Jeff Purser, communications strategist, producer, and commercial director, Jeff Purser Productions
You have seen this before. Two people say the same thing in a meeting. One lands. One does not. It is not intelligence. It is timing.
Influence inside modern organisations is shifting. In environments shaped by information overload, hybrid work, declining institutional trust, and increasingly sceptical stakeholders, traditional models built on authority and pressure lose their effectiveness.
The real advantage is no longer what you say, but how you shape a moment before you speak.
Over the last two decades working across elite sport, media, and entertainment, I watched this dynamic play out constantly.
While holding senior leadership roles connected to the Olympics, the South Sydney Rabbitohs, and Optus TV, I documented a recurring behavioural sequence inside leadership environments.
Effective influence involves less outcome control and more recognition of the emotional journey people move through when forming decisions.
Shaping the emotional journey
This observation forms the core of my new guidebook, “YES YES YES: The Playbook of Persuasion”. It centres on a framework of two interconnected concepts that I believe underpin human persuasion: the five heartbeats and the 10 masks.
The five heartbeats, Pulse, Build, Pause, Flow, and Sustain, describe the emotional rhythm through which attention ignites, trust strengthens, and commitment settles.
The 10 masks represent the distinct modes of presence people instinctively adopt as influence moves through these emotional stages. Influence succeeds when your behaviour matches the moment, or within my model, when the mask matches the heartbeat.
The 10 masks of influence
The masks include:
The Firestarter: Creates momentum through clarity and decisiveness.
The Siren: Captures attention through restraint and controlled presence.
The Architect: Builds trust through preparation and structural clarity.
The Oracle: Identifies emerging shifts and speaks at pivotal moments.
The Mirror: Builds connection through deep, authentic listening.
The Keeper: Strengthens trust through consistency and reliability over time.
The Dancer: Adapts fluidly while maintaining composure and direction.
The Reframer: Changes perception by revealing new ways of viewing challenges.
The Sculptor: Strengthens outcomes by removing unnecessary complexity.
The Witness: Creates impact by observing moments fully before acting.
Throughout my career, I noticed these masks and heartbeats appearing consistently across vastly different settings.
I saw sporting teams rally behind leaders, entertainment projects capture audiences, and executives shape organisational direction based on these principles. The framework maps how individuals and leaders shift between different forms of presence as interactions progress.
It reveals why some conversations, performances, and leadership moments resonate deeply while others fall flat.
The subtle art of gentle persuasion
This book actually began as something completely different. I wrote a short book for my children teaching them the key life lessons I have learned over the years.
Once I finished that, I started to think about the lessons I accumulated over my career, and it inspired me to write “YES YES YES”.
What I uncovered through writing this is that behind every yes is a love story. Influence rarely comes from pushing harder or speaking louder.
Persuasion really follows similar beats to seduction. It emerges when people intuitively align with emotional timing and presence. When you get those elements right, decisions seem to rise naturally. In today’s pressurised world, influence requires a gentler, more empathetic approach.
Three foundational observations for leaders
As a starting point, I want to share three foundational observations for understanding influence in modern environments:
Don’t chase attention, create conditions for it: In environments saturated with information, influence often begins through curiosity, restraint, and emotional awareness rather than volume or urgency.
Less information can build more connection: Overloading people with messages can trigger resistance. Allowing space for reflection often strengthens engagement and trust.
The strongest commitment emerges without pressure: Lasting decisions tend to form when individuals feel clarity, autonomy, and emotional safety within the interaction.
Persuasion and seduction do not share language. They share timing. You build attention. You create tension. And then you release it at the right moment. That is why some conversations move people, and others do not. In many cases, people do not communicate badly. They just move at the wrong moment.
Shifting with human behaviour
“YES YES YES” is not meant to be an instruction manual on persuasion that you need to memorise. You are meant to feel your way through it. If one chapter speaks to you, or one mask really resonates, dive deeper into it and let it inform how you show up as a leader at work or in your community.
Just like persuasion, it serves as an observation on human behaviour and how you can gently shift with it, rather than something to rigidly follow.
“YES YES YES: The Playbook of Persuasion” is available now through jeffpurserproductions.com.
About the author
Jeff Purser is a Sydney-based communications strategist, producer, and commercial director with more than two decades of experience spanning sport, media, and entertainment. He has held senior roles with the South Sydney Rabbitohs, Optus TV, and the Olympic Games, and produced the feature films Fat Pizza and Cedar Boys. Alongside his creative work, he advises senior executives at major media organisations including News Corporation and Nine Entertainment. YES YES YES distils his experience shaping attention, trust, and choice into a modern playbook for persuasion.
Feature image- Jeff Purser: file.