The second aspect of influence is emotion, and using it is one way to counteract positional power, and generally to dominate a conversation. When the other side has the power and you have the emotion, something closer to parity is possible.  Indeed, passion can sweep away authority, when it’s well supported and the speaker is well prepared.  We’ve all witnessed that happen when a young unknown performer disarms and woos the judges, devastating the competition, in one of those talent competitions.  The purity and power of the emotion in the performance is enough to silence — and enlist – the judges despite their positional authority.  Indeed, the impassioned speech, the plea for clemency, the summation to the jury that brings them to tears and wins the case for the defendant — this is the stuff of Hollywood climaxes.

Passion often links with expertise, the third aspect of influence.  And indeed, you can dominate the conversation, beating out positional power, if you have both passion and expertise.  The diffident expert’s voice is sometimes lost in the clamor of people wanting to be heard.  So expertise without passion is not always effective, but if it’s patient, it can be the last person standing in a debate and thereby get its turn.

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