To see a winning debater in action – check out ‘Sargon of Akkad’ on YouTube. Powerful!
Even though I am an Entrepreneur working in my own business; I debate people every week.
Originally when I started out in business it figured it would all be ponies, butterflies, unicorns and soft teddy bears.
It turns out it’s not! (lol)
When you are working with partners, clients, the community, networking events, charities you will be involved with other people. Quite often in working on projects, debates are normal and part of every day business. In very general terms there are two types of debates:
1. The Good: Discussions on the project, talking facts, reasons, the truth and it’s not about being ‘right’ – it’s about the project working / a team win.
2. The Bad: Where you are up against dishonest people with bad agenda’s, personal gain where it’s all about them and nothing else.
I love good debates and my thinking here is more aimed at situations where you are having ‘bad’ debates. That is; you are speaking with people who have little regard for the truth or personal responsibility.
There will be those times where it’s hard to escape from these people. For whatever reason we shall be up against them and it’s important to really hit them hard and deal with them. In these situations (especially when they are at fault), they will do whatever they can to throw off your debate / attacks.
In these cases I have learned that you must stick to core arguments. Let’s say hypothetically they aren’t doing their job, taking ages to do their part, giving you no time and setting you up to fail. If you say that to them, they counter argue “well, it’s not my job / it’s your fault for not chasing me up / you just don’t get it”.
The way you win against these people is that you stick to your arguments and really double up on them and go harder. You set it up in a way where they have nowhere to move. In continuing this example, it’s easy to continue the core ideas of “it is your job / you aren’t being collaborative / you need to change”.
What tends to happen now isn’t who is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. It’s the person with the most conviction, strength and passion that sticks to the core arguments you wins. Many good people get taken out right here.
The trick is being a bit of Trump in being a ‘pit-bull with a pork chop’. You don’t stop, you stay on topic, you go hard with it and you win. I have lost many debates by wearing out; but whenever I have stuck on argument and never stopped – I always win and get my outcome.
My advice and thinking? Stick to the core ideas and go harder with them. Argue with endless commitment and you will wear your opponent down. Just remember, it’s not a debate of logic – it’s often a test of strength and endurance.
Love your work, thank you to the awesome Sargon of Akkad for the inspiration of this article and stay awesome!
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