Persuasion

Ethos, logos, pathos

Balance credibility, logic and human relevance instead of relying on one.

Connection · Capability framework · No. 43

The shape

Ethos, why you are worth believing
Logos, the evidence and the logic
Pathos, why it matters to a person

Why that order

Strong persuasion rarely rests on logic alone. Logic decides who is right, and the other two decide who is listened to.

A worked example

Ethos: We have run this approach in three comparable teams.
Logos: Those teams cut processing time by 30 per cent.
Pathos: It means the team spends less of its week fighting the process and more of it serving customers.

What usually goes wrong

Reaching for pathos to cover a weak logos. An audience forgives a modest claim and does not forgive being worked on.

Mostly serves Connection, and reaches into Message and Presence.

A framework tells you what shape the answer takes. It cannot tell you whether shape is what you are short of, and for most people it is not. Which one is yours, and whether a framework is the right instrument at all, is what a Discovery Call is for.

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