How to counter half-truths and lies with a better story

Imagine that you’re responsible for communicating your company’s new strategy, and just as you’re about to do so, you hear something worrying on the grapevine. A lot of employees believe the strategy was created by the new CEO going home one night, digging up an old strategy from his previous company, then making copies of it and plastering them across the executive suites of your company’s headquarters.

What should you do if you encounter a situation like this? Shawn Callahan from Anecdote advises that just trying to negate such misinformation actually works to reinforce it. Drawing on story impact research, he recommends correcting misinformation with a better story.