1000 Business Lessons Every Businessman Must Know

Chapter 98 Eloquence training: Good eloquence is a required skill for being a good boss (2)
Once, the wife of the Greek philosopher Socrates lost her temper and made a lot of noise. She refused to give up for a long time, so Socrates had to stay away.As soon as he walked out of the house, the madam, who was still angry, suddenly poured a large basin of cold water from upstairs, dousing him like a drowned rat.At this time, I saw Socrates shivering, and said calmly: "I knew a long time ago that there would be heavy rain after the thunder, and it was exactly as I expected."

Socrates' self-deprecating sarcasm made him escape from this predicament, which fully demonstrated Socrates' profound cultivation of life.

Sometimes, when you encounter trouble or embarrassment, a joke, or a pun or an anecdote, will turn the embarrassment into happiness, and at the same time show your open-mindedness.

In social situations, self-deprecating is a rare panacea. When other tricks fail, you might as well make fun of yourself. At least it is safe to scold yourself.Unless you criticize Sang Sang and Huai Huai, otherwise you will not be annoying. The golden rule of wise men is: no matter how much you want to laugh at others, laugh at yourself first.

816. Be Good at Changing Styles and Humor
The changeable speech style is to properly target different objects and adopt a variety of speech styles.

Once, disciples of Zhang Daqian, a master of Chinese painting, held a farewell banquet for him, and celebrities from all walks of life were invited to attend.Mr. Daqian has always been aloof.Everyone was seated at the table, unavoidably a little cautious. After the banquet started, Mr. Daqian toasted to Mr. Mei Lanfang, the master of Peking Opera: "Mr. Mei, you are a gentleman, and I am a villain. Let me toast you first?" All the guests After hearing this, Mr. Mei was surprised, "How do you say that?" Mr. Daqian smiled and replied: "You sing and talk, you are a gentleman; I paint and do it, am I a villain? "So all the guests couldn't stop laughing, and Mr. Mei was also overjoyed. He toasted and drank it all.

If you know that you feel like an arrogant boss on weekdays, you can learn from Mr. Zhang Daqian's humorous discourse style to achieve the effect of skillfully adjusting the atmosphere, which will show your superior speaking level even more.

817. Be Good at Changing Perspective Humor
The perspective of speech expression is a very important factor in verbal communication.Human thoughts are nothing more than the words "feeling" and "meaning"; a word, a word, expression expresses the meaning, and the perspective of expression should also be changed at will and change with emotion.

When the famous American writer Mark Twain answered reporters' questions at a reception, he said: "Some members of the U.S. Congress are sons of bitches." The Washington congressmen were very angry when they knew this.Ask Mark Twain to apologize and clarify, otherwise he will be prosecuted by legal means.A few days later, the "New York Times" published Mark Twain's apology to the federal congressmen: "After thinking about it, I feel that this statement is inappropriate and does not conform to the facts. Therefore, I hereby publish a statement in the newspaper. Amend the words to read: 'Some members of the United States Congress are not sons of bitches'."

Mark Twain cleverly used different perspectives of affirmation and negation to express the same thinking form in different sentence patterns, which seemed different, but in fact still expressed his contempt and contempt.We can analyze and apply Mark Twain's wisdom of changing perspectives.

818. Be good at quick-witted humor

Humor can make people quick-witted, resolve difficulties, or escape from dangerous situations, and solve problems creatively and perfectly.

One day, the German poet Goethe was walking in the park.On a trail that can only be passed by one person, he comes face to face with a critic who once made sharp criticism of his work."I never give way to fools!" exclaimed the critic. "And I am just the opposite!" said Goethe, stepping aside with a broad smile.

Goethe's way of coping has been widely recited in later generations.The humorous tactics he uses are a bit like the flavor of "overcoming rigidity with softness" in Chinese Taijiquan.

Once, a customer walked into a famous restaurant and ordered a fried lobster.He found that the lobster in the dish was missing a claw.He asked the waiter, and the waiter called for the boss.

The boss said apologetically, "I'm sorry, but lobsters are cruel animals. Your lobster may have lost one of its claws during a fight with its own kind."

The customer tactfully replied: "Then please change it and give me the winning one."

