Picture a dinner table on a regular weekday evening. The family is gathered — plates of food in front, phones half tucked away, a typical scene.
The father clears his throat. He wants to remind his teenage kids about the importance of routine: waking up on time, finishing homework, sticking to commitments. So he dives in.
“Routine is everything. If you don’t wake up on time, you’ll fall behind in life. Discipline is the foundation of success.”
The kids look down at their plates. They’ve heard this a dozen times before. His words pass over them like background noise.
Now imagine the same father takes a different route.
He leans back, softer voice this time. “You know, when I was your age, I thought rules were pointless too. But when I got my first job, my habits made all the difference. I wasn’t the smartest in the room, but people noticed that I always showed up prepared. That one thing gave me opportunities I never thought I’d get.”
The room shifts. The teenagers glance up. It’s the same message, but this time, they listen.
What changed? Ethos.
From the Dinner Table to the World Stage
What works in a family kitchen works in every arena where persuasion matters. A message lands not because of the logic alone, but because of the character and credibility of the person speaking.
Since i’ve started learning about the Rhetoric, I’ve watched this same pattern play out in classrooms, in offices, even in debates on the world stage. The difference isn’t the words themselves — it’s the Ethos of the speaker.
This truth isn’t modern. It was recognised thousands of years ago, and some of the sharpest minds in history obsessed over it, when persuasion decided court cases, political battles, and even empires.
Enter - Aristotle. And the history of Rhetoric
In ancient Athens, public life revolved around speeches. Citizens had to defend themselves in court, debate policies in assemblies, and rally support in the marketplace. In that world, persuasion wasn’t optional — it was survival.
Aristotle, the philosopher and teacher of Alexander the Great, studied these patterns carefully. He watched how some speakers moved crowds while others failed, even when their arguments were airtight. His conclusion :
Persuasion rests on three pillars — Ethos (character), Pathos (emotion), and Logos (reasoning) — with Ethos at the top.
For Aristotle, Ethos wasn’t just about reputation. It was about how a speaker presented themselves in the moment. Did they sound trustworthy? Did they show good sense? Did they come across as fair-minded? Without these, arguments collapsed, no matter how logical.
Cicero and the Roman Refinement
A few centuries later in Rome, Cicero — one of the most celebrated orators of the Republic — carried Aristotle’s insight forward. For Cicero, Ethos was inseparable from leadership itself.
He believed the audience wasn’t only weighing what was said, but also who was saying it. In one of his courtroom defences, he didn’t just list evidence. He painted himself as a man of moral duty, speaking not for personal gain but for the good of the Republic. That framing made his arguments far more persuasive than the raw facts alone.
Cicero even wrote that the orator’s life off the stage mattered: people judged speeches through the lens of the speaker’s reputation. A single act of dishonour outside the forum could weaken Ethos inside it. In other words, credibility was a long game.
Why This Still Rings True - and why should you care?
The first time I read about Aristotle and Cicero - what struck me was how different their worlds were. But also, how similar! They named something i’ve seen play around countless times and implicitly realised but didn’t have a word for.
Fast forward to today. A father at the dinner table, a manager in a Monday meeting, a YouTuber telling their startup story — they’re all drawing from the same well that Aristotle and Cicero studied.
- Without Ethos, advice sounds like empty instruction.
- With Ethos, advice feels like lived truth.
And it’s not just advice. Ethos shapes how we vote, how we choose who to follow online, how we decide which voices we trust in times of uncertainty.
That’s why this concept, born in ancient Greece, still shapes our most ordinary and most profound conversations.
Why are we telling you this?
Why should you listen to me?
Because the better you understand how Ethos works, the more you’ll notice it everywhere — in meetings, in media, in relationships. And once you notice it, you can start to use it deliberately.
If you understood rhetoric, you could influence politics, law, and culture. If you didn’t, you risked being at the mercy of those who did.
- Aristotle
Where We’re Headed Next
This is Part 2 of our five-part series on Ethos. We’ve seen how it transforms a family dinner conversation, and we’ve traced its roots through Aristotle’s philosophy and Cicero’s speeches.
As a recap, part 1 spoke about why we trust the speaker before the speech. Read the full issue here.
In the next issue, we’ll zoom into history again — this time into one of the most famous speeches ever given: Mark Antony at the funeral of Julius Caesar. We’ll see how Antony positioned himself as both ally and outsider, and how that one speech reshaped Rome. From there, we’ll return to today, exploring how Ethos shifts perception in workplaces, politics, and even at your own table.
For now, remember:
Ethos doesn’t just add weight to your words. It decides whether your words are heard at all.
See you next week!
