justplainbil

Just Plain Bill

“78.45% of humans tend to hate statistics”

I’ve always been interested in statistics, especially so after reading the book How to Lie with Statistics while working on my graduate education many years ago. So when I read Seth Godin’s recent post, my interest was piqued. www.sethgodin.com/.

In his August 19^th post, Seth states: “Almost nothing in our civilization is merely the result of direct experience. We rely on scouts and technologists and journalists to tell us what it's like over there, to give us a hint about what to expect next, and most of all, to bring the insights and experiences of the larger world to bear on our particular situation.”

The final sentence of Seth’s passage says better than I ever can what I’m committed to when I rely on “proof statements” to support my narrative, providing a bigger picture to enhance my audiences understanding – which goes beyond statistics.

There is an art to storytelling, as reported on in a Huffington Post article. The statement from the article, “Social scientists tell us that 65% of our conversations boil down to story…” speaks volumes. My personal experiences and accomplishments as a lifetime educator, of both children and “children in big clothes”, have reinforced that concept, and some of my most effective training of sales professionals has centered around telling a “story”, rather than comparing statistics, or rattling off features of a product or service.

In closing, another powerful statement from the Huffington Post article says it all: “…neuroscientists like to say that the human brain is ‘wired for story.’ It’s how we make sense of our lives.”