Badly done Emma….
Communication isn’t just about relaying information: without a sense of loss, harm, or failure, your story is less persuasive. Why should anyone care? Where is the threat? What have you got to lose?
The most effective stories contain a moral, a lesson derived from someone else’s experience. If the benefit of doing something or the risk of doing nothing isn’t made clear, then the audience is less likely to act.
The best storytellers look to their own experience for examples which illustrate their message. But don’t make yourself the hero, humility is a more attractive way to win advocates. If we want others to champion our cause, then they’ll need to see themselves as the protagonist.
Stories play a vital role in teams, organisations and brands, they shape beliefs and affect the culture. Storytelling techniques are used by leaders to share lessons and demonstrate the values of the business to their employees, customers and investors. What’s interesting is that we react to stories in the same way if they are real or imaginary — ‘imagine if…’ is a powerful way to go.
How a story is told affects its impact; we pay more attention to things that intrigue or entertain. Our favourite books, films, podcasts and adverts pose questions and we delight in finding the answer for ourselves. When our curiosity is piqued we’ll fill in the blanks and make connections it feels rewarding to draw our own conclusion.
Is a story less powerful depending on the media? — Emma, a novel published over 200 years ago continues to be adapted into film, television programmes, and there is a long list of stage and radio plays as well as countless articles and essays……. A good story is often retold in many different ways.
People are instinctually social: after hearing a great story the first thing they do is think, ‘who can I can retell this to?’ and social media has made it easy for us to spread the word with a simple click.
And if you need more convincing then read this:
Thanks for taking the time to read this. I really appreciate it.
#designthinking
