超強說服力：會議中最有影響力的兩個字！

"What's the magic word?" my Mother would always ask me when I was a child and begging for something. It turns out Mom was wrong. The "magic word" for getting what you want isn't "please" — it's "yeah."
“要說哪個神奇詞語啊？”小時候每當我希望得到些什麼時，我的母親總會這樣問我。事實證明媽媽錯了。可以讓你得償所願的“神奇詞語”不是“請”——是“沒錯。”

According to a paper published recently by professor Cynthia Rudin, Ph.D., and Been Kim, Ph.D., researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management, "yeah" is the most persuasive word for getting a proposal or suggestion accepted at a business meeting.
根據來自麻省理工斯隆商學院的兩位教授，Cynthia Rudin 博士和Been Kim 博士最近發表的論文，想要在商務會議上獲得計劃書或意見通過，最有說服力的詞彙是“沒錯”。

"We looked at data from 95 meetings," Rudin tells Yahoo! Shine. "We wanted to examine if persuasive words even exist." The researchers began their study with some skepticism and were surprised to find that, again and again, the word "yeah" was correlated with success. The researchers did not analyze vocal enthusiasm of the speaker but simply the number of times words were correlated with a positive outcome.
“我們研究了95個會議的數據，”Rudin 告訴雅虎！Shine頻道，“我們想看看究竟存不存在有說服力的詞彙。”這兩位研究者待着疑惑開始了他們的探究並驚奇地發現，“是”這個單詞被一遍又一遍地與成功聯繫在一起。他們僅僅研究單詞出現的次數與正面結果的關聯，而沒有分析說話者聲音中的情緒因素。

Wouldn't you like to make your next meeting more constructive? Productivity could be only four letters away.
難道你不想讓你的下一次會議變得有建設性一些嗎？或許離高產量只有兩個字的距離了。

According to the study, "In the United States alone, an estimated 11 million meetings take place in a given day." As most workers know, meetings can eat up hours of each working week, and managers spend between 25 and 50 percent of their time each day convening with their colleagues. "If we understand general things about meetings," says Rudin, "such as how to make your meeting more effective, it helps us plan ahead and be more productive."
根據這項研究，“僅在美國，每天就有1100萬的會議在進行。”正像每位工作者知道的那樣，會議會佔去一週工作中的數個小時，經理們每天將25% 到50% 的時間都花在召集他們的員工上。“如果我們隊會議有基本的瞭解，”Rudin說，“比如如何使你的會議變得有效力，這將會幫助我們提前計劃並更具生產力。”

Analyzing the language used in meetings, the researchers asked, "Are there patterns in suggestions that are accepted versus rejected? Can we use this to improve how we present ideas to the team?"
分析會議中的語言，兩位研究者提出，“在被接受和被拒絕的建議中有沒有一些規律？我們可不可以用這些規律去敢刪我們向團隊提想法的方式？”

They found that, indeed, adding "yeah" to a proposal made the idea "come across as if it were in line with previous thoughts by others," which gives it a greater shot at being accepted. An example might be, "Yeah, the color black would be a great way to go," when you are first proposing that color. The authors mention that a key principle in Dale Carnegie's 1936 classic How to Win Friends and Influence People was to let people think the idea was theirs.
他們發現的確在一個計劃書中加入“沒錯”會使得這個點子“看上去好像與別人之前的想法是一致的，”這將提高它被接受的機率。舉個例子，“沒錯，黑顏色是個不錯的選擇，”當你第一次提出這一顏色選擇時可以這麼說。作者們提到在戴爾·卡耐基1936年出版的經典圖書《人性的弱點》中的一個關鍵原則便是讓人們相信那個想法是他們的。

The word "yeah" came into common use around the turn of the 20th century as a casual way of saying yes. Interestingly, "yes" didn't even appear in the study's top 20 most persuasive words. Rudin suggests that is probably because "yeah" is now used more frequently in conversation than "yes." It also is perhaps a more nuanced word and less of a directly affirmative answer to a specific question.
“沒錯”在20世紀初被開始廣泛使用，用來代替正式的“是”。有趣的是，“是”在說服性詞彙的研究中連前20都沒有進。Rudin提出者可能是因爲“沒錯”在會話中比“是”使用的頻率高。“沒錯”或許相對於“是”來說是一個更爲微妙的詞，而不是一個直接、肯定的對具體問題的回答。

The second and third most successful words, according to the authors, were "give" and "start." "Give" was used in the context of offering something to a customer or adding something to a product, and also to "indicate suggestions are based on previous data" — for example, "given these parameters."
與成功相關的詞彙中，根據作者們所說，排在第二和第三位的是“給予”和“開始”。當提供一些東西給消費者或者在一個產品上加些什麼時，會用到“給予”，同時“給予”也用來“指出這些建議是建立在過往數據的基礎上”——比如，“被給予這些參數。”

The word "start" builds alliances, especially when used early in meetings, and provides an opportunity for the group to agree on basic suggestions — for example, "How about we start with the key issues?"
“開始”這個詞可以建立起聯盟，特別當用在會議的開頭並給整個團隊同意某個基本提議的機會——比如，“不如我們從最關鍵的問題開始如何？”

The authors say that the science of meetings is still in its early stages and that they plan to design more studies and dig deeper. One key goal is to help people communicate more effectively and make wrap-up times more predictable. Shorter meetings? Hell, yeah!
論文的作者們表示關於會議的科學仍然在研究的起步階段，他們正在計劃設計更廣泛和更深入的研究。他們的關鍵目標之一是幫助人們更有效地溝通，使得會議總結更易預見。讓會議短一些？當然，沒錯！