Rhetoric-a definition and everyday examples

When we talk about rhetoric, some of us don't immediately know what we are referring to,others know briefly the context of the term,and still yet others understand proficiently the context and working examples of the term-RHETORIC. For our purposes, we will assume that collectively we have a brief understanding of its meaning and context. By the end of this blog, we will all have a working knowledge of the context and basis for the application of this term.
Rhetoric, according to Merriam-Webster's dictionary, is defined as "the art of speaking or writing effectively" In other words relating to business, rhetoric consists of the foundational principles of effectively communicating in speaking or writing in a professional setting. Examples of such could be, a professional spoken proposal your boss may direct you to present to market a new product you recommended, a memo that a director may require at the beginning of the week to follow up with your weekly tasks, or perhaps a letter written to the president of your company requesting an alteration in company policy. All of these represent formal styles of rhetoric that you and I may use in business to persuade our audience. These individuals that make up our audience may refer to our colleagues, our supervisors, director, management, or even president and CEO. No matter if we are addressing our colleague in the same department through an email or the CEO of a large corporation, we are using the same techniques and style of rhetoric to persuade our audience to DO something! If our audience does not respond to what we want them to DO, we have not used rhetoric. It is always our goal to communicate in such a way that builds our reputation and brings credibility to ourselves, our departments,and ultimately our employer. If we have done this effectively-we have used RHETORIC.
With a brief understanding of the contextual meaning of the term rhetoric, we may now undergo various business communications with a goal in mind: communicate effectively what we want someone in position to DO because of our communication. As we follow the principles of rhetoric we will be effective in communicating what we want done and our goals will be met with more proficiency.