What to Say When Things Get Tough: Business Communication Strategies for Winning People Over When They're Angry, Worried and Suspicious of

Chapter 5

THE CODE FOR TRUST AND CREDIBILITYHow to Get It, Keep It, and Use It

People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

—UNKNOWN

 

Several years ago, a power plant in the Midwest released a small amount of hazardous waste into a local lake. As you can imagine, the incident generated a lot of concern. Hundreds of people live along the lake’s shores. Thousands flock to it during the summer to swim, fish, and water-ski. Local officials, bombarded with calls from residents demanding to know whether they were in any danger, summoned an executive from the utility that owned the plant to a public meeting at the local high school. Let’s call the executive Mr. Malone. They also invited a professor from a nearby university ...