Career Tips - Issue # 34 (Oct 2006)

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The Power of Logic

A friend of mine recently told me that his boss was so smart that he could convince people both for and against any argument. Indeed, I have also worked with some people who could always shoot holes in your arguments and leave you convinced with their point of view. I have also read about an Indian mystic Osho who, when he was in college, once spoke both in favour and against the motion in a debate competition and won both the first and second prize. What's the secret of these people who have such an extraordinary power to convince others?

If we leave aside factors like position in the corporate hierarchy and charisma, it boils down to their ability to think and argue logically. And that seems like a pretty useful skill to have, for, if you look around, you would find people spending their energies mostly in two types of activities: convincing others about something or listening to others who are trying to convince them about something.

So what it takes to be able to think logically and put forward your arguments such that people agree with you or be able to detect the flaws in others' arguments?

To begin our foray into logical thinking, let's take an example. Suppose you receive over 200 e-mails everyday, many of which are vaguely written and/or should not be coming to you at all. Being fed up of e-mails sucking substantial chunk of your time, you decide to propose to your boss that everyone should be provided training on effective use of e-mail communication.

Now, there are two ways of going about this issue. One, you can just walk over to your boss and tell him/her about your own plight and that you "think" some sort of training would help to curb the wastage of time. That's a usual but weak way of putting forward an argument and is unlikely to result in any action.

The other option is to use the power of logical thinking to convince your boss to implement your idea. Here is a 4-step procedure to construct a sound, logical argument (about anything):

Step 1: The very first step is to be mindful that any argument, however complex, consists of only two parts:

a. conclusion
b. premises

Conclusion is the main point that we want others to agree with (training on e-mail communication should be organised). Premises are the supporting statements that backup the main point you want to make. If a conclusion is a building, premises are its foundation.

Step 2: Be clear about what's the conclusion you want to put forward. In our case, it is "training on e-mail communication should be organised."

Step 3: The next step is to ask yourself: What supporting information must I provide for someone to agree with my argument? Do you have data about the number of e-mails other people are receiving? Do you know the number of man hours being spent on reading or writing e-mails? What's the percentage of bogus e-mails people are receiving? What's likely to be the cost of a training programme and the benefit in terms of man hours saved? What's the money equivalent of man hours saved?

You might say, "That's lot of work!" Yes, you're right, but that's the price one has to pay for constructing a solid argument. This is where those who wield that extraordinary power to convince others separate themselves from the crowd. Majority of the people badly want others to agree with them, but they don't offer sufficient premises.

Step 4: Finally, now that you have sufficient premises, construct your argument. A good argument takes the audience through the premises, one by one, in a proper sequence and gently leads them to the conclusion.

For example, let's construct our e-mail argument: Because on average people are spending 4 hours per day on reading/writing e-mails, because 50% of that time is spent on bogus e-mails, because 100 (persons) x 20 (days) x 2 (hours) = 4000 man hours are spent on useless e-mails per month, because wastage is equivalent to 4000 x US$25=US$100,000 per month (or US$1,200,000 per year), because people are not trained in using e-mails efficiently, because training would cost only US$200 per person, say, US$20,000 for the whole office. So, training on e-mail communication should be organised. This is not a perfect argument, but shows how one should weave an argument out of premises (supporting statements) to arrive at the conclusion.

Whether an argument will hold water will mainly depend on whether your premises reflect the facts (truth) or they are figments of your imagination. Arguments based on facts and objective information are so powerful that they leave little scope for others to disagree. Indeed, the key to constructing solid arguments is to pay close attention to the facts--that's where lies the power of an argument.

The above discussion also provides a clue about how you can shoot holes in others' arguments: Simply look for their premises and check whether they are based on facts or opinions. Most of the time, you would find people trying to argue based on insufficient or unsubstantiated information.

>>CAREER TIP:As you go higher up in the corporate hierarchy, you would find yourself on one or the other side of the table--always embroiled in some kind of arguments. To be able to construct sound arguments and reason logically and also to be able to see the loopholes in others' arguments is a valuable skill to have.

In the end, however, it is not about being too clever. When asked what's the best advice he had ever received in his career, Warren Buffet, the second richest man in the world, mentioned what his mentor Ben Graham had once told him: "You're neither right nor wrong because others agree with you. You're right because your facts and reasoning are right." That beautifully sums what logical thinking is all about: Getting the facts straight and using the right reasoning to arrive at the right conclusions.

Note: What I have written above is the tip of the iceberg called logic. Logic is a subject in itself and is taught as a branch of philosophy. If you're fascinated by this little piece on logic and feel the urge to know more about it, I can direct you to a good book (small one) as well as some Web resources. Let me know!

But if you don't have time for further exploration, just remember one message out of this lengthy story: The secret of logical thinking lies in paying close attention to the FACTS. If you want to enjoy the pleasure of being able to convince others, base your arguments on facts. If you want to shoot holes in others' arguments, again look for facts.

Atul Mathur

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***Copyright 2006 Atul Mathur***

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