Conversations With Disbelievers

Why Managers Are Skeptical of the Benefits of Corporate/Nonprofit Partnerships—
And How to Respond Persuasively

1. Information Type
The least credible data, for most disbelievers, is data about opinion. Disbelievers are usually more convinced by data about action than about opinion. Data about effects on business processes and finances are the most convincing. When partnerships can be shown to have an impact on a business process that a disbeliever thinks is critically important to success, he or she is most likely to be persuaded.

2. Relevance
Relevance is perhaps the most important foundation on which the disbeliever can challenge the data. This combines several possible elements, including accuracy, materiality, and applicability.

1. Accuracy is about whether the data are correctly describing what they purport to.
2. Materiality is about whether the business effects being described were significant in the case or cases in point.
3. Applicability is about whether the experience being described is applicable to the company or situation in which the disbeliever lives and works. “Just because it worked someplace else, how do I know it will work for me?” 

3. Source
People believe people, not data. Most managers have a “hierarchy of belief”. They are most likely to believe information coming from their peers; after their peers, they are most likely to believe well-respected consultants or vendors; after that, they listen to their trade associations. Information from most academics, foundations, advocacy groups, and much of the media is generally ignored. (Of course, there are exceptions, in that some academics have attained the status of “business guru”, and some business media such as the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times are generally held in high regard.)

4. Underlying Attitudes 
Evidence that is brought forward to support increased commitment to partnerships may be accepted or rejected because of underlying attitudes. Weak evidence may be embraced because it supports an underlying attitude. Even the strongest evidence may be rejected because it runs afoul of deeply held beliefs or political agendas.

How to Respond
Convincing business people is not a matter of evading their skepticism. Rather, it is a matter of understanding the corporate imperatives and cultures that make such skepticism a core survival technique, and working to ensure that developing corporate/nonprofit engagement can demonstrably be consistent with, and relevant to, these operating realities. The following “rules of engagement” can help you better navigate your way through such conversations making the best use of data and patterns of argument.

1. Know whom you are talking with. Spend as much time as possible listening to what they do in the business, who they have to persuade, and what are likely to be the key objections facing them.
2. Be an insider. Even if you know little about the business, be sure that you come armed with insider examples of other companies. Don’t let the disbeliever think or say “this person understands nothing about business”.
3. Be skeptical first. Following from this, be skeptical about the data, and so build trust in the disbeliever that you know your subject, and do not take her or him for a fool.
4. Help solve their problems, not yours. Be clear about whether they really are skeptical, or whether they are rehearsing an argument to be had with others. In either case, consider yourself a resource, helping the person to marshal the arguments. Everyone likes a free consultant (if they are good).
5. Never evangelize. It seems so obvious to say, but we do forget that most people are put off by evangelical arguments, particularly when it is linked to a sense that it will be followed by a request that involves resource and some risk.

Disbelievers Scorecard
To convince a disbeliever, you have to be able to think, feel, and communicate like one (or indeed like many different ones). To help you in this task, we have created “The Disbelievers Scorecard”, which is essentially a list of the main reasons why ‘data failure’ occurs when in conversation with disbelievers. Its use allows you to predict and effectively handle the complex twists and turns that can and do happen in conversations with disbelievers. 

In this scorecard, "1" is the lowest score—the least persuasive evidence.  "5" is the highest score—the most persuasive evidence.

Try out the Disbelievers Scorecard for yourself. As you prepare to persuade a disbeliever, use the scorecard to note the main challenges that would be lobbed against each piece of data that you will offer in support of building corporate/nonprofit partnerships. You will quickly see the patterns and internalize the lessons. Hopefully you will also discover new elements that can usefully be added to the Scorecard, and so improve your ability over time to navigate critical conversations to an effective conclusion. 

Conversations with disbelievers can be both frustrating and a source of considerable learning. Perhaps the most important single lesson is that people disbelieve for a reason, and often what in context is a very good reason. The most effective way to persuade is to enter into conversations with disbelievers in a spirit of engagement, learning, and even adventure. The reasons for disbelieving can be overcome, but only by those who are sufficiently trusted in understanding what arguments count, and how best to make them count.

For additional information, studies, and case examples, a PDF version of our book “Conversations with Disbelievers” may be downloaded at no cost from www.brodyweiser.com.

JOHN WEISER is a Partner in the firm of Brody · Weiser · Burns. John specializes in working with organizations to shape business strategies that achieve social goals. He provides assistance with strategic planning, business analysis and the development of nonprofit/corporate partnerships. John co-founded Brody · Weiser · Burns in 1984 to pursue his vision of business as a force for social change, after two years with the Boston Consulting Group. He is the author of several papers on the business case for corporate engagement with communities.

John can be reached at johnw@brodyweiser.com, and further information on his activities and publications can be found at www.brodyweiser.com.


SIMON ZADEK is Chief Executive Officer of the Institute of Social and Ethical AccountAbility. He works with businesses in Europe, the USA and Africa, development and human rights NGOs, and international agencies and governments. He sits on the boards or advisory groups of the Global Reporting Initiative, the Global Alliance for Workers and Communities, the World Bank’s Business Partners for Development, and The Copenhagen Centre. 

His publications include Partnership Alchemy, Unlocking Potential: the Business Case for Employing Disabled People, Perspectives on the New Economy of Corporate Citizenship, Endearing Myths, Enduring Truths, Healthy Futures: Access to Health Care, Digital Divides and The Civil Corporation.

Simon can be contacted at zadek@csi.com, and further information on his activities and
publications can be found at www.zadek.net.