Just Hear Me Out

A guide to persuasion for people who want to change minds without manipulation or coercion.

Most of us have given up on persuasion. We say our problems are too pressing, people are too polarized, and success is too dubious—and it’s true! After all, when was the last time you heard someone actually change their mind? To improve our persuasive powers, self-help books often ask us to stoop to dishonest, manipulative tricks that rarely achieve lasting results. But perhaps there is a way to persuade people that is neither hopelessly misguided nor morally suspect.

In Just Hear Me Out, philosopher Colin Marshall describes a persuasive method that is both effective and ethical. Rather than share a flurry of tips for how to win friends and influence people, Marshall invites us to take up persuasion as fundamentally civil work, good both for our conscience and our communities. Real-world persuaders such as Jane Addams, Daryl Davis, and Fred Rogers show us an ethical route, he argues, to changing hearts through patience, respect, and compassion.

Accessible, practical, and buoyed by hope, Just Hear Me Out offers a powerful method for all who want to persuade others but aren’t interested in winning at any cost. When it works, people don’t just change their minds; they discover anew how to value our common humanity.