Self Leadership - The 3 Golden Principles of Greek Philosophy | Alkistis Agio | TEDxIMIB

Socrates it seems that every story about Greek philosophy begins with him he taught that in order to lead others we must first lead ourselves and it's true think about it how can you lead others if you can't lead yourself how can you expect other people to follow you if you don't know where you're going so it's logical to conclude that self leadership is by far the most important skills you will ever acquire but what exactly is self leadership self leadership is knowing who you are what you want and why you want it it also entails making a decision and inspiring yourself to follow it through and have others follow it too it's a complicated thing as you can see Plato the greater the student of Socrates said first and greatest victory is to conquer yourself the importance of self leadership has been stressed since the beginning of time when the ancient Greek cards used to recite the story of the Iliad and the Odyssey the Odyssey a story of a sailor setting off on a perilous journey odysseus was his name and he yearned to reach home and it took ten long years of fighting struggle and obstacle after obstacle and in the end he reached home he reached his goal because his goal who is virtuous and clear so today I'm going to share with you the three golden principles of Greek philosophy for self leadership it has remained the same over thousands of years because it works but first I'd like to share with you a little of my story I was growing up in Canada I was the daughter of immigrants Greek immigrants to Montreal and my parents wanted to connect with my history and my heritage so while other classmates were getting read time stories like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty my parents would read to me from the Iliad and the Odyssey the Greek myths and Aesop's fables now fast-forward my life I'm 22 years old I've come back from London where I study the international banking and finance and I'm working in a big British bank my career seems promising I have a big office and a big paycheck on the inside though I feel horrible and frustrated why because I feel that my natural talents are not matched in the bank in this career I'm a people's person not a numbers person and sometimes I tell my father about this who was the CEO of a bank and he would save my dear daughter he would tap me on the shoulder and say dear daughter life is very difficult it's okay to read philosophy in psychology but stick to your safe job in your paycheck so what did I do I carried on and I felt like a hamster on a treadmill I start to make mistakes at the bank because I'm unmotivated and all these mistakes culminate into one big mistake where I'm called in to do a presentation in front of the board of directors now I do the presentation but I feel terribly embarrassed I didn't do a good job not for my standards not for the standards I know and I can deliver so at the end of that day I face my biggest fears and I hand in my resignation now did things go better after that of course not they got a lot worse first I had a very big argument with my father a dramatic Greek style drama argument where he said to me you're making a terrible mistake you're gonna live to regret it he out stood me out of the house and said to me what amounts to an ancient moto the Spartans would say to the soldiers going off to war then he blasts in other words come bearing your shield as a victor or dead on it what did I do I had no plan I just took any savings I had and I I just took off I had a backpack and I started walking I started backpacking through Asia Minor on my own no plan at all I continue trekking joined up with other groups and ended up trekking through Europe eventually my money ran out so I had to take a job any jock would do low-paying jobs I was waitressing I was a salesgirl I saved my money and tried my own businesses but they failed and left me without any money this was terrible I had to lower my head I was ready to go back to my father on the bus going to buy my ticket something very strange happened I was sitting next to a lady on the bus and she said to me that she had to leave her job she was a management trainer she was training executives in communication and she said that she hadn't problem because she had to replace herself at that job I explained to her that I would be very happy to do that job when we spoken basically she hired me on the bus she said show up tomorrow you got the job that's what I did I showed up at this great management training company I started giving classes with managers my students said that I was really talented at what I was doing I felt it was a great match for my talents and what's even better is the founder of this company he said that Aristotle and Socrates who are the main inspiration for his seminars that they were based on their teachings so I had finally found my place in life now why did I just tell you all this story I told you the story because it's a great example of what you should never do let's face it I got lucky leaving your safe comfort zone without a plan with no strategy is foolish ineffective and downright dangerous it's like getting into a car without knowing how to drive without knowing where you're going and without a GPS or you gonna end up probably off a cliff now as I promised you I would like to make your journey smoother to give you something like a GPS for life and this system is inspired by the Greek philosopher Aristotle now as some of you may know Aristotle was the mentor of alexander the great's one of the greatest philosophers of all time had written the first ever manual on the art of influence and persuasion for leaders and they