A little trick I learned some time back, and it’s fun to practice on everyone you associate with. Especially assholes, or simply powerful people who intimidate you (who are probably assholes as well, but you’re too nervous to pick up on that). This brings them right down to earth:

Look at that person, and imagine what kind of child they were. Imagine them as an 8 year-old.

For some people, this unfortunately isn’t much of a leap. In those cases, though, it just makes your job that much easier. Whoever it is, think about them until they fit into an 8 year-old’s body, Picture their expressions, and picture their gestures and moods, on an 8 year-old. It’s surprisingly easy, because people don’t really change all that much. We acquire the wrinkles, the gravitas, the baldness… but any clever child could mimic us with devastating results. Thank God there are so few clever children.

Once you project an 8 year-old onto the mannerisms, that daunting, impressive, intimidating figure becomes very easy to deal with. I mean, there are very few 8 year-olds in the world who can’t be dealt with and managed. Even the most difficult ones are transparent to a fault. And none of them are intimidating.

When you deal with the 8 year-old, you’ll suddenly find the 41 year-old (or 61 year-old) opening up to you. This is because you have addressed their core, their true inner being. Their inner (yuck) child.

Try it. It’s the key to just about anyone.