The person I have in mind is my friend Aisha, who I met at university in Kano and who now works for a charity that runs reading clubs for children. Honestly, if Aisha wants something to happen, it usually does.
The best example was last year. Her charity needed volunteers for a Saturday reading programme, and she asked me to join. I said no straight away, because Saturday is my only free day and I'd never worked with children. She didn't argue. She simply asked if I'd come along once, just to watch. During that session, she put me next to a nine-year-old girl who was struggling with a storybook, and by the end the girl had read a whole page to me and was grinning. On the way home Aisha said, "She asked if you're coming next week." I've been going every Saturday for ten months now.
She's persuaded other people too. She got a local bookshop owner to donate damaged books, and she convinced our old lecturer to give a free talk to the volunteers.
I think she's so persuasive for a few reasons. Firstly, she listens before she asks. She works out what you care about, and she connects her request to that rather than to what she wants. Secondly, she starts small. She never asks for a big commitment at the beginning; she asks for one step, and then the experience does the persuading for her. And thirdly, she's completely sincere. You can tell she believes in what she's doing, and that makes it very hard to say no. I've realised that the best persuasion doesn't feel like pressure at all.