How can to be more persuasive at work?

A good idea alone has never been enough to move a listener to action.




Aristotle tells us that to be persuasive, we must connect to a listener on 3 levels: Logos, Ethos and Pathos.



Logos, Ethos and Pathos



Logos is that the idea makes sense from the audience's point of view. This is usually different from the speaker's point of view... so work needs to be done to make the idea relevant to the world view, pains and challenges of the listeners.



Ethos is the reputation, credibility, trustworthiness and authority of the speaker. Reputation = what are you known for? Credibility = do you look and act professional? Trustworthy = your motives are clear, you show the listener that you care about them as much as yourself. Authority = Confidence + Assertiveness + Concise message + clear strong voice (no umms, ahhs).



Pathos is the emotional environment. There are moments where an audience is not ready to hear the message. A speaker must create the right emotional environment for their message. Stories are the most effective human tool for creating an emotional connection.