How to Make What's Important ... Interesting

Years ago, I read an article by Shankar Vedantam in The Washington Post that opened my eyes as to how we can make what's important ... interesting.

Rather than leading with data, Vedantam shared a story about an oil tanker that had caught fire off the coast of Hawaii.

A cruise ship happened to be going by and rescued the 11 individuals on board.

The captain held a press conference and confessed he and his crew were glad to be rescued, but all he could think about was his dog who had been left behind.

That press conference went viral. Donations poured in, prompting the U.S. Navy to redirect its Pacific Fleet to search for the tanker.

Against all odds, they located the tanker and launched a quarter-million-dollar rescue mission (!) to save Hokget.

Are you thinking, 'Well, good for Hokget, but what's the point?'

Would people have read that article if the title had been about genocide and famine - which was Vedantum's subject? Would they have read it if he had started out with dire statistics?

Maybe not. That topic is depressing. Many would have opted out.

So, Vedantum shared an intriguing example that engaged us and illustrated what it takes to cause us to care about an issue.

His story showed why people will mobilize to save ONE DOG - even when millions of people don't have food, water, or shelter - because of something called THE EMPATHY TELESCOPE.

We can empathize with ONE person; we can't empathize with MILLIONS.

We can put ourselves in the shoes of an individual, we can't put ourselves in the shoes of an issue.

Facts can fall flat. Statistics alone don't cause us to care.

So, what does that mean?

If you want people to care about an issue you care about, share a "Dog on a Tanker" example of ONE person (or dog:-) who has been impacted by it.

Don't talk about the MANY people who have been impacted, talk about ONE.

We will be more likely to relate to, remember, and act on your issue if you put us in the scene of a real-life example where we can identify with the person you're describing.

We will be more motivated and mobilized because we can now SEE what you're SAYING.

We feel what they were feeling.

This is no longer a neck-up issue about numbers, it's about a human being we can picture.

An abstract, perhaps overwhelming, issue just come alive in our mind's eye.

What was important to you just became interesting to us.

And isn't that the goal of all communication?

To communicate what we care about so others care about it too?

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I so believe in the power of Dog on a Tanker stories, I included three (plus an exercise!) in my 17 minute TEDx talk . The first puts people in the scene of how I discovered The Eyebrow Test. The second shares a success story of the "Did you Know...?" opening in action. And the third is a real-life example at the INC 500 conference of how I helped someone turn her traditional elevator speech into an intro that elicits AHA's and leads to meaningful conversations.