When you encounter urgent and difficult problems, knowing how to adapt to changing circumstances and using just the right humorous words can make you invincible.

819. Be Good at Euphemistic Humor
There was a couple, the husband did something wrong, the wife not only didn't understand, but even made her nagging annoying.So, the husband said angrily: "Please stop nagging like this, otherwise, I will slap ten times on the table."

"It's none of my business, hit it, hit it." Thinking that it wasn't her own heartache, his wife added fuel to the fire.

"But," said the husband, "after ten slaps, I'm not sure where No. 11 slaps me."

The wife stopped abruptly.Probably she understood the anger in her husband's heart and didn't want her face to be used as a sandbag for him to practice kung fu.

In this humor, the husband said "No. 11 slaps may be somewhere", which is a hint.This kind of suggestion contains the following meaning: I am angry and upset, and need understanding and peace.Now I can't get these, but suffer another kind of torture, I can't bear it anymore.For that, you'd better keep your mouth shut, or don't blame me for being rude.

Sometimes in life, we can express our views on things, not directly, but through various possibilities, and finally achieve a humorous effect. This is a hint that is a soft way of speaking.

Self-esteem is hidden behind people's face.If someone hurts you in some way, and you stab him in a blatant way, regardless of whether his self-esteem behind his face is educated or not, he will not allow himself to be stabbed, so hatred and revenge will arise from this.

If the euphemism is used to solve the problem, first of all, his face is taken care of, but the euphemism's words have reached a sharp essence.On the one hand, he will retreat in the face of difficulties, on the other hand, he will have admiration and gratitude for taking care of his face.

820. Be good at making use of topics to play humor

By cleverly borrowing the topic and playing with it a little, humor often follows.

American President Lincoln's appearance is ugly, often ridiculed by people.Once, someone said to his face that he was a double-faced man, and he replied: "If I had two faces, I wouldn't face you with this ugly face."

Another time, when he was polishing his boots, a foreign diplomat saw him and asked in surprise, "Mr. President, do you often polish your boots?" Lincoln replied, "Yes, whose boots are you polishing?" ?”

Lincoln was a person with a relatively strong sense of democracy. In his opinion, even though he was the president, it was not a bad idea to shine his shoes.Therefore, the questioning of the diplomats neither explained nor refuted, but made use of the topic to cleverly block the way of speaking, which is amazing.

Proper humor not only enlivens the atmosphere, but also makes the awkward person solve the problem with laughter and avoid many undue troubles. It is a beneficial and effective method.

821. Be Good at Making Analogical Humor
When answering some people's questions, the positive answer can easily fall into the cliché, and it is difficult to satisfy the taste of the questioner. The smart answerer will casually give a vague answer, lead the other party into a trap, and then resort to tricks of clever analogy. Take the initiative and finally convince the other party.

Once, when the writer Liu Shaotang gave a lecture at a certain university, he gave candid answers to various questions raised by the students.At this time, a female student handed over a note, which said: "Since literature must truly reflect social life, why do you always sing praises instead of elegy? Doesn't society have a dark side?" After reading this A sharp question, Liu Shaotang thought for a while, and then asked the girl: "Do you like taking pictures?" Seeing the girl nod her head, Liu Shaotang asked back: "There are times when your face is smooth and beautiful, and there are times when you have scars and are not clean. Why don't you take pictures when you have scars on your face?" This question made everyone around laugh uncontrollably.

Liu Shaotang was not in a hurry to answer the difficult question raised by the female student, but asked a question that the other party was interested in, and then asked a rhetorical question, making an analogy between the expression of literary works and the photography of young people. Minghe is humorous and humorous, and puts his own point of view in analogy, which makes people suddenly enlightened and impressed.

822. Be good at making good use of humor
In some debates, you should always pay attention to the emotions of the majority of people around you, try to mobilize the majority of people to support your point of view, skillfully use the trick of "making the best use of the situation", find a breakthrough, and use the power of the majority to give opponents The mental pressure made him unable to fight back.

