Business Story-Telling - Communication Skills Training from MindTools. Using Stories to Inspire Learn how to tell stories that will help you sell products, build trust, or inspire your team. © iStockphoto How many times have you been enthralled by a good story? Maybe you stayed up late to read a novel that you couldn't put down, or watched a movie that you couldn't switch off? Perhaps you pushed yourself harder because you heard a story about a colleague's success, or you changed your opinion after reading a distressing story in a newspaper? Stories can change the way we think, act, and feel. Stories can be powerful business tools, and successful leaders use them to engage their teams. In this article, we'll look at business storytelling – we'll explore when you should use stories, and we'll think about what kind of story you should tell to get the results you want. What is Business Storytelling? People tell business stories to communicate and connect with employees, customers, colleagues, partners, suppliers, and the media.
When to use Stories Types of Stories. A.S. Byatt on the Power of Fairy Tales. The Storytelling Animal: The Science of How We Came to Live and Breathe Stories. By Maria Popova Where a third of our entire life goes, or what professional wrestling has to do with War and Peace. “The universe is made of stories, not atoms,” poet Muriel Rukeyser memorably asserted, and Harvard sociobiologist E. O. Wilson recently pointed to the similarity between innovators in art and science, both of whom he called “dreamers and storytellers.” Gottschall articulates a familiar mesmerism: Human minds yield helplessly to the suction of story. Joining these favorite book trailers is a wonderful short black-and-white teaser animation: One particularly important aspect of storytelling Gottschall touches on is the osmotic balance between the writer’s intention and the reader’s interpretation, something Mortimer Adler argued for decades ago in his eloquent case for marginalia.
The writer is not … an all-powerful architect of our reading experience. Brain Pickings has a free weekly newsletter and people say it’s cool. Share on Tumblr. Why Storytelling Is The Ultimate Weapon. In business, storytelling is all the rage. Without a compelling story, we are told, our product, idea, or personal brand, is dead on arrival. In his book, Tell to Win, Peter Guber joins writers like Annette Simmons and Stephen Denning in evangelizing for the power of story in human affairs generally, and business in particular. Guber argues that humans simply aren’t moved to action by “data dumps,” dense PowerPoint slides, or spreadsheets packed with figures.
People are moved by emotion. The best way to emotionally connect other people to our agenda begins with “Once upon a time…” Plausible enough. But claims for the power of business storytelling are usually supported only with more story. I think it’s a real insight. Until recently we’ve only been able to speculate about story’s persuasive effects. What is going on here? And, in this, there is an important lesson about the molding power of story. This is exactly Guber’s point. Einstein, music lessons and opening the mind. This story is from Jerome Weidman, with no known copyright info. Thanks to Akshar Smriti for posting it. I'm only re-posting to update the formatting. When I was a very young man, just beginning to make my way, I was invited to dine at the home of a distinguished New York philanthropist.
After dinner our hostess led us to an enormous drawing room. Other guests were pouring in, and my eyes beheld two unnerving sights: servants were arranging small gilt chairs in long, neat rows; and up front, leaning against the wall, were musical instruments. I use the phrase “in for” because music meant nothing to me.
After a while, becoming aware that the people around me were applauding, I concluded it was safe to unplug my ears. “You are fond of Bach?” I knew as much about Bach as I know about nuclear fission. “Well,” I said uncomfortably, and hesitated. “I don’t know anything about Bach,” I said awkwardly. A look of perplexed astonishment washed across Einstein’s mobile face. “Now,” he said. “So!”