MODERN BUSINESS
Figure 2
mild-mannered John Snow , a doctor , lived in London , just when some of the biggest outbreaks of cholera hit in the mid-19th century . 7 Even in the 1850s London was a massive city , but with one big difference from today : it didn ’ t have a sewage system . London stank . And to make matters worse , although the flushing toilet had just been invented , there was no sewer to flush it into .
So when cholera broke out , it was common practice to blame the spread of the disease on the miasma – the stench – that sat over the city . The thinking was that , as citizens produced more unsanitary smells , cholera would float from one neighbourhood to another . This story went deep . In one survey of that time , only 5 % of doctors thought cholera was a waterborne contagion .
The miasma-causes-cholera story was told publicly and pervaded the medical literature in John Snow ’ s time . But more often than not , the stories that are informing the way people think are hidden . So you need to actively seek out these stories , those that lie under the surface , to know what you are dealing with . I call this story-listening : the active collecting of the stories that are being told in any defined population .
Running anecdote circles is an effective technique for collecting stories . It ’ s much like running focus groups , but instead of seeking opinions you elicit stories . We wrote a popular guide called The Ultimate Guide to Anecdote Circles , 8 which shows you how to prepare and run them .
Getting back to John Snow , to change the minds of the medical professional and also the policy-makers of Victorian England , he needed to tell a new story with data . His now-famous
Figure 3 map showing the cholera deaths in and around Soho ’ s Broad Street ( now called Broadwick Street ) did the trick by clearly illustrating the connection between the street ’ s water pump , the people who drew water from it , and those who perished from cholera . ( Figure 3 )
It would be folly to think that this one map and the associated story Snow told changed the minds of the miasma camp in one fell swoop . The fact is that Snow had been campaigning for years to convince people that cholera was a waterborne disease . That said , his map marked a turning point . It illustrated what can happen when data and story combine , especially when you know the prevailing story you are up against .
DURING DATA ANALYSIS The act of analysing data involves a constant flow of evolving stories . For example , in your analysis you might discover that in your city , 1000 university graduates got a job within a month of finishing their degrees . But compared with what ? What happened to graduates in other cities ? You then discover that 2000 people got jobs right out of uni in another city . But what is the relative size of each city ? What are the demographics of each population ? What ’ s the employment rate ? What industries are employing
30 ModernBusiness October 2016