How often would you say you reflect on your effectiveness as a leader or salesperson or boss? When you do, do you find yourself feeling you could achieve much more if you could just reach people at a deeper level?
If you think about it, things that are truly timeless and last through the ages, probably do so for a reason. The art of persuasion is one of those things. Going all the way back to the time of Aristotle, and that’s more than 2,000 years ago, we find that he created a formula for mastering the art of persuasion in his work entitled Rhetoric. Persuasion and influence continue to be studied to this day and, according to an article in the Harvard Business Review entitled The Art of Persuasion Hasn’t Changed in 2,000 Years, some economists believe that persuasion is responsible for generating one-quarter or more of America’s national income.
So, what was Aristotle’s formula for mastering persuasion? It is presented in the following five rhetorical devices:
- Ethos or Character – allow your audience to gain insight into your credibility
- Logos or Reason – make a logical appeal to reason, show why they should care about your idea
- Pathos or Emotion – move people to action through emotions
- Metaphor – clarify your idea by bringing in something familiar
- Brevity – there are limits to what people can absorb, so start with your strongest point!
I highly recommend this article … and don’t think it should take too much persuading to get you to read it.
