What Does a Printing Company and the Easter Bunny Have in Common?
[Hint: They both use the word ‘story’ when there is no story.]
This morning while driving to work, a radio ad caught my attention. It opened with the phrase “Tell your business story.” Since storytelling is my business, I sat up a little straighter and mentally emerged from my semi-autopilot state. The ad continued, “For standout business cards, stickers and flyers, go to our website…” What started out sounding like a company similar to Leadership Story Lab turned out to be an online printing company using the trendy term “story” to catch people’s attention.
I run into examples like this on a daily basis. Take a look at this flyer that I came across at a private club in downtown Chicago around Easter this year. The title caught my eye immediately.
“Bring the Story Home” so said the headline. Before reading the flyer any further, a collage image of people huddling, talking, writing, reflecting, and sharing their stories came to my mind. Then, after looking more closely, I realized this was actually an advertisement for a centerpiece designed specifically for an Easter brunch event. While it’s a great idea to have guests take a memento home from a special brunch while creating more revenue for the club, the use of the word “story” was largely misguided.
I train, coach and consult with institutional and individual clients on the artful, authentic and strategic use of storytelling to overcome a common challenge: mountains of data and shrinking attention spans. Within my firm, our mission is to teach classical storytelling to modern leaders. We believe in the power of story. Used in the appropriate setting, stories can create deep connections with your audience and persuade them to do things they otherwise might not have done. This is why I pay extra attention to what people really mean when they use the word “story.”
Besides the previous two examples, here is a list of what a story is not:
Monologue
Anecdote
Pitch of any kind including sales and elevator
Presentation
Product
Service
Cause
Assumption
Selling
Thesis (i.e. research thesis, investment thesis)
While story can be incorporated into many of the things above, on their own they are not stories. It is when you use stories in conjunction with interviewing, presenting and selling that amazing things can happen.
Here is how Leadership Story Lab would define a story with business impact:
Structurally, a story has a beginning, middle and end.
Elementally, a story often has a hero, challenge, journey, resolution, change and call to action.
Authentically, a story reveals a personal part of the teller, which often carries an appropriate emotional quality.
Strategically, a story sparks an audiences’ imagination, causes them to relate to the situation in the story, and nudges them to act.
There is a wonderfully strange phenomenon going on here.
Let’s talk about the strange part first. As modern leaders we are called upon to tell monologues and share anecdotes. After all, who hasn’t welcomed a new team member, or answered the question “Tell me about yourself” in an interview? As today’s managers and executives, we have spoken at countless presentations. Whether you are in the private or public sector, government or NGO, you are selling and promoting some kind of product, service, or cause. Such are the basic communication blocks of modern leaders.
If story isn’t any of that, then how can storytelling add value for leaders of today? Here’s the wonderfully strange part. We can infuse stories and storytelling in all our everyday business communication. For example, instead of just listing off what you do, why not catch a new contact’s attention by giving them a salacious hook in the beginning? For example, instead of saying “I’m a speech writer,” why not say, “I protect audiences from boring speakers”? Instead of saying “I’m a risk consultant,” why not say “I catch terrorists with spreadsheets”? By providing an intriguing hook, you are prompting an engaging and memorable conversation about the value of your work.
We believe that the classical approach to storytelling can elevate everyday business communication from autopilot exchanges, to authentic, persuasive and action-prone conversations. You have probably seen the word ‘story’ used in many contexts that really have little to do with storytelling. We invite you to discover the transformational power of this time-honored approach with us!
If you need helping figuring out how to strategically and authentically tell leadership stories, schedule a free consultation with us! And sign up for our resources newsletter packed with information on free events, tips and coaching sessions.
Photo credits: Marcel Douwe Dekker and Steven Depolo via Creative Commons.
