Hey its Min from The Art of Verbal War, where people learn to excel in verbal skills.
Today, we're going to talk about Harvey Specter's verbal skills.
Yes, the man with the golden tongue...Harvey Specter
In the pilot episode of "Suits", Harvey explains to his boss Jessica
the type of associate that he
wants to recruit.
"We need people who think on their feet, not another clone with a rod up their ass".
So, don't you want to learn how to think on your feet? Of course you do.
But you're probably wondering, how am I supposed to do that?
Aren't you just born with a golden tongue like Harvey Specter is?
Well, I'm here to tell you that you don't.
What you hear on "Suits" coming out of Harvey's mouth or Jessica's mouth or even sometimes Louis's mouth isn't so much thinking on your feet
but the use of specific techniques that even you
and I can master.
What?! You can get a "million dollar mouth" just by learning some techniques?
Damn straight, my friend.
So, today I'm going to give you two specific examples of how
you can develop Harvey Specter's amazing verbal skills right here in this video.
This is technique #1
I'm going to give you a few examples of this technique.
This is what Harvey says: "I refuse to answer that on the grounds...that I don't want to".
"Its a quarter 'til you're not giving that interview".
"Objection." "I wasn't objecting to his question, I was objecting to his tie."
"Motion to substitute counsel your Honor."
"On what grounds?"
"On the grounds that he's a pussy".
And in this scene, Tanner is telling Harvey that he's moving to New York City and he says "I'm thinking Upper East Side".
And Harvey says "Why don't you check out the corner of 81st and kiss my ass?"
Okay, so do you see the common thread between all these examples?
The common threat is what I call
"The Expected" + "The Unexpected"
In all of these examples, Harvey starts off
with something that's expected in the context
but then he adds something unexpected, and
and that's what makes what he's saying so powerful
witty or hilarious.
Okay, so that was the "expected plus the unexpected" technique.
Let's go onto the second technique.
For this technique, I'm going to give you two examples.
In this scene, Mike does something really great for Harvey and he asks Harvey
"So does this make us partners?"
"Don't move your things into Wayne Manor yet".
Let's move onto another example.
Here Harvey says "I don't give a shit what I just said. Those are my clients and if you don't get out of my office in the next three seconds"
"something is going to happen between you and me and I guarantee it won't end with you keeping all your teeth".
Okay, what is the common thread between these two examples?
The common thread is that when he's saying something, he's saying it INDIRECTLY.
So, in the first example, he's basically saying that he's Batman
But instead of saying that he's Batman, he says "Don't move your things into Wayne Manor just yet".
In the second example, he wants to kick Louis's ass
but he doesn't actually say "I'm going to kick your ass"
He's says "I guarantee it won't end
with you keeping all your teeth".
So this technique is also very powerful.
I call it the "indirect implication".
Okay, so how awesome was that?!
You just learned some "million dollar" verbal techniques.
Or if Harvey Specter were a real character, these techniques could earn him tens of millions dollars over his lifetime.
So I hope you paid attention and I hope you will use these techniques
So if you want to learn more about Harvey Specter, sign up for a free preview of "The Harvey Specter Guide"
which is a comprehensive guide to his verbal skills, body language, mindsets, and strategy.
Okay, so sign up for a free preview of The Harvey Specter Guide by click on the annotations or the link below (www.artofverbalwar.com/harveyspecter)
Until next time my friends, keep being excellent and as Harvey Specter says "You wanna win big, you don't wanna lose small".
Catch you next time!
www.artofverbalwar.com/harveyspecter