Are you afraid of numbers?

Are you, like me, a little number-shy? Don’t worry, we all are.
Our brains simply aren’t built to grasp numbers, decimals, or probabilities naturally. We can recognize 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, but after that, everything is translated by our subconscious into “many.”

For your subconscious mind, the difference between 1,000,000 and 1,000,000,000 is just “a lot” and “a lot more.” The large numbers are overwhelming, and the distinction becomes hard to comprehend.

But what if you explained the difference like this: “You and your friend both win big in the lottery. You win a million, and your friend wins a billion. There’s one condition to your winnings: you have to spend 55,000 DKK every day until it’s all gone.
You enjoy your millionaire lifestyle, and in just 20 days, you’re done spending your prize. Now you’re waiting for your friend to catch up. But that’s going to take a while...
She’ll be living the good life for another 55 years.” Notice how that small story helped you understand the difference better? It suddenly feels more tangible, relatable—and that little twinge of jealousy becomes almost tangible.

This example comes from the book Making Numbers Count, a great read if you work with communicating numbers. And it’s especially useful for anyone dealing with risk assessments or security awareness.

The book explains that humans just aren’t wired to process numbers above 5 without creating coping mechanisms, like mathematics. While we’ve developed the ability to do math, our brains remain on the same primitive level. It’s like installing high-tech software on an ancient server—it can work, but it will never be intuitive.

If you’re responsible for risk assessments, you’re likely trying to help others understand the potential impact of a particular event. In most places, we invest a lot of effort into quantifying these risks down to the decimal point—because leadership needs to see the numbers, right?

But if leadership, like you and me, struggles with numbers, shouldn’t we rethink our approach?

“There’s a 21.573% chance one of our employees will click on a phishing email.”

Does that sound like something you’ve written before? If you work with risk assessments or security awareness, it probably does.
But what if you said, instead, “For every five employees, one is likely to click on a phishing email if they receive it on a busy Monday morning?”

Wouldn’t that be easier for your audience to grasp? If you think yes, then you’re absolutely right.

We need to start converting numbers and percentages into something more relatable and understandable for the people we work with.
Here are some tips on how to communicate numbers more effectively:

• Round up or down, and use fewer decimals. Whether it’s 125 or 123.5, in risk assessments, it likely won’t make much difference. Round it off, forget the decimals, and focus the conversation on what really matters.

• Make it relatable with real-life examples. Use imagery and emotions where possible, and incorporate storytelling to make your point stick.

• Our brains like “one-to-many” relationships. Use something familiar to make comparisons. For example: “One out of every 25 computers needs to be cleaned for malware annually.”

• Speak in terms that resonate with your audience. Whether it’s airplanes, soda cans, or barrels of oil—use familiar objects to create mental pictures.

Curious about how to get better at communicating numbers and stats? I recommend reading Making Numbers Count by Chip Heath and Karla Star.