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VI. The Art of Influencing Others
TO DOWNLOAD WORKSHEET CLICK HERE BACKGROUND: Persuading others is a very important ability in anything you want to do and can play a great role in achieving your goals and dreams. It is one of the most popular seminars I am asked to teach to my corporate clients, because it gives their personnel confidence and effectiveness, and facilitates communication and the spread of ideas within the company itself. |
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The method is the same as we have followed up to now and is explained in Section 1, Core Concepts, where we speak about Aristotle's masterpiece, The Rhetoric, in which he presents the concepts of Ethos (credibility), Pathos (emotion, imagination) and Logos (logic, reason), as the three traits an orator must have, in order to engage, influence and persuade his audience.
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Interesting Fact:
Scientific experiments by Dr. Albert Mehrabian Professor Emeritus of Psychology, UCLA, show that Pathos is much more important when trying to influence and persuade. As you can see from the chart below, nonverbal communication (bodylanguage, eyecontact, tone of voice etc) accounts for 93% in importance! |
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The teaching of Presentation Skills usually requires a Coach and a group setting, so that it can be done in a “real” environment, but you can achieve a lot by doing it yourself too, preferably with someone else watching you. In this askesis we will be standing in front of a video camera (and a small group if you are with others) so that we can have a more realistic view of our ‘delivery.
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NAME: I am Influencing Others With Ease®& Authority
PURPOSE: To train and improve our skill of influencing and persuading others.
INSTRUCTIONS: Think about a presentation you want to make in front of a group of people. Think about what you want to persuade or influence them about. What actions do you want them to take?
For example: Imagine that shortly, you are going to present yourself to the entrancecommittee of a very ancient and prestigious school of SelfLeadership. Many of those people who you greatly admire and have deep respect for, have been initiates/alumni of this academy. They will be comparing your presentation to hundred of thousands of other applicants. Prepare a presentation, applying Ethos, Pathos, Logos of Aristotle’s “Rhetorical Triangle” to convince them to let you join.
Write down your points to prepare under each Principle:
ETHOS: What is your personal history and integrity in relation to the subject matter? What impressions, qualities or values do you want to leave behind?
Write down your introduction which should include a greeting, the subject you want to talk about as well as your full name, occupation and relationship to this subject.
Write down the values and impressions you seek to stress.
PATHOS:
Write down your Emotional arguments:
“I am really passionate about.....” or “I know that you are passionate about...(dreams)....” or “I know that you are concerned about....(fear)...”
LOGOS:
Write down your Logical Arguments:
(Show a real life example if possible.)
CONCLUSION:
Write down the Summary or Conclusion of your arguments as a ”Call to Action”:
Example: And that’s why ........(call to action)....”
When you have your presentation ready, deliver it to your audience (or to yourself if you can’t get anyone) and film yourself doing it.
Reviewing the video will tell you a lot. Focus especially on your body language and other nonverbal communication such as eyecontact, breathing, posture etc.
How do you see yourself? Do you come across as having the Ethos, the Pathos and the Logos required to persuade your audience? What do the others think?
Repeating this process until you can accept yourself as a capable and effective speaker, will greatly improve your chances of others seeing you in a similar manner.
PURPOSE: To train and improve our skill of influencing and persuading others.
INSTRUCTIONS: Think about a presentation you want to make in front of a group of people. Think about what you want to persuade or influence them about. What actions do you want them to take?
For example: Imagine that shortly, you are going to present yourself to the entrancecommittee of a very ancient and prestigious school of SelfLeadership. Many of those people who you greatly admire and have deep respect for, have been initiates/alumni of this academy. They will be comparing your presentation to hundred of thousands of other applicants. Prepare a presentation, applying Ethos, Pathos, Logos of Aristotle’s “Rhetorical Triangle” to convince them to let you join.
Write down your points to prepare under each Principle:
ETHOS: What is your personal history and integrity in relation to the subject matter? What impressions, qualities or values do you want to leave behind?
Write down your introduction which should include a greeting, the subject you want to talk about as well as your full name, occupation and relationship to this subject.
Write down the values and impressions you seek to stress.
PATHOS:
Write down your Emotional arguments:
“I am really passionate about.....” or “I know that you are passionate about...(dreams)....” or “I know that you are concerned about....(fear)...”
LOGOS:
Write down your Logical Arguments:
(Show a real life example if possible.)
CONCLUSION:
Write down the Summary or Conclusion of your arguments as a ”Call to Action”:
Example: And that’s why ........(call to action)....”
When you have your presentation ready, deliver it to your audience (or to yourself if you can’t get anyone) and film yourself doing it.
Reviewing the video will tell you a lot. Focus especially on your body language and other nonverbal communication such as eyecontact, breathing, posture etc.
How do you see yourself? Do you come across as having the Ethos, the Pathos and the Logos required to persuade your audience? What do the others think?
Repeating this process until you can accept yourself as a capable and effective speaker, will greatly improve your chances of others seeing you in a similar manner.
