An illustrative anecdote from a recent union meeting: Our Leader had a string of very successful telephone negotiations shortly after beginning to bring her baby in to work with her. At first, she thought little Mae was just good luck, but after a while, she realized that having an eight-month-old asleep on her chest forced her to use gentler tones, which made the outcome of the negotiations better.\n\n
OK, so why do I tell this as an illustrative anecdote? What am I attempting to illustrate? That maternal, gentle, quiet vocal cues can help trick people into giving you more than they intended? Sure, but really, I think it illustrates just how illustrative illustrative anecdotes are. I mean, she could have told us (and did) that we value politeness and respect, and so we treat others that way, and she could have said that one catches more flies with honey than with vinegar, but that image of her stroking her baby’s hair with one hand and holding the phone to her ear with the other, that story<\/I> is far more persuasive. That’s magnificent, that’s a great way to get your point across.\n\n