Why do decision-makers at work really choose one person for a role over another? What actually makes them trust someone’s judgment? How do they decide in practice who to tap for important opportunities?

For the last 12 years, I’ve coached top performers at some of the world’s largest and most competitive Fortune 500 companies. As a result, I’ve been a trusted advisor to executives, C-suite leaders, and hiring managers who’ve confided in me their answers to all these questions. 

Over time I’ve seen that technical expertise gets you far, but your ability to communicate persuasively determines whether your opinion is actively sought out or you have to fight to get your voice heard. 

I’ve watched this play out across different industries and ranks. The ability to influence others can set you up for success. And vice versa. Take the smart subject matter expert who can’t translate their work into the language of decision-makers, for example, or the skilled but inarticulate manager who gets passed over for promotion.

Your impact and advancement at work depends on your ability to persuade others.

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Becoming persuasive doesn’t mean resorting to manipulation, mind games, or politicking. In fact, the most powerful communicators I’ve worked with are thoughtful professionals who’ve learned to leverage their perceptiveness strategically. They understand psychology: how people think, what drives their choices, and how to present ideas to get seen, heard, and paid. 

The good news is that persuasive communication is a learnable skill. Here are my three favorite strategies to get started. Pick one to try today, and watch how differently people respond to your contributions.

Decision-makers are busy and overwhelmed. When you take too long to get to your point, you risk losing their attention, and you may inadvertently signal that you don’t have a good handle on your own message.

Contrast this with someone who can articulate their key point in a few crisp sentences. That level of clarity suggests expertise and confidence.

To be more persuasive, start with your conclusion, request, or recommendation, then follow with supporting evidence as needed. This might sound like: 

• “I recommend pushing the product launch to September. The three factors driving this are ….”
• “We need to consider redesigning our app’s navigation by Q3 to stop losing users. The data shows ….”
• “Can you review this report by Thursday? I need your input specifically on X and Y.”

Before your next meeting, write down your main “take-home” message in one to two clear sentences. That constraint forces you to filter out the fluff and focus on the information that matters. 

Persuasive communicators have mastered the art of translation. They reframe their messages through the lens of their audience’s needs.

People in power don’t just want clever solutions. They want good ideas that speak directly to their pressures, pain points, and priorities. Make that connection and you’ll gain a competitive edge. 

For example, instead of saying, “This new system will improve data processing efficiency by 40%,” you might say, “This solution will help you deliver quarterly reports three days faster, giving you more time to prepare for board meetings.” 

Even when you need to defer or push back, the same principle applies. Jazz up a simple “I’ll get back to you,” by saying instead, “I want to make sure I give you the most useful answer for your quarterly planning. Can I have until Friday to gather the specific data you’ll need?”

Small shifts in your word choice can dramatically change how your message lands, especially with senior stakeholders.

Consider the difference between saying “I think we should …” versus “In my experience …” One signals uncertainty, the other expertise.

Or how about “I’m trying to …” versus “We’re implementing …”? The first suggests struggle, the second implies purposeful action.

Look for opportunities to swap weak verbs with more powerful ones. For example: 

• “Had to” can become “decided to,” “chose to,” or “opted to” 
• “Helped” could be replaced with “guided,” “directed,” “led,” “advised,” or “oversaw”

Don’t get caught up in fancy words or corporate jargon. This is about choosing more precise language that reflects the scale and scope of your actions. 

Melody Wilding, LMSW, is an executive coach, human behavior professor, and author of ”Managing Up: How to Get What You Need from the People in Charge.” Download exact scripts to diplomatically say no at work here.

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Dr. Frank Lipman has over 35 years of experience in functional medicine and throughout his career, he has always considered researching longevity as an extension of his work.

Lipman is an author of seven books, including “The New Rules of Aging Well,” which he co-authored with Danielle Claro.

When it comes to longevity, “almost everything I recommend to my patients, I do myself,” Lipman tells CNBC Make It.

These are his daily practices for a long, healthy life.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

CNBC Make It: What are some of the things you do to keep your body healthy?

I exercise, that includes strength training a few times a week, aerobic and intermittent high-intensity intervals a few times a week.

