Hmmm, without hearing from your T, I'm not sure I can answer. After all, what if you're trying to persuade us that your T is useless?
Well, seriously, if you spend most of the time using your power of persuasion to deflect, you might need someone who can cut through all that if you want to make progress.
Do you think you use persuasion as a defensive strategy to protect yourself from difficult topics?
And what if you really wanted to persuade the new T and couldn't?