Jonah dug into existing research in the influence and change space. There seemed to be a block between what people were doing and what was actually working. He noticed that most people were doing some version of pushing—giving people more information, adding more facts, following up over email, making another presentation—to show the other person why they were right and why the other person needed to come around to the right side.

Our notions of influence come from physics. For instance, if we want to move a chair, we tend to push it, which works. For physical objects, pushing is a great idea. Unfortunately, bosses, clients, and customers aren’t inanimate objects. When we push them, they don’t just go along—they push back.