The art of persuasion is arguably one of the most important abilities in your life to nourish. Today's world is built on persuasion, weather you like it or not. Somebody is always trying to get in your head and affect your decisions. Many people want to change your opinions and actions to benefit themselves, and they are all competing for influence over your thoughts. Take a second to think about how marketing and advertising fits into your day to day life. From that perspective, how many times per day do you believe that you are trying to be persuaded? There is much debate on this topic but some of the more conservative estimates are that we see 300-700 marketing messages a day. Every commercial, every logo, every brand, and even most of the people you talk to in your day to day life are trying to persuade you. Once we get over this somewhat sad reality that is a result of the capitalist society we live in, we can work to understand and harness the power of persuasion to our benefit. Persuasion is not always marketing & sales which some see as negative, persuasion is the central pillar of a great leader. Great leaders have the ability to drastically change our world in positive ways. We'll dip into this example at the end of the blog by reviewing one of the most influential speeches in history.
Persuasion has been a topic of philosophy for a long time and I want to share some wisdom from one of the greatest human minds in history, Aristotle. He suggested that the art of persuasion can be divided into three categories; ETHOS, PATHOS, & LOGOS. Let's explore what these divisions are and how to harness them.
Ethos is an appeal to ethics that is based on credibility and expertise based on past experiences. Pathos is an appeal to emotions that creates an emotional response in order to persuade. Logos is an appeal to logic that is often based in facts, science, and data.
The art of persuasion is knowing which of these to use in any given situation. One must consider which would be most effective in each situation as every individual is different. Some science based folks would be extremely put off by persuasion based on emotion (pathos). Others would respond much more positively to an emotional based argument, and this type of persuasion has the ability to inspire quick action. Overall, you need to understand your audience to apply the most effective persuasion style.
Finding the right balance if key when you are unsure of which technique would best appeal to your audience. The most effective way to persuade is to know your audience deeply, but this is not always possible. When you are walking in blind you have to find that perfect balance. Be prepared to appeal to emotions, logic, and ethics when you are in a situation like this. You will also want to strike this balance when persuading groups as each individual in the group will react differently to ethos, pathos, and logos.
Watch this video - Which is arguably one of the GREATEST SPEECHES OF ALL TIME by one of the most influential leaders in history. Notice the focus on pathos in this speech. Martin Luther King Jr. knew his audience deeply and established that an appeal to emotions (pathos) would be the most effective in this case. I get goosebumps just watching this... Great leaders can change the world through persuasion.
I would love to hear from you, which technique of persuasion do you feel is most effective?
Thanks for tuning in friends :)