I walk. I move as much as I can. I tend to go to sleep at the same time every night. I do some sort of meditation practice. [I] try to do it daily.

What else do I do? And I take a sh-tload of supplements [including vitamin D and fish oil]. I do hormone replacement.

I do many things to optimize my health, [I’m] very proactive about my health. Almost everything I recommend to my patients, I do myself.

There is a lot conversation that focuses on brain health. Are there any things you do specifically to keep your brain healthy?

I’ve had my brain mapped. And at least five or six times a week, I [use] a red light helmet at home. I put that on for at least 15 minutes to treat whatever we found on brain mapping.

You can actually measure under active and over active areas in the brain and then target those areas with specific red light frequencies. So that’s what I do.

Apart from exercising, and trying to deal with my stress and sleep, I use a red light helmet.

Having really important connections in your life is something that we hear when we talk about longevity. What’s your social fitness like?

My social fitness is very good. I’m quite obsessed with spending as much time as I can with my grandson.

When he gets older, he’s probably not going to want to spend as much time, so I’m taking advantage. He’s soon to be five, but he’s still at an age where he wants to be around his grandparents.

We spend a lot of family time, and then we spend time with friends as well.

What are some of the foods you really aim to get into your diet, either every day or every week?

I tend to eat a low sugar, low carbohydrate, high protein diet. I’m a little bit obsessed with getting enough protein in my diet, so that’s my focus. That can be eggs, red meat, chicken, fish.

Then I eat a lot of green leafy vegetables, non-starchy vegetables. I love fruit, but I try not to eat too much of it. But I’ll eat berries.

So, I would say my diet is full of protein, fatty fish, non-starchy vegetables and berries. It’s a Mediterranean diet without any bread or pasta.

I usually do time-restricted eating, so I usually don’t eat for a 16-hour period. I eat all of my food in an eight-hour period.

What are you reading right now?

Lately, [I’ve been] digging deeper into rapamycin. That’s what I’ve been reading. Just exploring rapamycin.

Summing up Dr. Lipman’s longevity practices, here’s what he does to stay happy and healthy:

• For his body: Exercise, a consistent sleep-wake time, meditation and supplements
• For brain health: Brain mapping and red light therapy, plus less stress and more sleep
• For social fitness: Getting quality time with loved ones, especially his grandson
• For his daily diet: Protein and vegetables, specifically fatty fish, non-starchy vegetables and berries
• For his media diet: Reading up on rapamycin

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Starting a business takes dedication. Making it successful requires you to “multiply that by infinity,” says billionaire Raising Cane’s co-founder and CEO Todd Graves.

Graves would know: He worked 90-hour weeks at a California oil refinery and fished for salmon in Alaska just to get his Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based chicken finger restaurant chain off the ground in 1996. Nearly three decades later, Raising Cane’s has more than 800 locations worldwide and could finish this year with nearly $5 billion in sales, a spokesperson says.

“I can’t tell you how many 15, 16-hour days I’ve worked in a row,” Graves, 52, tells CNBC Make It. “I had to miss a lot of stuff.”

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At times, Graves worked so much that his wife would bring their two kids to his office for dinner and playtime — after which he’d go back to work, he says. Today, he runs a company reportedly worth billions: Much of his estimated $9.5 billion in net worth is due to his 90% ownership stake in Raising Cane’s, according to Forbes.

As such, he’s still busy — but he’s configured his workload to make time for family and friends anyway, he says. During vacations, for example, he’s occasionally woken up at 4:30 a.m. to work so he could join his family by 11 a.m. and spend the rest of the day with them, he notes.

“I’m as busy as anybody I know, I travel as much as anybody I know, but I can work my schedule where I can make most of the things I need to be at with kids, family or important friends,” says Graves.

Few entrepreneurs expect to have a healthy work-life balance in a business’ early days. That’s not necessarily bad: Trying to balance your work and life can add extra stress to an already-busy schedule, according to Jackie Bowie, a managing partner at financial risk management firm Chatham Financial.

