A few weeks ago one of the worst natural disasters in history occurred, yet the world’s reaction has been banal at best. The floods in Pakistan have displaced over 20 million people and have affected nearly 30% of the land mass in Pakistan. To put this into perspective, the Pakistan flooding has impacted more people than the top three natural disasters in the past decade (i.e., the Indonesian Tsunami, the South American earthquake, and the Haitian earthquake) combined! How is it that there has not been more assistance offered to mitigate this horrific occurrence? There are several reasons:

0. Leadership has not communicated in a fashion that has engaged the media.
0. Visual images that bring the issue to life have been sparse.
0. The financial repercussions relating to the catastrophe have not been placed in proper context.

Bottom Line: Important issues need to be transformed into compelling visuals. Then, visual images need to be displayed and leadership needs to comment on the impact of the situation frequently. Leadership also needs to be very specific on what actions they desire others to take. Boldness trumps courtesy in cases of catastrophe.