Storytelling for Organizational Leaders
The most powerful person in the world is a storyteller. - Steve Jobs
In part 1 of this 2-part blog on storytelling we looked at why storytelling has been a part of the development of humans for much, much longer than recorded history. Many in the field of historical linguistics theorize that embedding knowledge into stories was, for 10s of thousands of years, the way that knowledge was passed down to subsequent generations in a way that was memorable. In other words, linking numerous ideas, facts, names of objects and even wisdom – and especially those that seemed unrelated – could be more efficiently retained in memory if they were linked together by the adhesive medium of a story. But can the principle of storytelling be applied to business, both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations?
Not-for-profit organizations
Research has found that charity
organizations that present “the needs they are trying to address with their
missions” to potential donors with just facts, statistics, and a basic
description of the situation, usually do poorly in raising much needed
finances. However, those that present those facts and statistics in a
compelling story, raise significantly more money for their causes. Why? Because
stories “fulfill a profound human need to grasp the connecting thread running
through life —not merely as an intellectual exercise, but within the parameters
of personal, emotional experience.” An example of this can be found in the
wildly successful fund-raising campaign of “Charity Water”, an organization
founded by Scott Harrison - whose mission it is to bring clean water to those
communities around the world that suffer terribly from the lack of it. The
singular tool he uses is his power to make his important appeal through
storytelling (many of which can be seen on YouTube).
For-profit businesses
The power of stories – in the
context of business - is best explained by Robert McKee –a respected
screenwriting lecturer who is not only an award-winning writer and director,
but was also a professor at the USC School of Cinema and Television in Los
Angeles. He is perhaps the authority on storytelling for for-profit businesses.
What follows is an edited and abridged transcript of Robert McKee’s
conversation with the Harvard Business Review.
Why
should a CEO or a manager pay attention to a screenwriter?
A
big part of a manager’s job is to motivate people. To do that you need to
engage the emotions – and the key to reaching that emotional level is the
story. There are two ways to persuade people. The first is by using
conventional language – which most managers are trained in. It’s an
intellectual process and in the business world it usually consists of
PowerPoint slide presentation in which you say, “Here is our company (or
product /service) and here is what you or we need to do…blah blah blah”. And
you build your case by providing many facts, statistics, and usually too much
information. Now you may persuade your audience intellectually. But that’s not
good enough, because people are not inspired to act by reason alone. A more powerful way is by uniting an idea
with an emotion. The best way to do that is by telling a compelling story. In a
story, you not only weave a lot of information into the telling but you also
arouse your listener’s emotions and energy. It is not easy. It demands vivid
insights into a situation and story-telling skill to create an impact that will
be memorable. But if you can tap into
your audience’s imagination – they will stand and applaud at the end instead of
yawn with boredom.
So
what is a story?
Essentially,
a story expresses how and why life changes. It begins with a situation in which
life is relatively in balance. But then there is an event that throws life out
of balance. The story goes on to tell how the protagonist, in an effort to
restore balance, crashes into uncooperative objective reality. All great story
tellers since the beginning of time – from the ancient Greeks to Shakespeare
and up to the present day – have dealt with the fundamental conflict between
subjective expectation and cruel reality.
Stories have been implanted in you
thousands of times – your mother and father told you stories as a child, you’ve
read good books, seen movies, attended plays. What’s interesting is that human
beings naturally want to work through stories. Cognitive psychologies describe
how the human mind, in its attempt to understand and remember, assembles the
bits and pieces of experience into a story.
Once again, we are cognitively
wired to listen to stories. It’s how we remember; we tend to forget lists and
bullet points. In the final analysis, stories do the heaving listing for you
when it comes to involving your audience emotionally while making your message
memorable to them. It’s more than a leader can hope for.
Where to learn?
Comments
Post a Comment