“If you’re doing something that’s really worthwhile to you, and you enjoy it, you just accept that sometimes it’s going to be really hard work and you have to make sacrifices,” Bowie told CNBC’s “My Biggest Lessons” last year.

When Graves opened the restaurant’s first location, he rented an apartment behind the storefront and had a coordinated nap schedule with co-founder Craig Silvey to maintain their long workdays: 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 a.m. the next day, he told the “How I Built This” podcast in 2022.

You need that level of commitment as long as you’re trying to grow your business, Graves says. If you ever become comfortable with your company’s level of success, you can hire people to take some work off your plate, he adds.

That’s easier said than done: The act of delegation can be difficult for anyone used to working long hours or covering a wide range of responsibilities, from CEOs down to first-time managers. Trust the people around you to do their jobs, especially if you hired them — and remember that other people can effectively complete tasks in ways that differ from your approach, career experts recommend.

“It can certainly be tempting to get lost in the details of your team’s work, especially if you enjoy that discipline and genuinely find it interesting,” career expert Amanda Augustine told CNBC Make It in 2017. “However, don’t get so wrapped up in the little details that you neglect your management duties, such as setting the strategy and developing your people, and delay a project because you just can’t let go.”

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Higher-paying jobs often mean more pressure — think about surgeons working to save someone’s life, or corporate lawyers responsible for multimillion-dollar business deals. 

But you don’t need to take a pay cut to be less stressed at work. There are plenty of low-stress jobs that come with six-figure salaries. 

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Information Network (O*NET) maintains a database of nearly 900 professions, ranking them by stress tolerance on a scale from 0 to 100, which considers the ability to handle criticism and manage high-stress situations. 

Many of these low-stress, high-paying jobs are found in the sustainability sector. That could be, in part, because of the opportunities and stability such jobs in this field offer, Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter, tells CNBC Make It. 

“Looking long-term, areas like sustainability and green technology are poised to experience significant structural growth driven by shifting consumer priorities toward eco-friendly options, policy incentives for clean energy and rapid technological advances,” Pollak says. 

Several green jobs — including solar photovoltaic installers and wind turbine technicians – have been among the fastest-growing jobs in recent years, and are projected to continue to grow quickly in the coming years, she adds. 

Here are 5 in-demand green jobs that pay a median annual salary of more than $100,000 and feature a comparatively low level of stress tolerance (all have a level of less than 70 out of 100):

These scientists collect and analyze data from aircrafts or satellites, for example, to solve problems in fields such as urban planning, homeland security and natural resource management. Most positions require graduate school including a relevant master’s degree, Ph.D, or M.D. and some experience to be considered.

Median annual salary: $112,280 

These economists research topics such as alternative fuel use, soil conservation and pollution, write corresponding academic papers and evaluate the costs and benefits of policies and regulations affecting the environment. This job often requires a master’s degree, Ph.D or law degree.

Median annual salary: $115,730

Water resource specialists (also known as water resource planners) design and help implement programs to improve water conservation efforts, and provide safe, clean water to different communities. Most positions require a bachelor’s degree and technical skills including data analytics and experience with different software systems.

Median annual salary: $157,740

These engineers design, develop and manage the equipment and systems that harness the sun’s power to create clean energy. They’re the brains behind solar panels, figuring out how to place them for maximum efficiency and connecting them to the grid or battery systems. This job typically requires a bachelor’s degree, knowledge of photovoltaic systems and experience with design and simulation software.

Median annual salary: $111,970 

Environmental engineers use math and science to develop solutions that protect the environment and public health. They work on projects like improving water quality, managing waste, and controlling pollution. This job typically requires a bachelor’s degree, knowledge of environmental regulations and proficiency with modeling and design software.

Median annual salary: $100,090

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Grace and Jacob Kocher, 26, had been living in an RV for three years when they decided it was time to find somewhere to settle down.

“We lived primarily on the road for years and had a history of living tiny, so we knew we wanted our next step to be small as well,” Grace tells CNBC Make It.

The Kocher’s traveled to 25 states before settling in Florida where they spent several months looking at tiny homes. Grace saw an article about old cabins from Disney’s Fort Wilderness up for sale on Facebook Marketplace. Fort Wilderness is a camping resort in the Magic Kingdom Resort Area at the Walt Disney World Resort.

