# Alain Di Chiappari - Convincing Is Not Persuading (Highlights)  ## Metadata **Review**:: [readwise.io](https://readwise.io/bookreview/59197468) **Source**:: #from/readwise #from/reader **Zettel**:: #zettel/fleeting **Status**:: #x **Authors**:: [[Alain Di Chiappari]] **Full Title**:: Convincing Is Not Persuading **Category**:: #articles #readwise/articles **Category Icon**:: 📰 **URL**:: [blog.alaindichiappari.dev](https://blog.alaindichiappari.dev/p/convincing-is-not-persuading) **Host**:: [[blog.alaindichiappari.dev]] **Highlighted**:: [[2026-03-22]] **Created**:: [[2026-03-30]] ## Highlights - The target is what he called the “universal audience”, an idealized audience of every reasonable mind that ever existed or could exist. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01kmb3pqvch15xmec9ycvrhkjk)) ^999293646 The target (of convincing) is ... - A mathematical proof convinces. A benchmark convinces. A failing test suite convinces. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01kmb3p1dy2bqpgd57v3yvvja7)) ^999293629 - Persuading targets a *particular* audience: these people, in this room, with these fears, these incentives, these memories of the last migration that went sideways. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01kmb3r03dsnkcdgz8cqan3q8k)) ^999293686 - Correctness is necessary but it is not sufficient. It should be the foundation, not the building. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01kmb3tnc6xtdz5672jten2wcv)) ^999293911 - The three dimensions of rhetoric are since then well-known: the **logical structure** of the argument, the **credibility** and character of the speaker, and the **emotional state** of the audience. **Convincing** lives almost entirely in the logical structure. **Persuading** requires all three mixed together and calibrated to context. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01kmb3xqjmp53zqndg4xsztkyt)) ^999294366 - The interface is trust, timing, and the careful art of making someone feel that acting on your proposal serves what they already care about. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01kmb3zsw98eedawan4gp6m6w7)) ^999294652 - Conviction without persuasion is impotence. Persuasion without conviction is fraud. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01kmb40d0r9wevr8r6bfn0kycb)) ^999294670 - Engineers and leaders who actually move things aren’t the ones who are right the most often. They’re the ones who learned that being right is the starting line, not the finish. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01kmb42thy0jbkqv79g62ttaek)) ^999294939