“A man who is master of himself and always acts with sang-froid has a great advantage over him who is of a lively and easily inflamed nature”, writes Francois de Callieres.1 What the writer was saying here is that an emotional person who is easily carried away, in that he is unable to be master of himself at those critical moments and unforeseen occasions when self-management is of importance. It is difficult for any person who, for example, is easily irritated or annoyed, to remain master of his own secrets. One such story is told about the clever Cardinal Mazarin.
The future Cardinal, when he was a young man, was sent as a special envoy to the Governor of Milan from the French Court. Mazarin discovered that the Governor had an excessively sanguine type personality and was easily excitable. Mazarin was asked to discover the true feelings of the Governor on a political matter that concerned the French King and Milan. So he decided on a strategy to inflame the Governor’s anger by uttering certain controlled statements. The Governor lost all pretence of discretion and said things he would not normally have said. Mazarin in this way managed to exact from the Governor what he needed to know. While the Governor remained in a high state of tension, Mazarin did not remain in absolute control of himself in that neither from his speech nor from any change in his countenance could Governor discover his real thoughts.2 Mazarin had a cool head.
In order to succeed in an inflamed situation one must rather listen than speak. A phlegmatic temper, self restraint, discretion and patience are the tools of success. But what happens with those with a more sanguine temper? The example here is F.D. Roosevelt, who was president of the United States from 1933 to 1945. Historians agree that FDR had a sanguine personality, but through upbringing, education and experience this liveliness was tempered with a stress on politeness, discretion and pragmatism. We have only to look at the manner he dealt with his political opponents at home and his international colleagues abroad for the evidence of this balanced temper.
Question How important is a balanced temper for persuasion?
1 Francois de Callieres, On the Manner of Negotiating with Princes, Houghton Mifflin, 2000, P. 25 2 ibid