Aristotle’s professional caliber:
Aristotle, a 384 BC born Greek philosopher and an influential academician, led a life that was masterfully scholarly. As a renowned teacher and researcher in science, politics, soul and ethics, Aristotle inspired the birth of the modern philosophy of the West that proudly admits taking its soul from the Aristotelian philosophical tradition.
Aristotle had a remarkable professional caliber that relates to his career as an academician at Plato’s academy in Athens and later at the Royal academy in the kingdom of Macedon. His writings and scripts, which were only intended for teaching his students, are remarkably insightful and available today for learners and his followers.
A common element in professionalism in the ancient Greece era and today’s modern era is how effectively a person presents their ideas. Throughout his long and successful academic career, Aristotle learnt the art of influencing people with his presentation style that made him appear credible, logical and influential.
Aristotle’s advice:
According to Aristotle, the way a person presents their ideas might carry three types of persuasive elements.
- Ethos: the credibility one holds in the subject, as a speaker/author
- Pathos: the extent to which one uses feelings and storytelling
- Logos: the logic and facts in ones speech or writing
You choose Ethos, Pathos, or Logos based on your audience. For that you need to research on what factor your audience would most likely become persuaded to. For example, as a potential candidate for a team lead role, using Pathos with your boss who is more likely to get influenced when you tell them how much you own the vision of the company. In the other, in the case of delivering a presentation on a new project idea, using logic and facts on how the idea brings benefits for the company would be most beneficial.
Ethos
Ethos represents using your professional credibility to leave an impact on your audience. Your credibility develops from the professional credentials you own and the work experience you have. Being persuaded by Ethos, your audience finds your certifications and degrees as rightfully validating your claims and statements. One’s professional experience in an area also speaks of one’s credibility as a presenter.
To rightly use Ethos, introduce yourself including your professional credentials, achievements and experience. As you do this, your audience gets mentally ready to accept your ideas and thoughts as you present to them.
Pathos
In Pathos, you try to connect to the topic using your feelings. As you use Pathos, your body language naturally widens and disseminates waves of energy that’s felt by your audience. Pathos is a presentation by heart and therefore is effective in delivery.
In essence Pathos is all about how you connect to the feelings of your audience. And when your feelings are relatable to the audience they connect to it via an invisible link and enigmatically get surrounded by your convincing prowess.
Logos
In Logos, you persuade people through logic and facts. Since logic and facts are accepted universally, they have exceptional power to convince people.
To use Logos, state statistics, data and facts for your audience. Then present your solution, stating calculated figures on how the idea has the potential to improve things.
Tip on how to build a professional caliber with Aristotle’s timeless advice.
Aristotle’s simple advice on using 3 elements of persuasion helps you become clearheaded and makes it easy to craft targeted content for your audience. Taking just 5 mins to build a persuasion strategy before you start planning content– shortlisting which of Aristotle’s 3 points to use, can have a profound effect on how you present to your audience and win their praise.
