We are dominated by the relatively small number of persons who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind.
Edward BernaysRead
If you can influence the leaders, either with or without their conscious cooperation, you automatically influence the group which they sway.
Interpretation
Influencing leaders can lead to broader influence over their followers.
This quote highlights the power of influence in leadership dynamics. By affecting those in positions of authority, whether they are aware of it or not, one can extend this influence to the wider group they lead. It underscores the importance of understanding the mechanisms of persuasion and the role that leaders play in shaping the opinions and actions of their followers.
In practice
This quote could be shared during a leadership seminar to emphasize the importance of influencing key decision-makers.
We are dominated by the relatively small number of persons who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind.
The invisible government tends to be concentrated in the hands of the few because of the expense of manipulating the social machinery which controls the opinions and habits of the masses. To advertise on a scale which will reach fifty million persons is expensive. To reach and persuade the group leaders who dictate the public's thoughts and actions is likewise expensive.
Any person or organization depends ultimately on public approval, and is therefore faced with the problem of engineering the public's consent to a program or goal.
No serious sociologist any longer believes that the voice of the people expresses any divine or specially wise and lofty idea. The voice of the people expresses the mind of the people, and that mind is made up for it by the group leaders in whom it believes and by those persons who understand the manipulation of public opinion. It is composed of inherited prejudices and symbols and clichΓ©s and verbal formulas supplied to them by the leaders.
We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society.
Men (people) are rarely aware of the real reasons which motivate their actions.
If all of you had voted the other way - there's about 5500 of you here tonight - I would not be the President of the United States.
Any committee is only as good as the most knowledgeable, determined and vigorous person on it. There must be somebody who provides the flame.
Generals aren't in the business of commenting on the correctness or incorrectness of the President's decisions. Anybody who thinks he should be able to do that ought to be fired on the spot.
An orchestra knows during the first two minutes of the first rehearsal whether or not they are going to enjoy the person on the podium.
On a film set, there are runners who are 19, it's their first job, but to me they're as important as anybody else because if they don't do their job then nobody else can. So I don't think anybody should be treated disrespectfully or as if they're of a lower status.
A leader's role is to raise people's aspirations for what they can become and to release their energies so they will try to get there.
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