Persuasion, motivation and inspiration test

Assess your communications abilities to persuade, motivate and inspire (ethically)

How persuasive, inspirational and motivational are you?

Your personal communications techniques and style are crucial factors in your efforts to persuade and motivate others. Some people instinctively possess these capabilities, although most don’t.

You can do a lot to improve your effectiveness as a leader and motivator by understanding and using some simple communications techniques and principles, which are assessed and illustrated in this quick simple and fun quiz.

1. To convince other that you are credible and trustworthy do you…

a. Cite statistics

b. Share an anecdote

c. Use a combination of statistics and anecdote

2. Lee Iacocca has been named the sales-person of the century. Which of these sentences belongs to the persuasion-master…?

a. “It is imperative for us to unite, to grit our teeth, to aspire to new heights.”

b. “For in the dew of little things, the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.”

c. “It’s a leader’s job to bring the bad news, to get people to believe things they don’t want to believe, and then to go out and do things they don’t want to do.”

3. A persuasive leader…

a. Listen as much as he or she talks

b. Tells it like it is

c. Enjoys the use of power

4. People who are effective persuaders…

a. Use little words

b. Rely on current buzzwords

c. Teach their followers via very long words

5. Parallelism (deliberate repetition of words or phrases)…

a. Is annoying to listeners/ readers

b. Creates a monotonous impression

c. Is an effective persuasion-tool

6. “Chiasmus” refers to…

a. A style of footnoting references

b. An expression that uses a word(s) from the first half of the sentence in a new way, in the second half of the same sentence

c. A literary device used by scholars

7. Definitions…

a. Should be provided from a reputable source

b. Sound patronizing

c. Are most effective when newly coined

8. An expression such as “our children are our future”…

a. Has lost it effectiveness due to overuse

b. Appeals to a broad spectrum of listeners/ readers

c. Reminds us of purpose