Scientific Definition
Hard tactics use pressure and authority; soft tactics use rapport, reasoning, and inspiration.
Plain-English Definition
Hard tactics use pressure and authority; soft tactics use rapport, reasoning, and inspiration.
Feynman Explanation
Hard tactics get compliance. Soft tactics get the next conversation.
Core Principle
Hard tactics use pressure and authority; soft tactics use rapport, reasoning, and inspiration.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
Hard tactics use pressure and authority; soft tactics use rapport, reasoning, and inspiration.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Leadership influence in matrixed and cross-functional organizations.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
Hard tactics get compliance. Soft tactics get the next conversation.
Examples
- Kipnis & Schmidt's tactic taxonomy, central to Brown's Great Courses lectures.
- Leadership influence in matrixed and cross-functional organizations.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Default to soft. Escalate to hard only when the relationship can absorb it.
Measurement Approaches
Pending editorial review.
Evidence
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
The Perverse Incentive Lens™
How this behavior is exploited — and how to redesign around it.
- Default to soft. Escalate to hard only when the relationship can absorb it.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Interactive Mini Network
Click any neighbor to re-center the graph and follow the threads of connection.
Knowledge Graph Neighbors
Auto-linked to the rest of the Human Behavior Taxonomy by family, domain, dimension, and shared keywords.
Persuasion power is a function of perceived expertise × perceived trustworthiness.
A consistent minority can shift the majority's views over time.
A group decides on a course of action that nobody actually wants, because everyone assumes others prefer it.
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
We attribute our own actions to situations but others' actions to their character.
We favor people who are similar to us or who like us.
Sacrificing for others without expecting a personal reward.
Masking the sponsors of a message to make it appear grassroots.
Disagreement grows more extreme as the parties think more about the issue.
Systematic errors in explaining the causes of behavior — yours or others'.
We accept vague, general statements as personally meaningful.
Adding the word 'because' (with any reason) increases compliance dramatically.