Some people like to pontificate about how complex people are and how the world is too complex for mere mortals like me to understand....And how there are no rules or strategies, just nuances(et cetera et cetera). But there is one rule that was disclosed 7 years ago on the now defunct OkCupid forums and it works like a charm:

The way to get what you want from people is to pay less attention to what they say and more attention to what they respond to.

Thoughts? Questions? Comments?