Made To Stick by Unknown author

Author:Unknown author
Language: eng
Format: mobi

When it comes to statistics, our best advice is to use them as in- put, not output. Use them to make up your mind on an issue. Don't make up your mind and then go looking for the numbers to support yourself—that's asking for temptation and trouble. But if we use sta- tistics to help us make up our minds, we'll be in a great position to share the pivotal numbers with others, as did Geoff Ainscow and the Beyond War supporters.

148 MADE TO STICK

Dealing with Shark Attack Hysteria

the situation: Every few years the media go frothy over shark at- tacks. Shark attacks, however, remain extremely rare and do not vary much from one year to the next. So why do they consume so much media and public attention? The answer is that shark attacks spawn terrifying, dream-haunting stories like the following, from The Oprah Winfrey Show:

Oprah: Bethany Hamilton loved to ride the waves. Surfing daily since she was 8 years old, Bethany was such a phenom, people said she had salt water running through her veins. At the young age of 13, Bethany was a rising star on the surfing circuit and had become a local celebrity, but what happened next landed Bethany in headlines around the world.

It was early morning. Bethany was in the ocean lying on her board with her arm dangling in the water. Suddenly, a deadly fif- teen-foot tiger shark seized her arm. Violently, he jerked and yanked it until her arm was ripped right off of her small body. Sec- onds later the shark and her entire arm were gone, and Bethany was left alone on her board surrounded by bloody water.

Imagine that you are forced to combat these vivid stories. Maybe you're the publicity director of the Save the Sharks Foundation, or maybe you're trying to convince your junior high school daughter that it's okay to go to the beach. How do you do it? You've got the truth on your side—attacks are very rare—but that's no guarantee that people will believe you. So what source of credibility do you tap to get people to believe you?

CREDIBLE 149

message 1: We based this message on statistics published by the Florida Museum of Natural History:

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