The Art of Persuasion in Leadership
In ancient Greece there lived a philosopher and polymath named Aristotle.
Aristotle wrote on a broad range of subjects — from natural sciences to philosophy to linguistics — and wrote a number of treatises that were never intended to be published.
One such treatise was called Rhetoric, which was a collection of his students notes in response to his lectures. In Rhetoric, Aristotle developed his theory on the Art of Persuasion, which faced tremendous criticism from the philosophers of the time and was termed nothing less than “immoral, dangerous, and unworthy of serious study”.
Thankfully, his ideas stood the test of time, and in the last 2000 years the Rhetoric heavily influenced the development of rhetorical theory from ancient through modern times.
“The most important single work on persuasion ever written.” — most rhetoricians on Aristotle’s Rhetoric
In this article, I will discuss Aristotle’s Rhetorical Triangle, which comprises of three basic kinds of appeals that a speaker can use to persuade their audience (Ethos, Pathos and Logos). We will discuss the importance of these elements in the context of modern-day communication, and how you can leverage this timeless principle to level-up your persuasion skills…