When Grace saw the listing for a one-bedroom, one-bathroom, 500-square-feet cabin selling for $49,900, she immediately sent it to her dad. Her family had spent many years vacationing at Fort Wilderness. Like Grace, Jacob had also stayed in cabins throughout his childhood.

“We grew up going to the cabins and when this came up, I knew immediately we were going to have to put a lot of work into it but it seemed like a really good option,” Grace says. “It was a good price for what it was.”

Grace and Jacob saw tiny homes selling for over $100,000 and were determined to keep the cost under $125,000 with financing options. They didn’t want to have too much debt, the couple says.

Jacob says he knew buying the cabin could be a smart investment for them.

“We were looking for a long time, and it was kind of hard to make a decision. But when this came up, I knew we should see if we can make that happen,” Jacobs says. “We were more passionate about how the cabin’s interior looked and we liked it a lot more than most of the other homes we saw.”

Although the couple was not allowed to see the cabin in person before agreeing to buy it, Grace says she felt good about making that decision based on photos.

“We just got really lucky with this one because it didn’t have much damage, unlike others we saw for sale,” Grace says. “I guess I didn’t think about it too much other than the fact that it was much more cost-effective for us than getting something like the usual module home.”

“I also had peace of mind because it was built in 1998, so I knew it was built to last. It was also coming from Disney World and they always do things the right way,” she adds.

Grace and Jacob signed the bill of sale in April and paid $53,375, including tax, for the cabin. It was delivered to them in June on a giant semi, which Jacob admits was an overwhelming experience.

“It was a lot of mixed feelings because we didn’t know exactly what to expect,” he says. “But I think when it was parked on our lot, it was very exciting to see it there and to see what we were going to end up doing with it.”

“With any renovation, you don’t know where to start. We knew what the next steps were, but it was overwhelming to have so many things ahead of us,” Grace adds.

Since taking possession of the Disney Fort Wilderness cabin earlier this year, the couple have kept busy doing most of the renovation work.

“We hired someone for the main major things like plumbing and electrical. We’ve had some help here and there but mostly it’s been us figuring it out ourselves,” Jacob says. “It’s been pretty cool because nowadays you can kind of just look something up on the internet and figure it out.”

“We were kind of on our own at first, especially the first few months. We learned a lot about each other and figuring all that stuff out together was just a really fun experience,” Grace adds. “We can look back on that and say that we’re really proud of what we were able to get done together.”

The Kocher’s did not want to disclose how much they have spent on renovations so far.

Included in the purchase of the cabin were all the furniture and appliances inside. It had a twin bunk bed set, a couch, TVs, and more. The two sold most of it to help with their renovation costs.

“We wanted to renovate it to be our own, so we ended up selling a lot of it,” Grace says. “It was pretty cool because we got to connect with a lot of people that really love Disney and were able to get a piece of the cabin without having to buy one.”

While clearing the cabin, Grace and Jacob found an old Fort Wilderness-branded hotel telephone and random trinkets, including a miniature Sven, a fictional reindeer from “Frozen.”

The couple really wanted to make the cabin their own — they painted the kitchen, changed the kitchen faucet and other hardware, the lighting, painted the bathroom and added new furniture throughout.

Grace and Jacob spent their first night together in the cabin in August. When they moved in, renovations weren’t complete yet, but they were able to make the cabin livable.

“It’s crazy how quickly it felt like home,” Grace says.

The couple says they don’t see themselves parting with their Disney cabin anytime soon.

“It would be great if we did have a different adventure later on in life and maybe make this more of a rental,” Grace says. “I know that life happens and that we might have to sell it at some point, but it would be great if we could keep it and let other people experience it, too.”

Want to earn more money at work? Take CNBC’s new online course How to Negotiate a Higher Salary. Expert instructors will teach you the skills you need to get a bigger paycheck, including how to prepare and build your confidence, what to do and say, and how to craft a counteroffer. Start today and use coupon code EARLYBIRD for an introductory discount of 50% off through November 26, 2024.

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