When a message or speech influences its audience, we often attribute the effect to the communicator’s charisma and leadership skills. But could it be something else?

Communicators who successfully influence people rely on principles of behavioral psychology that govern how people act, make decisions and change their minds.

The early philosophers recognized what made a message persuasive. Aristotle, who founded the art of rhetoric, says that a persuasive message has three critical elements: ethos (the credibility of the speaker), logos (the strength of the argument) and pathos (the communicator’s ability to emotionally move an audience).

Leave equipped to transform your writing and utilize the elements of persuasion.