The Soulful Art of Persuasion

Be less like you, and other shitty life advice

I'm glad I picked this up from the library, because if I had paid for it I'd be more pissed than I already am.

Everything about the book is presumptive. Like tutorials about how to draw an owl: draw a circle, then two more, then the rest of the owl.

Harris is an agency owner. He grew up in California, worked with Chiat/Day, made connections with people at Disney and the Obama White House, and really everything has just been great. You too, says Harris, can be equally successful if you'd just be optimistic and believe in yourself.

This is borderline misleading. Be generous but not too generous. Say no, but not to everything. Because rational people know that if you said yes to everything something somewhere else will fall apart. Work hard, but not too hard. Be humble, but have a brand, but make sure it's not an old-fashioned brand.

Be human, but not too human. Spend time, but not too much. Devote yourself to your task, but not too much because you should always do your best work, but don't forget about budgets and constraints and clients with dumb ideas, like spending every ad cent on a YouTuber.

This line of thinking is why this country has Republicans. You spend your life in San Francisco, New York, or DC as a talented but otherwise normal white guy and then wonder why the rest of the country isn't as good as you.

Harris got connections with Disney and the Obama White House. I assure you no one at Disney has ever thought to connect with anyone in Indiana. Sure, people from Indiana work at Disney, but Disney has never contracted with an agency here. In fact, among the whole ad industry, no agency has ever captured the industry's imagination in the middle of the country except for a literal few outliers in places like Austin, Nashville, Denver, and Minneapolis over the last generation.

This line of “Just say yes to things that are automatic nos!” and “Learn the power of no!” is so mindlessly fruitless it's patronizing. “Don't take every client!” is equally dumb when you need to, you know, eat. Might as well tell kids not to bother waiting tables or working retail. “Learn the power of no, kids! And don't accept the money, something better is always somewhere else!”

If you like rah-rah cheerleading that makes you feel better about yourself, read the book.