The most fascinating thing / I've found from the work that we and others have done is / that subtle shifts can have such a big impact. // Adding a couple letters / to the end of a word / can increase the likelihood that / other people do what you ask them. // So / some researchers a couple years ago / went to a local preschool / and they asked four five-year-old kids / to clean up a messy classroom. // The floor was covered in crayons / and toys / and books, / and they asked the kids for help cleaning up. // For some of the kids, / they used a normal approach we might use. / They said, "Hey, can you help clean up?" // But for the second half of the kids, / they tried a slightly different strategy. // They asked them, "Would you mind being a helper // and cleaning up the classroom?" // Now, the difference between asking for help / and asking for someone to be a helper / is infinitesimally small. // It's adding two letters / at the end of the word help. // Yet / those two letters led to about a 50% increase / in people's likelihood of helping. // Again, the difference between vote and voter is infinitesimally small, / just one letter in this case. // Yet / that one letter / led to about a 15% increase / in people's likelihood / of turning out at the polls. // What's the difference between help / and helper, / and vote / and voter? / Why might one be more effective than the other? // It turns out / it comes down to the difference between actions / and identities. // We all want to see ourselves as smart / and competent / and intelligent / in a variety of different things. // So / rather than describing someone as hard-working, // describing them as a hard worker // will make that trait seem more persistent / and more likely to last. // Rather than asking people to lead more, / tell them, "Can you be a leader?" // Rather than ask them to innovate, / say, "Can you be an innovator?" // By turning actions into identities, / we can make people much more likely to engage / in those desired actions. // Another way / to get people to listen / is by showing confidence. // All of us know someone in our lives / who’s particularly charismatic / when they open their mouths— / whether to tell stories / or make presentations. // And everybody listens. // How do they do it? // How are they so charismatic? // What makes them so effective / as communicators? // It turns out / some insight into that question / can come from a recent President of the United States. // He's done a great job— // whether you like him / or hate him— / of convincing his audience / to listen / and take action. //