The play Arms and Men by the great British writer George Bernard Shaw was a huge success when it was premiered.The audience asked Bernard Shaw to take the stage to be congratulated by the crowd.When George Bernard Shaw stepped onto the stage and was about to greet the audience, someone suddenly shouted at him: "George Bernard Shaw, your script is terrible, who wants to read it? Take it back and stop the show!" Most of the audience thought Bernard Shaw would definitely Shaking with anger.Unexpectedly, instead of being angry, Bernard Shaw bowed deeply to that person with a smile on his face, and said politely: "My friend, what you said is very good, and I completely agree with you." , He turned to the audience in the audience and said: "Unfortunately, what effect can you and I have against so many audiences? Can you and I ban the performance of this script?" Joyful laughter followed by stormy applause from the audience to George Bernard Shaw.The provocateur had no choice but to escape from the theater in despair.

Faced with the provocateur's slander, Bernard Shaw would lose face if he backed down blindly. Arguing with him would not only be useless, but would also leave a bad impression of self-admiration and pretentiousness in the hearts of the audience.At this time, George Bernard Shaw fully demonstrated his adaptability, cleverly used tricks to adapt to the situation, relied on the audience's trust and support for him, gave him applause and applause, and pushed the provocateur to the opposite of the majority, leaving him helpless and helpless. escape.

823. Be Good at Playing Stupid Humor
Playing dumb is a kind of answering wrong questions, that is, when answering other people's questions, taking advantage of the ambiguity and ambiguity of language, deliberately misinterpreting what the other person is saying, and asking questions and answering questions.When this way of speaking answers the other party's questions, it is often surprising and produces a special sense of humor.

When former U.S. President Wilson was the governor of New Jersey, he received a call from Washington and was told that his friend, a congressman representing New Jersey, had passed away.Wilson was deeply shocked and immediately canceled all his activities for the day.Minutes later, he got a call from a New Jersey politician. "Governor," the man faltered, "I'd like to take that congressman's place." "Well," said Wilson slowly, "if the undertaker agrees, I'm all for it."

Obviously, the "position" that the politician wants to replace is political status.It is impossible for Wilson not to know that he deliberately pretended to be stupid, and used the ambiguity of language to describe the "position" that the politician on the phone was replacing as "the place where the dead lie". , also gave him a powerful taunt.

824. Be good at ironic humor
Duke Jing of Qi was fond of hunting, and liked to use eagles to catch rabbits.Once, Zhu Zou accidentally let an eagle fly away, Duke Jing ordered Zhu Zou to be pushed out and beheaded.Knowing this, Yanzi went to see Duke Jing and said, "Zhu Zou has three major crimes. How can he be killed so easily? Please let me count them out one by one, and then kill him, is that okay?" Duke Jing said, "Yes." Yan Zi pointed to Zhu Zou's nose and said: "Zhu Zou! You raised birds for the king, but let the birds escape. This is the first crime; making the king kill people for the sake of the birds is the second crime; If you kill him, all the princes of the world will blame the king for valuing birds and despising scholars, this is the third crime." After hearing this, Duke Jing of Qi said to Yan Zi, "Stop talking, I know what you mean."

In the story, Yan Zi’s original intention was to save Zhu Zou, but on the surface he did not intercede for him. Instead, he accused him of three crimes, as if to kill Zhu Zou, but in fact these three crimes saved Zhu Zou’s life. Life.It turned out that Yan Zi rescued Zhu Zou, not straight-forward, interceding with Qi Jinggong, but by using a different method. This not only avoids the suspicion of intercession, but also saves Zhu Zou; it not only points out Qi Jinggong's mistakes, but also does not lose Qi Jinggong's face, which can be described as "killing two birds with one stone", which is amazing.

In life, when many people reason with others, they will inadvertently touch the "self-esteem" of others, which undoubtedly adds fuel to the fire.If young people can make good use of the slightly humorous trick of "telling the truth and finding another way" to change the way they speak, the effect of speaking will often be quite different.

825. Be Good at Hidden Needle Humor
Humor is the spark of wisdom that flashes in an instant, and it is also a distinctive personality trait of people.It not only requires a quick reaction ability, but also a humorous temperament that is sensitive to things and rich in imagination.The quick response and humorous temperament come from the wide-ranging knowledge association and the profound experience and observation of life.The humor of the needle hidden in the cotton is a method of humor that is soft on the outside and strong on the inside, which makes people feel stinging, but no trace can be found.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill is an eloquent, humorous politician.

