Nelson Mandela wasn’t talking about choosing between English, French and Spanish. What matters when you are trying to convince someone to do something is choosing your words so that connect to the other person’s experiences and emotions.

Giving clear instructions of how to do something will connect with a person’s intellect and transfer knowledge, but it won’t motivate him to actually follow those instructions.

I like to keep busy at school.  When there is nothing for me to do in one class, I often slip into another.  On entering an English class one day, the teacher told me, "We are writing 'Have You Ever' poems.  You should write one too."  Less than fifteen minutes to write a poem was a challenge.  The result was pedestrian, not bad, but no real focus and not worth saving.  However, a seed was planted.  When the next school year started, the experience popped back into my mind.  Could such a poem...