- In today’s CEO Daily: Diane Brady on the art of persuasion.
- The big story: Trump is giving Iran another two weeks.
- The markets: Low drama.
- Analyst notes from Goldman Sachs and Oxford Economics on the Fed, UBS on the Iran conflict.
- Plus: All the news and watercooler chat from Fortune.
Good morning. As I listened to Sen. Ted Cruz talk to Tucker Carlson about the case for regime change in Iran, I had a flashback to my days on the college debating circuit. Through several years of judging and competing, I had a chance to see future leaders like Boris Johnson, Justin Trudeau, Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee, and Cruz. I say that not to brag—though I did once win Canada’s national debating championship by defending the right of the CFL to exist—but to share some lessons that I’ve learned from top debaters.
Every CEO is pressured these days to take a stance on topics that are polarizing or that they might not know much about. The Cruz-Carlson interview is a case study in what not to do.
Debate is about the art of persuasion. In a parliamentary debate competition, you get handed a resolution and have 15 minutes to prepare. If you’re in the opposition, you don’t know how the “government” is going to interpret that resolution until the first speaker opens their mouth—much like an interview where you don’t know what questions or facts will come next.
Your knowledge of a topic is often less important than your ability to convince others that your opponent is an idiot. (Not literally, of course, as that would be an “ad hominem” attack—essentially, a form of gaslighting—which is technically against the rules. Ahem …) To win over a room of rowdy college students, you appeal to logic, emotion, and common sense. You try to make them laugh when it’s funny and get choked up when the topic is sad. It’s a great training ground for populists.
If you’re going to take a controversial stance or disrupt the status quo, do your homework. It’s okay to know very little about a country, for example, if you’re arguing that the U.S. shouldn’t bomb it. The bar is higher when making a case for going to war. Not knowing that country’s population or the source of a biblical reference you’re using to justify a bold stance can give the impression that, to quote Succession, you’re not a serious person on a very serious topic. You risk coming across as defensive, thin-skinned, and angry—qualities that have felled many on a debate stage. And when “you engage in reckless rhetoric with no facts,” as Cruz accused Carlson, you invite the audience to reflect on how each side fared on that front. More news below.
Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com
