Mentoring Chair Sharing 02: Speaking Sapiosexually like an Ancient Greek Orator

 When we mention the word "Greek", the first image that comes to our mind is city of Athens. It is the heart of Ancient Greece, a powerful civilization and empire. It is also the birth place of of democracy: the political system, government of the people, by the people and for the people. 

We also may thought of the elite warriors of Greece, who are discipline, fearsome military force and incredibly sexy gentlemen. It was popularized by historical action film 300. 

"Spartans! Ready your breakfast and eat hearty! For tonight, we dine in hell!" - King Leonidas

The Sparta women enjoyed status, power and respect that was unequaled in the rest of classical world, even in comparison with modern world today. 

The Ancient Greek is also the birthplace of contemporary public speaking. The skills and techniques of today's oratory discipline is deeply rooted in Ancient Greek culture. The orator was a celebrated figure in their society. The art of spoken words, rhetoric, was a strongly valued element of the classical education.  The most highly educated receiving particularly strong rhetoric training. This is in stark contrast with Asian culture, where silence is considered as virtue and respect, thanks to Confucianism. 

Let's get started by defining the word "Rhetoric". Aristotle defined it as "The faculty of discovering in any particular case all of available means of persuasions." In short, rhetoric is speech designed to persuade. 

Having high intelligence and good looking does not automatically turned you into a sapiosexually attractive. Your intelligence need to be expressed, displayed and communicated in an attractive manner. So, understanding the elements of rhetorical speech can help you to achieve that. 

Tonight, we will explore The Rhetorical Triangle (Three Rhetorical Triangle).

The Rhetorical Triangle consists of 3 components: 

• Ethos
• Logos
• Pathos

Three components are connected and interrelated, hence the triangle. 

The English translation of the word "Ethos" means ethics. In the case of oral persuasion, the word ethos have broader sense of "what makes the speaker credible".  Ethos is established through a variety of factors including status, awareness, professionalism, celebrity endorsement, research even title and family background amongst others. Your tone of voice need to be appropriate to environment, as it plays an importance role in establishing ethos. 

The key to establish strong ethos is intention. Quintilian, a Roman rhetorician and educator, wrote that a speaker should be "the good man speaking well." He emphasized on good character of speaker, assuming best intentions and the most truthful search about an issue for the audience.  

In short, a man of good character is a sexy man. 

Logos is the Greek term for "logic". In rhetoric context, logos isn't like logic in math, philosophy or computer science. It is consistency and clarity of an argument, as well as logic of argument and reasons. Appeal your audience with logos by: 

• Making audience can follow progression of your ideas - have a clear structure of organization and logical flow
• Offer clear, reasonable point of views with proof, supported by facts and evidence
• Develop your key ideas with appropriate details, enrich with analysis and explanation

In a nutshell, a man who speaks clearly and easily understood is a sexy man. 

"Let's not forget that the little emotions are the great captains of our lives. We obey them without us realizing it." - Vincent Van Gogh 

Pathos means emotions in modern English. When we talk about pathos in rhetorical appeals, it is about how audience will react to your message. The idea behind pathos is you, the speaker, want your audience to feel a certain way when you communicate to them. 

Pathos is the most powerful, immediate rhetorical device to connect with your audience. Telling a story is the most effective way to draw on emotions of audience, attract and maintain their interest on your speech. You maybe able to  persuade them to act based on what you say.  Other ways to keep people engaged: 

• Use humor to keep them engaged
• Show images that evoke strong emotions
• Use figurative languages, words that describe different spectrum of emotions to connect with the audience

In essence, a sexy man is an emotionally empathetic man. 

We come to the end of our sharing. We were introduced with the Rhetorical Triangle of effective speech.  Build ethos - the credibility to make your audience trust and listen to you. Prepare your speech with strong logos - substantiate your points with evidence and examples, so that your audience are convinced with your work. Connect to your audience with pathos. Appeal to them with emotional empathy. 

As you can see, to be sexy isn't always about hard muscles, boobs, butts, barely there lingerie. It is the way you talk and the way you think in an easily relatable manner. It is understanding and application of Rhetorical Triangle that makes you, sapiosexually attractive. 

With the basic understanding of rhetoric from Aristotle, we will explore the 5 Canons of Rhetoric developed by Marcus Tullius Cicero, father of modern oratory persuasion. It is the step-by-step formula how to prepare a powerful, persuasion speech. Whatever that I shared with you is available in our resource database.