Why It’s Nearly Impossible To Change Someone’s Mind
But if you want to try, here’s how to do it
For fifteen years, I believed selfishness was the virtue of the noble, the principled, and the enlightened. And nobody could change my mind.
That belief took root at the age of 18 when I read Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Unlike my conservative cronies, I did not regard the book as fine literature. Even at my young age, I recognized its wordiness and lackluster characters. But that didn’t matter to me.
The principles the book expounded intoxicated me. These weren’t the ideas of a jaded author. No, they were commandments written on Moses’ third tablet, which somehow never made it into the bible because of some clandestine liberal plot.
When college ended, I returned home to look for a job. I popped in the VHS tape of the movie Wall Street and kneeled to Gordon Gecko. Full of unbridled confidence, I snagged a job as a stockbroker. While there, I watched with awe and horror, admiring their skill and despising their absence of moral restraint. They’d insult and hang up on the pikers — what they called people worth less than a million dollars.
But the rich folks…
First, they’d endure a minute or two of swears and threats. Then, they’d turn them, little by little…
