Ethos, Pathos, Logos…The Greek’s Version of M=EC³

Teaching Elephants to Talk Tip
By Matt Lewis
Tues. Dec. 28, 2004

Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People contains a quote which reinforces what we teach about message (M=EC³ or message = emotion x contrast, connection x credibility.) I thought I’d share it with you.

According to Covey:

“The early Greeks had a magnificent philosophy which is embodied in three sequentially arranged words: ethos, pathos, and logos. I suggest these three words contain the essence of seeking first to understand and making effective presentations.

Ethos is your personal credibility, the faith people have in your integrity and competency. It’s the trust that you inspire, your Emotional Bank Account.

Pathos is the empathic side – it’s the thrust of another person’s communication.

Logos is the logic, the reasoning part of the presentation.

Notice the sequence: ethos pathos, logos – your character, and your relationships, and then the logic of your presentation. This represents another major paradigm shift. Most people, in making presentations, go straight to the logos, the left brain logic, of their ideas. They try to convince other people of the validity of that logic without first taking ethos and pathos into consideration.”