Brother,
"One is a tragedy; one million is a statistic."
I first heard this phrase when watching a TV show with Grandma. The plot was about a group of people who fabricated a fake story to gain leverage on a foreign leader. It worked.
The quote is attributed to Joseph Stalin, who said it in the context of death and hunger. "If one man dies of hunger - that's a tragedy; if one million die of hunger - that's a statistic." Imagine if a political leader said that today in the context of Covid…
The quote resurfaced itself during my time at Uber as Country General Managers would go through media training. Yes, this exists. Essentially reporters who train businessman how to dodge and reframe tough questions and build narratives to influence others.
One of the key lessons we learned is that numbers are boring. People, whether it's the media or regulators, want to hear stories.
For me, in Kenya, no one cared to hear about the 5,000 jobs we created in less than 12 months. Nope. They wanted to hear about Esther, the single mother who worked her way out of poverty driving for Uber. About how she earned enough to pay her son's school fees and ultimately surprise him with a bike on his birthday. About how she found success on the platform, eventually building up a small fleet of cars and changing her life for the better.
I was always good with numbers, and it was my go-to for building influential arguments before. I was a "data-driven storyteller." The issue is, it's much more effective to lean in on the emotional side.
Let me leave you with a quote and a question.
"Those who tell the stories rule the world."
-Native American Proverb
Where have you seen the “one is a tragedy, one million is a statistic” concept play out recently?
Enjoy the dance,
Nate