in·flu·ence/noun: the capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behavior of someone or something, or the effect itself

In recent months I have spent more time than usual thinking about the best ways to influence others.

Practical things like convincing the “mask adverse” to wear face coverings to protect themselves and others.

Or philosophical things like what it means to be a country united in purpose rather than a loose collection of individuals pursuing only what is good for them.

At the level of the school community, administrators and teacher leaders are frequently called upon to influence others on issues as diverse as instruction, school policies, and the norms that guide the community.

To those ends, I remain convinced that stories are almost always more effective than logical arguments, although evidence and reasoning have their place. Facts are important, but alone they are often less than persuasive, at least to the people they are intended to influence.

Here’s one of my favorite stories about which I invite you to draw your own conclusions: 

A village is having a community picnic on the edge of a river when someone notices a child being carried along in the rapid current. A human chain is hurriedly formed, and the child is pulled to safely. While participants congratulate each other someone notices a second child, and a line is again formed and the child brought to the river bank. Soon an endless succession of children overwhelms the citizens until in exhaustion they collapse to the ground in the park. Then someone says, “Let’s go upstream to see who’s throwing the children in the river.”

While that story may have more than one point, it says to me that too often we give our attention to symptoms (children in the river) rather than root causes (why so many find themselves in the river). And then we blame the children or their parents without fully understanding the other powerful forces that have thrown so many children into the water.

At least for me, that story goes much farther than reams of statistics and analysis about how poverty, racism, poor health care, and other “upstream” systemic factors affect children and their families, while at the same encouraging listeners to explore available evidence to better understand causes and solutions.

Others may have their own stories to illustrate that point or find additional lessons in the story.

I know from experience that while facts may be necessary to persuade others, they are seldom sufficient. 

Seth Godin explains it this way:

“A report, study or testimony that’s all anecdote with no data carries little in the way of actionable information.

“On the other hand, if you want to change people’s minds, “all data and no anecdote” isn’t going to get you very far.

“We act on what we understand, we understand what fits into our worldview and we remember what we act on.”

The challenge, of course, is to choose stories that powerfully illustrate the points we wish to make. And to be prepared with evidence that helps listeners move beyond anecdote to informed points of view and meaningful solutions.

What’s your favorite story to explain an important idea or to open minds to other perspectives?