Incredibly Simple Rules for Story Telling
(This post is one in a series of “Incredibly Simple Management Rules”)
My colleague Karen Catlin recommends using stories to introduce ideas into your presentations and public speaking (see her excellent book, co-authored with Poornima Vijayashanker). I do, too, and would add that it’s a good way to get ideas across in meetings, and a pretty terrific human skill in general.
And it’s not that hard! Humans have been using stories to paint the dry business of information with emotional color and energy for millennia. Becoming a great story-teller — that takes a while. Starting to move your audiences, even in a windowless conference room — you can begin this week.
Herewith, some simple guidelines:
- a story is about a character, and is most powerful if it’s about you. I don’t have a definitive answer as to why ([here] are some possibilities), but my opinion is that a) it establishes an authenticity to the story — we believe it happened, so we are more inclined to believe its message and b) it establishes a relationship between the teller and the audience. You were there, you saw it happen. And now you’re here, telling us about it.
- the character must face a challenge, and the higher the stakes in the challenge, the more compelling the story. “We had to fix this bug sometime soon” is nothing like as interesting as “we had to fix this bug to save the demo as our lead investor was walking into the lobby”. And, of course, that’s not as interesting as “we had to fix this bug to put out the fire that was engulfing downtown Los Angeles” — and if that happened to you, you should tell that story.
- it helps if the challenge involves jeopardy to a relationship that is vital to the character — the closer the better. Think of any story that moved you. What relationship was in peril? Of course, at work, the stakes are lower than marriages and families (most of the time), but founder relationships, teams and long-time bosses can be pretty strong bonds.
- the more specific the details, the better. “We met in a conference room to discuss the merger” is less compelling than “We met at 9pm on a winter evening in a tiny, cold conference room overlooking the open workspace where two dozen engineers were furiously finishing the next release”. Take your time with this: what colors, textures, smells, sounds, temperature do you recall from the scene? Take us there — we’ll go if you let us.
- your emotional state matters. What were you feeling? Again, specifics are important. “I was nervous” is less powerful than “I thought about drinking coffee, but my stomach was too nervous and empty…”.
And, finally, make it move: the character moves to overcome the challenge, and by doing so, is transformed. Who were you, after overcoming the challenge? What was different about you, and your team?
We listen to stories because we are deeply wired to learn from each other, to build our collective experience and wisdom about how to live and work on this earth. It’s a vital means of connection. Start now!
