Welcome abroad?
 
Today I have a question for you. Business Astronomy 101.
 
I sometimes have to show someone a very distant, very faint and fuzzy object in my telescope. What I say to them determines what they see.
 
If I say, “It’s pretty dim, you may not see much.” They won’t see much. If I say, “this is 50 million light years away. Light travels 186,000 miles in one second! The photon your eye is collecting has been going that fast for 50 million years and look at what you can see! If you look really close, you can see a swirl pattern to the fuzz. That’s a spiral galaxy!”  Guess what? They’d see aliens out there if I told them to look closely.
 
Okay. Here’s your question. You get an email from your favorite airline. There are two vesions going out. Would your reaction differ depending on which email you got? Would your trust in the airline be shaken depending on the email you got?
 
The airline has discovered an engine design problem that could cause an engine to fail during flight. But, the fix is easy. It requires a simple $2 fastner to secure a fuel mix line.
 
Version 1:
All flights are cancelled until December 1st because of the discovery of a possibly serious engine problem with the aircraft in our fleet.
 
Version 2:
Our regular safety inspections of our aircraft has uncovered a possible problem with the aircraft in our fleet. Because your safety comes first, we are making a simple modification to each and every aircraft to ensure safe operation. Flights will be suspended until we have completed a simple modification and tested the engines to our extremely high standards. We value your business and we work hard to ensure your safety. Flights will resume normal schedule on December 1st. 
 
Well?
 
Chris Reich, Author of TeachU’s Business Talk Blog