Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change, Second Edition

by Joseph Grenny

It didn’t take Wiwat long to realize that 97 percent of all new HIV infections were coming from heterosexual contact with sex workers. This statistic might seem a bit odd until you learn that Thailand has over 150,000 sex workers—about 1 for every 150 adult men. Wiwat’s concern was that, when induced by low prices and abundant supply, the vast majority of Thai men periodically visited brothels. This statistic gave Dr. Wiwat the focus he needed. If contact with sex workers was causing the pandemic, he had no choice but to focus his attention there—despite the fact that the government refused to admit that the massive sex trade industry even existed. With over a million HIV infections in Thailand, Wiwat decided the time for political sensitivity and social niceties was long past. If the problem was born in a brothel, the solution would be found there as well. After continuing his search for a solution, Wiwat surmised that there was a crucial moment—one that disproportionately affected the spread or the stopping of AIDS. It was when a sex worker chose—or did not choose—to demand the use of a condom. Wiwat had uncovered (1) the crucial moment (the point at which if you acted differently, you’d avoid the disease), and (2) the vital behavior that needed to follow. If he could influence 100 percent of the country’s sex workers to act differently in this moment, he could nearly stop the spread of HIV in Thailand. That became his primary strategy. He’d find a way to get every singl...