We are bombarded daily with numbers and facts and yet we are rarely moved by them.

Our brains process and connect with images faster and more empathetically.

Through storytelling we can create imagery that motivates and entices.

By Tarek Issa and Joe Navarro

“The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic.”

Often attributed to Joseph Stalin but likely originating in a 1924 French satirical work, this observation endures because it reflects something fundamental about human cognition: scale dulls emotion. The larger the number, the more distant the experience feels. Yet introduce a single face, a single story, and indifference can rapidly give way to concern.

This is not a moral failing of the human mind—it is a feature of what makes us human.

Across decades of observing human behavior, whether in investigative settings, corporate boardrooms, or everyday interactions, we have seen repeatedly that facts alone rarely persuade. Numbers can inform, but they seldom inspire trust or action. That is because trust is not primarily a product of logical reasoning. It is an emotional assessment filtered through experience, identification, and rapid cognitive shortcuts we all rely on to navigate complexity.

History offers powerful demonstrations of this dynamic. During World War II, public messaging did not rely solely on casualty figures but on narratives that personalized sacrifice and purpose. Later, psychologists would label this phenomenon the “identifiable victim effect”: People respond more strongly to the plight of a specific individual than to statistics describing many.

A similar pattern emerged during the Vietnam War. While casualty numbers accumulated over time, they were practically ignored by the public. All it took was one iconic photograph in 1972 of a young Vietnamese girl fleeing a napalm attack to crystallize public sentiment in ways statistics had not. Images—and the stories they carry—engage the emotional brain, the very system that shapes attitudes and motivates behavior.

For leaders, educators, entrepreneurs, and anyone attempting to influence others, the lesson is clear: Being correct, accurate, or precise is not enough. Persuasion requires a substantive connection at a deeper psychological level.

Below are five practical ways to bridge the gap between data and human engagement at a deeper psychological and empathetic level.

1. Establish meaning before magnitude

Before people evaluate how large something is, they want to understand why it matters. Meaning provides orientation; numbers provide validation.

“We have offices in 30 countries.”

“When we opened our first office in France, we were just two people navigating an unfamiliar market. Today, we operate in 30 countries.”

The statistic remains identical, but the narrative supplies context, effort, and journey—elements that invite empathy and retention.

2. Let your body communicate credibility

Long before listeners process your words, they are evaluating you nonverbally. Humans are exquisitely sensitive to posture, movement, gaze, and vocal rhythm as indicators of confidence and authenticity.

Behaviors that erode confidence include hurried speech, fidgeting, excessive self-touching, inconsistent eye contact, or physically shrinking when challenged. In contrast, grounded posture, deliberate gestures, steady gaze, and strategic pauses convey calm authority.

In many interactions, your conviction is perceived nonverbally before it is articulated. How you genuinely feel about something can be very persuasive.

3. Anchor facts in identity and narrative

Information rarely exists in isolation. People interpret it through the lens of identity—both their own and that of the messenger.

“We have thousands of satisfied customers.”

“Victoria, a founder from Florida, was overwhelmed by AI tools until she began using our system. Today, she runs a multi-million-dollar business. She’s but one of our satisfied customers.”

The number provides scope, but Victoria’s story provides relatability. Identification precedes persuasion—when we see ourselves in the story, we accept the idea more readily.

4. Move from abstraction to imagery

The brain processes visual information with remarkable efficiency. When actual images are unavailable, metaphors and analogies can create vivid mental representations.

“We achieved 50 percent year-over-year growth.”

“With that growth, our team shifted from a jog to a full sprint.”

The second statement allows listeners to visualize momentum rather than merely compute it.

5. Reduce cognitive load through conversational language

Complex language imposes cognitive effort, and effort can create distance. Simplicity, by contrast, enhances what psychologists call cognitive fluency—the ease with which information is processed and accepted.

“Our platform leverages proprietary workflows to optimize operational efficiency.”

“We help teams cut manual work in half by automating repetitive tasks.”

Both may be accurate, but only one invites immediate understanding. The human brain, as I noted in Be Exceptional, prefers simplicity over complexity.

Whether presenting an idea, negotiating an agreement, or mobilizing a team, persuasion rests on more than evidence. The human mind seeks meaning before details or magnitude, clarity before complexity, and trust before acceptance.

Psychological connections emerge when information is contextualized through storytelling and analogy, reinforced through credible nonverbal behavior, and delivered in language that feels human rather than engineered. These are learnable skills. In an era where technology increasingly showers us with data that can seem difficult to digest, the distinctly human capacities for empathy, narrative, and trust-building become even more valuable.

Ultimately, influence is less about how much you know and more about how effectively others can feel, see, and understand what you know.

Copyright © 2026 Tarek Issa and Joe Navarro

Loewenstein, George, Deborah A. Small, and Paul Slovic. “Statistical, Identifiable, and Iconic Victims.” Carnegie Mellon University, Department of Social and Decision Sciences. Accessed February 20, 2026. https://www.cmu.edu/dietrich/sds/docs/loewenstein/identifiableVictim.PDF.

Navarro, Joe, and Tarek Issa. “How to Unlock the Power of Storytelling: Stories, Not Facts, Have a Longer Shelf Life.” Psychology Today, November 1, 2020.

Navarro, Joe. Be Exceptional: Master the Five Traits That Set Extraordinary People Apart. New York: Portfolio, 2021.

Navarro, Joe. Mastering Connections. New York: HarperCollins. 2026.

Navarro, Joe, with Marvin Karlins. What Every BODY Is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent’s Guide to Speed-Reading People.New York: Collins, 2008.

Reinhard, Marc-Andre, and Siegfried L. Sporer. “Verbal and Nonverbal Behaviour as a Basis for Credibility Attribution: The Impact of Task Involvement and Cognitive Capacity.” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 44, no. 3 (2008): 477–488.

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