Ep. 47: Joshua Bandoch on Persuasion, Emotional Intelligence and Positive Politics

About this episode

The episode features an interview with Joshua Bandoch discussing the importance of persuasion and emotional intelligence in politics and parenting.

Lura Forcum and Lauren Hall host “We Made This Political,” a podcast about making politics more about flourishing than power, and interview Joshua Bandoch, author of How to Get What You Want and VP of Policy at the Illinois Policy Institute. Bandoch explains he wrote the book after seeing good ideas fail without effective communication, arguing persuasion requires emotional intelligence because people feel before they reason and emotions support reasoning. The discussion connects persuasion to curiosity, pluralism, and polarization, criticizing “logic tsunamis,” tribal signaling, and viewing opponents as “crazy, stupid, or evil.” Drawing on moral foundations theory, Bandoch urges understanding others’ values rather than trying to change them, and emphasizes positive, “for something” leadership as more persuasive than fear-based negativity. He also applies persuasion to parenting by offering children off-ramps and modeling calm emotional regulation. The book releases tomorrow and Bandoch can be found on LinkedIn and joshuabandoch.com. 00:00 Meet the Hosts 00:57 Introducing Josh and His Book 01:38 Why Persuasion Matters 02:45 Feelings Before Reason 07:25 Positive Emotions Win…

People in this episode

Hosts: Lura Forcum, Lauren Hall

Guest: Joshua Bandoch

Topics covered

• persuasion
• emotional intelligence
• positive politics
• parenting
• communication
• polarization

Keywords

• persuasion
• emotional intelligence
• politics
• parenting
• communication
• polarization
• curiosity
• leadership

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Illinois Policy Institute

Books & works: How to Get What You Want

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