Dan Pink and the RSA

The ABC of Persuasion

The Project

A series launched by The RSA, RSA Shorts are a series of animated ‘mental espressos’ and feature ideas and inspiration from over 27,000 Fellows. The RSA Shorts provide snapshots of big ideas to awaken the curiousity in us all.

About the speaker

Daniel Pink is the award-winning author of six books to date, his latest being the New York Times bestseller When. This RSA short is based on Pink's book To Sell Is Human (published in 2014) in which he demonstrates that we are all in sales in one form or another, and for that we need to learn the art of persuasion.

The challenge

The RSA asked us to visualise this short explainer video using our whiteboard animation approach. The challenge this presented us with came from the density and rapid pace of the information. We had to create an over-arching visual metaphor which was able to bring this information heavy visual narrative to life, in an understandable way.
We met these needs by using a nautical theme to transition between information using a variety of nautical metaphors along the way!

The film

Whether we're employees pitching to our bosses, parents and teachers cajoling kids, or politicians presenting new policies, we can all improve the way we persuade others.

As he did in Drive, his 2010 bestseller about motivation, Pink uses the latest social science to illustrate myths about sales and teach us the new ABC: Attunement, Buoyancy and Clarity. In this explainer video, we visualises these concepts as Pink navigates through their implications and the struggles that come with them.

Read the book

Relying on science, analysis and his trademark clarity of thought, Pink shows that sales isn't what it used to be. Then he provides a set of tools, tips, and exercises for succeeding on this new terrain. These include six new ways to pitch your idea, three ways to understand another's perspective, five frames that can make your message clearer and much more.