actually still teach this method today in the finest institutions of the world like Harvard MIT Stanford and now I am I this system is called the rhetorical triangle there are three parts to it the first is ethos if you're a leader or a business person a professional in order to convince and inspire a group of people to change or to follow something you need to have ethos ethos regards your credibility your trustworthiness how much you embody your teaching for example would you learn how to stop smoking from someone who's a smoker no it means they have no ethos next in order to influence you need to Passos the root of the word passion pathos means the emotional connection you have with your audience and you acquire that through speaking to their fears and their dreams it's something like emotional intelligence lastly the leader must use of logos the root of the word logic and reason you need a strategy you need facts you need realistic arguments this is how you win over an audience and as I was teaching this system to executives in my communication classes something began to dawn on me it began to dawn on me that ethos pathos and logos are not only useful for influencing others there's something for influencing yourself and leading yourself in life something like a compass for life yes I'm gonna borrow the metaphor of the charioteer the charioteer then Plato spoke about in the charioteer metaphor you are ethos the charioteer is the ethos in other words you are basing your decisions and your life on being ethical having ethos being truthful and this gives you several things first of all it gives you a great reputation which is priceless both in business and in your personal life second ethos will give you strength and courage to follow through no matter what and most importantly ethos will actually help you to be happy and fulfilled as a human being and this is mainly because people with ethos they follow their beliefs they say what they think and they follow through with compassion in other words most people are thinking one thing saying another and doing another that's fragmented you're not in your power you're not aligned without ethos no one likes a hypocrite or a liar or a cheater we shun them as a society why would you want to be such a person you could never be happy and I'm not saying that to be a good citizen only it's for people to civil purposes it's to make you happy you will balance you and integrated human being ethos is its own reward you do it for itself ethos is basically the first filter through which you should pass any major or minor decisions through ask yourself is this decision aligned with my values with who I want to be as a human being with my best self I'm not saying you have to be perfect you have to just keep striving to be excellent this is another moto I in a deceiving which you also see in many great institutions Iannetta Steven means never to excel remember the charioteer has two horses to manage and control the white horse and the black horse the black horse is your pathos that is the second filter through which you might and must pass your decisions how do you feel about the decision what does your heart say what are your fears address your fears manager fears would come and lastly we have logos is this decision logical reasonable is it based on science and facts and is it a realistic decision is your goal clear this realization that Aristotle system was not only useful for influencing and persuading others and that it can be used for influencing and leading myself was it breakthrough for me and it transformed my life in a way you can say it was the shield that I could return home to my father wish let's go back to when I was remember working in the bank let's use this GPS and see how he could have worked I could have asked myself back then in the banks I guess this are you being fair and truthful with yourself are you being fair and truthful to your father especially to your employers who are paying you if your heart is not in this job no I wasn't being fair and most of all to myself then I wouldn't a sit through the test of others and I would say I guess they look at your fears what do you fear most let's look at it what inspires you most I kiss this what do you really want what is your hearts calling the answer was there and lastly I could have passed it through the test of Lagos what are my real choices let's look at this realistically what could be a realistic goal all right how could I develop a strategy for a smoother transition now I'm not saying that I wouldn't have had trouble in switching careers my life just would have been a lot smoother and that's what we all want right so in conclusion what are these Greek philosophers trying to tell us they're saying live with ethos channel your pathos and multiply your logos they give us a structured way of going through life what's it all for what is this whole method for what is the system that I'm offering to you what is it for it's for something that Greeks call the eudaimonia eudaimonia is something much more than happiness it's about fulfillment and thriving imagine a boat going with the winds in its sail this is how your life can be in fact this is the breakthrough of Greek philosophers they claimed that all of us not just the kings or the Pharaohs all of us each has the right to pursue our happiness and they gave us the tools for that and isn't that what we all really want thank you [Applause]

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 15,687

Keywords: TEDxTalks, English, Life, Leadership, Meditation, Mindfulness, Personal growth, Philosophy, Self improvement

Id: tkcyUhLw8ao

Length: 17min 31sec (1051 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 09 2020