Using Aristotle’s writings as a guide to successful leadership communication.

Aristotle’s Rhetoric has meaningful information for today’s leaders. Rhetoric is about the ability to persuade others to accept the speaker’s point of view or argument. This is a skill that leaders use every day and they would be powerless without it. Without getting others onboard a leader’s ideas would go nowhere. To be able to persuade others the speaker needs to be believable and passionate about the topic. Credibility is a key aspect of convincing others to follow. A leader must display a certain amount of passion to his followers in order to have them see the importance of the need to take action and want to do so. Aristotle believed that it was important when making an argument that the speaker needed to know the audience. He needed to know what was important to them in order to make the points of persuasion relevant to the listener. If the listener doesn’t see a need to do what the speaker is trying to accomplish then they will not act. An example would be a politician speaking on the need to make changes in the Health Care System. He would not give the same speech to the Doctors and Hospital Administers as he would to the Teamsters Union Members. Each has their own interests and the speaker needs to know what they are in order to persuade the listeners. The third important part of Rhetoric is how the logical argument is to be presented. Using metaphors to paint a picture and making the argument come to life is an important aspect of persuasion. As well as how the logic is presented for example showing both sides of the argument and making your case and proving it are vitally important. Leaders must be able to persuade others to follow. The methods that are highlighted in Aristotle’s Rhetoric; speaker credibility, how to capture an audience’s attention, how to visualize and describe the desired outcome, how to motivate and finally how to present logical arguments are important attributes for a leader. Rhetoric is an outline on how to communicate well.