A congresswoman said to Churchill: "If I were your wife, I'd put poison in my coffee."

And Churchill replied: "If you were my wife, I would drink it."

Another time, when Churchill left the Conservative Party and joined the Liberal Party, a coquettish young woman said to him: "Mr. Churchill, there are two things I don't like about you."

"Which two?"

"The new policy you enforce and the mustache on your mouth."

"Oh, really, ma'am." Churchill replied politely: "Please don't pay attention, you have no chance to touch any of them."

Here, Churchill skillfully uses humorous language art to get rid of embarrassing scenes.Although its external form is gentle, this kind of gentleness contains criticism, using the technique of "hiding a needle in the cotton", which makes the other party angry, but inconvenient to attack, and has a special power.

826. Be good at humor

In some occasions, using the humorous technique of "striking the east and hitting the west" to express the same meaning in different languages ​​has very different effects.Sometimes it is really evocative to say something here but mean something else.

There is a couple, the wife likes to sing very much, but the level is very poor, sometimes it makes the husband unable to rest, and the husband's repeated persuasion is of no avail.Once in the middle of the night, the wife was still enjoying herself singing an ugly song, so the husband had to rush to the gate and stand there.Seeing this, the wife asked in puzzlement, "Why do you always run out and stand at the door every time I sing?" The husband said every word very clearly, "I did this to let the The neighbors saw that I didn't hit you."

The husband's answer, on the surface, seems to be an irrelevant answer, but in fact it adopts a humorous method of slapstick.The wife didn't mind it at first, but after thinking about it, she realized that she felt like swallowing a blowfly, and couldn't laugh or cry.The husband's answer, on the surface, meant that the wife's voice was not caused by the husband's beating, but the original intention was to satirize the wife's ugly singing, as if she was beaten and screamed.

[-]. The skill of changing words with the situation

827. You Should Consider the Situation When You Speak

During a conversation, the adoption or understanding of words by both the speaker and the listener are influenced and restricted by specific occasions.As far as the speaking side is concerned, whether it is the choice of topics or the use of discourse forms, it must be determined according to the needs of specific occasions.

For example, in terms of talking topics, when people have a happy event, do not talk about depressing topics; when people are sad, generally avoid talking about amusing topics; when making speeches and reports in a large audience, you should talk about serious topics, And the topic requires concentration.If it is a chat, you can keep changing the topic, and even digressing has the fun of digressing.

In terms of discourse form, it is generally necessary to speak in a conventional form, but on specific occasions, it can be flexible to form a special discourse form, which can achieve more ideal results.

First of all, speaking generally requires complete sentences and conforms to grammatical norms, but in specific occasions, it allows and requires special discourse with organizational structure to convey information.

For example, when the car is approaching the intersection and the driver has not slowed down, the people next to him only need to remind: "Red light!" The driver will immediately respond by slowing down and braking.At this time, if the person next to you utters a complete complex sentence like this: "There is a red light ahead, this is a signal that you are not allowed to move forward. You should slow down and stop to obey the traffic rules and ensure safety." People will not say that you are mentally ill. , at least I will think that you are too "round-the-wall".

Because the driver's brain has already stored information about the situations that may be encountered on the way and how to deal with them. Therefore, he only needs to use a very short word prompt, and he will immediately mobilize the relevant information stored in the brain to supplement.At this time, the words should be particularly concise and the tone should be particularly urgent.

Although speaking generally requires a link between the front and the back and clear semantics, but in certain occasions it has to adopt the discourse form of jumping intermittently, or even changing the topic.

For example, when the car stopped and started again, suddenly there was a hasty shout: "Car, car, car!——I haven't got off yet!" car.Viewed in isolation, the meaning of women's words is incoherent and unclear, but due to the participation of the environment, the meaning is very clear, coupled with the conciseness of the words and sentences, and the rapidity of the tone, the effect is very strong.Also, for example, the purity and miscellaneous of the voice can also be adjusted according to specific occasions.An old scholar returns to his hometown where he has been away for a long time to give lectures. At the right time, he suddenly speaks a sentence or two of the authentic dialect of his hometown, and he will receive unexpected results.

828. Pay attention to the context of speaking

(End of this chapter)