85. Use Statistics, Stories, Symbols, and Metaphors

Master leaders infuse their message with statistics, stories, symbols, and metaphors. These tools ramp up the leader's message and communicate with compelling clarity a direction that influences others to follow.

Pick up any business magazine and skim through the cover story. Numbers, graphs, and other data fly off the page. Exceptional leaders know statistics allow meaningful and precise comparisons. Statistics reinforce the leader's message and verify the leader's course of action.

For example, if you were trying to influence your human resources group's willingness to hire a leadership trainer, you could cite many different statistics: U.S. employers will spend $54 billion on formal training ...

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