The Power of Persuasion and Influence

“The average person looks without seeing, listens without hearing, touches without feeling, eats without tasting, moves without physical awareness, inhales without awareness of odor or fragrance, and talks without thinking.”

Leonardo da Vinci

Being able to communicate effectively, influence and persuade people are essential tools for business success. However, to understand the foundation of these skills, we must look back thousands of years ago, to one of the greatest philosophers of all time – Aristotle (384 BC – March 7, 322BC).

He was an ancient Greek philosopher, student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great and laid the foundations for successful communication, as we know it today. He was one of the most influential philosophers on the subject of persuasion and a subject called rhetoric.

In the Rhetoric, Aristotle distinguishes three means of persuasion, which were traditionally used the field of politics and law. However, over the last millennia it has now entered such arenas as public relations, lobbying, marketing, advertising, humanities, religion, social sciences, science, journalism, history, literature and even cartography and architecture.

Aristotle concluded that dialectic is a tool for philosophical debate; it is a means for skilled audiences to test probable knowledge in order to learn. However, Rhetoric is a tool for practical debate; it is a means for persuading a general audience using probable knowledge to resolve practical issues.

Dialectic and rhetoric together create a partnership for a system of persuasion based on knowledge instead of manipulation of emotion.

Aristotle spoke of three different skills that were used by anyone giving a persuasive speech, whether it was to one hundred or one thousand people.

Logic

This refers to the actual words used by the speaker. The use of stories, quotes and facts is particularly powerful as a tool of logic. This is important in moving the listener to your point of view. Aristotle placed Logos or logic in first place of importance, however today it could be argued that appealing to the emotions and gaining trust are the front-runners of persuasion skills?

Emotion

This was the second skill in Aristotle’s list for persuasion; he called it pathos -”creating a certain disposition in the audience” (Rhetoric 1356a, 1377b). An emotional appeal that secures the goodwill of the listener. Today, this is better known as empathy and is vitally important in any relationship.

Types:

1. Lay claim to qualities that the audience will respect
2. Stress disadvantages of speaker’s situation as a claim to pity
3. Arouse hostility against opponent
4. Generate prejudice against the opponent through tangential or irrelevant information
5. Incite fear
6. Plea for pity

Character & reputation

Aristotle named this skill Ethos (moral character) and stated that this was important for the listener to find the message believable.

Definition:

The speaker’s makes claims about his moral character to gain trust of audience. The province of ethos is wisdom, virtue, and goodwill.

Types:

1. Appeal to the age and experience of the listener
2. Social virtue
3. Public-spiritedness or common good
4. Humility
5. Restraint
6. Avoid delicate subjects

Aristotle’s pathos or empathy as it’s now more commonly known, is highly important in building rapport with anyone you are communicating with, both as an individual or in an audience situation.

Empathy is defined as feeling or expressing emotion for another and is often characterised by “putting oneself in another”s shoes’ or in some way experience the outlook or emotions of another being within oneself.

This compassion for another human being creates a level of trust and it is the ability to experience another person’s perspective that is the foundation for creating empathy, which in turn creates trust.

Trust is really high on the agenda for most people in life and no more so if you want to be a source of credibility. You need to be sincere or have ethos, as Aristotle called it, but more interestingly, is that trust is a moving entity.

We’re not born with trust, it’s not an inbuilt characteristic, so it can be created or destroyed. Just like energy it changes, it can grow or diminish depending on the relationship.

Some people are born with the ability to emit true sincerity with their words and in their actions, so people naturally levitate to them and view them as trustworthy. But remember, it is the relationship where trust builds i.e. between two people. It is not within another person.

If you want to develop a relationship with anyone, whether it is in a sales situation or a personal relationship scenario, it is vitally important that you covey that you are genuinely sincere and concerned about that individual. Sincerity builds trust, and in turn, trust builds belief and persuasion.

One of the fundamental ways to build empathy with another person is in your ability to listen properly.

The eight steps listed below will help sharpen your listening skills, which will build rapport with another person, making them more relaxed in your company. Effective listening will help you understand their feelings, thoughts and actions.