Winning a person’s favor was easier than people thought and having an interpersonal relationship wasn’t as difficult as most people thought. It was essential for us to have a meal and go to a sauna together, but what was more crucial was how much I could adjust for others.

What the other party liked, what kind of story they loved, and what they wanted to hear—thinking about how to adjust for them while talking was important. In the beginning, there was no need to resist or assert your opinion. If the other person was conservative, then play along and listen to them as a conservative. If the other person was the type to make progress, then listen to them as the same type and play along. That was really all you had to do. If the other person supported the death penalty, then all you had to do was prepare the appropriate information and the things they wanted to hear. It would be even better if the information were specialized and detailed. You could raise your voice when talking about why the death penalty was necessary and in the middle of a heated debate, you should strongly agree with them.

‘Ah! We get along better than I thought! We think alike!’

That would be what the other person would...