if there is some way to frame your idea/product/service in a way that appeals to that person’s need, that inspires passion or desire from within themselves.

Because, without an initial attraction or passion for what you love, they won’t do the work themselves. It’s more about figuring out the best way to light the fire, then stepping aside and just watching it burn…and maybe fanning it here and there.

Whether they become evangelists after that, too, I don’t really see as a manifestation of a need to belong, but rather a desire to share something that’s meaningful ad beneficial to them.

And, yes, I do agree that there are some things, heck, many things that will be exceptionally difficult, if not impossible to make desirable enough to inspire the process of conversion. If that’s the case, then I absolutely do not condone trickery or pressure as means of forcing adoption. There comes a time where you just need to find peace with your differences.

Brandon, you’re gonna hate me for this, but I actually find Facebook to be a pretty fascinating example. Initially, it was all about college students connecting. There was a strong desire and pretty much no educational or technological hurdle to get people to adopt the technology.

But most folks may age, especially those without a tech bent, sat back and said, “this has no value to me, I don’t get it and I don’t want to get it.” Plus, not already being savvy to the workings of social networking like the younger set had become largely through exposure to Myspace, the educational burden for us grumpy old men was too high.

Then, after a few years, small number of 40-somethings began to explore. They started finding resources and even a bit of business. And, Facebook began to have enough value to justify learning how to use it.

Then the next wave came along and realized that, increasingly, more and more old friends and schoolmates were joining and they could find them and reconnect. And, we all love to rediscover old friendships. In fact, for people of my generation without a lot of tech in their blood, at least among my friends, one of the biggest uses is essentially as a proxy for Classmates.com, but it’s free.

Anyway, just a bit of rambling thoughts on a really hot Friday afternoon.

What do you guys think?

There was also an interesting interview with Bill Bishop, author of “The Big Sort”, this week on The Daily Show. He explained how people for the first time have the ability to cluster into physical and/or virtual communities consuming ideas, information, products, and services that conforms to their existing beliefs and desires.

I personally don’t believe you can make most people love what you love…and rarely overnight. Google, Apple, BMW, Starbucks, Whole Foods, Facebook, etc. They all have spent enormous amounts of time and money developing their “experiences” (brands). But the simple palpability of an experience doesn’t make it lovable unless it offers something that you’ve already longed for. As it gradually becomes an essential part of your lifestyle and you can’t live without it, it might fall into the “love” category. I’ve heard people speak this way about Blackberries, iPods, Macs, Starbucks, Google, Obama, recycling, conservation, etc.

I believe that this “love” MUST be a self-realization. You can’t make anyone love anything. They have to learn to love it themselves. And once they love it, their own individual need to belong will dictate whether or not they also become “evangelists”.