How to Manipulate Others Well

If you become relationally intelligent, doesn't that mean you increase your ability to manipulate others? The answer is yes. But that is why the character and motivation behind relational intelligence is so important. The Art of Manipulation is different from the Art of Persuasion. Manipulation resides on trying to control someone and invading their individual capacity to make decisions. It involves forcing someone to do something. In contrast, persuasion is not about invading someone's free will, but inviting them to choose by their own volition. Where manipulation is about control, persuasion is about the freedom of an invitation. If our motive and character are working right, we won't be using our relational intelligent skills to force people's hand but to invite them into a new and better life, a new and better way to make a difference in the world.