Last week in Part 1 we talked about the need for rapport, and how crucial it is to foster it and use it to create influence networks that we can leverage to get things done, collect intelligence, or simply to have people available who can help you when you need it.. The next logical question is “How, exactly, do I influence others?” That’s what we’ll be talking about today. There are six tools—weapons of influence, as they’re known—that you can use to build influence in your relationships with other patriots, in your groups, and even with sources and assets.
Many of you may be familiar with Dr. Robert Cialdini and his principles of influence. If you are, then this will be a great refresher tailored to the individual patriot. If you’ve never heard of any of this, that’s even better–we’ll give you a fantastic overview. The CIA calls it RASCLS, and that’s the context we’ll be studying it in. Keep in mind that this is literally just an overview. We’ll get into each of the skills individually and how you can use them in later parts of this series.
(Note: I’ll use the word “target” in this article, but it’s not a negative connotation. In tis context, it’s simply meant to denote whoever you’re using it on.)