#105: Winning Arguments with "What Do You Know About...?"

Have you ever been in an argument or debate with someone who seems to have a strong opinion but lacks the knowledge to back it up? It can be frustrating to have a conversation with someone who doesn't seem to know what they're talking about.

In this episode I explore the power of asking the question, "What do you know?" as a way to challenge someone's opinion and get them to share the knowledge they are basing it on. I also talk about a famous movie scene from "Annie Hall" that perfectly illustrates this kind of situation.

Drawing on insights from the book "Exactly What To Say: The Magic Words for Influence and Impact" by Phil M. Jones, I share how using this phrase can either open up a constructive discussion based on facts or give you a better understanding of where someone's unreasonable perspective is coming from.

So next time you find yourself in a debate without some  to settle the argument, try using the magic words, "What do you know about?" to better position your points and gain a deeper understanding of the other person's viewpoint.

As always, thanks for listening!

"Exactly What To Say" by Phil M. Jones on Amazon
https://a.co/d/9MKpt40

All episodes in the series
#091 - "I'm not sure if it's for you but"
#098 - "How open minded are you?"
#105 - "What do you know?"
#112 - "How would you feel if"
#119 - "Just imagine"

"Exactly What To Say" by Phil M. Jones on Amazon
https://a.co/d/9MKpt40

You can find me here:

WEBSITE:  https://www.thorchallgren.com
IG: https://www.instagram.com/thorchallgren

You can find me here:

WEBSITE: https://www.thorchallgren.com
IG: https://www.instagram.com/thorchallgren

Transcript

In 1977, a little movie named Star Wars came out. And you might think that Star Wars as big and popular as it's been was the best picture that year. It was not, in fact, the best picture for 1977. That was a Woody Allen movie called Annie Hall, which is generally thought of is one of the best comedies of all time. 

In that movie, there's a scene where the character played by Woody Allen is in line at a movie theater. And he's kind of having an argument with his girlfriend played by Diane Keaton. And there's people in front of them people and back of them. And there's this kind of intellectual guy behind Woody Allen and this guy is just droning on, about his opinion about movies and filmmakers. And he's been super critical, and it's just annoying the heck out of Woody Allen driving him crazy. And then this guy behind him states his opinion about a film critic named Marshall McCluhan and Woody Allen. Now he breaks fourthwall, and just looks directly at the camera, which is one of the things he does in the movie. And he starts complaining about this idiot. And what's funny about the scene is, the guy now comes forward and starts arguing with Woody Allen, like, what can I have my opinion to? And Woody Allen says, No, as a matter of fact, I have Marshall McCluhan, right here. And he goes off and pulls the actual person Marshall McCluhan in and says to this guy, this is the real guy and Marshall McCkuhan, funniest thing ever says, like, "You know nothing of my work. How you ever got to teach a course in anything is beyond amazing". And Woody Allen says, looks at the camera and says, "If only life was like this."

Aometimes, that may be the only way to win an argument or to stop one, is to understand why and how someone is having their opinion about something. And you may not always have the actual person who can settle the argument. So you may need to challenge in this discussion or this debate what that person knows, we're going to talk about that today. 

Welcome to Every Day A New Thought. I'm Thor Challgren. Today, I'm going to be looking again at the Phil M. Jones book, which is called Exactly What To Say: The Magic Words for Influence and Impact." 

Last week in Episode 98, I looked at how we can use the phrase, how open minded are you? And you can use that as a way to introduce a new idea or pitch a concept and get the person to be open minded. 

So today's set of magic words, which come from the Phil M. Jones book, are these" "What do you know?"

And the point of this is that you can be in a conversation with someone and maybe it becomes clear that this person is debating or arguing, without actually having the knowledge on which their opinion is based. They don't you get the sense, they don't really know what they're talking about. So how do you have a discussion or a debate where that's the case? 

This is where Phil M. Jones describes this phrase, "What do you know," and says, this can be a way to help you have that conversation,

So for example, you might be in this and you use a phrase this way, you might say, What do you know about the company's business? Or what do you know about the history of that decision? Or what do you know about the benefits of that service? 

Basically, what you're doing is you are in in a soft way, hopefully challenging their opinion and asking them to share what that knowledge is based on. So when you do this, either one of two things can happen either. They may be open to changing that opinion, maybe if they realize that, oh, you know what, I don't really know as much as I thought they may be open to changing the opinion. Or they may not change it, they may get defensive. But then at least you know how to best position your points to contrast the point they're making. 

So one of two things will happen. Either you will get to actually discuss the issue based on the facts, or you'll now understand that maybe they're coming at this from a kind of unreasonable perspective. And now you will have a better understanding of where their point of view is coming from. 

So if you find yourself in a debate with someone and you maybe don't have a Marshall McCluhan, just off screen, try using the words. What do you know about? 

That's the episode for today. If you liked the show, please hit LIKE and if you're watching on YouTube, subscribe to the channel. If you're listening to the podcast, please subscribe or follow the show on your favorite podcast app. Until tomorrow. Thanks for listening.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai