Say it artfully!

You know your message is the most important part of being a great communicator. How can you make your message not just useful but artful too? How can you grab your audience’s hearts as well as their minds? Use the magic that’s already out there. Tell a well-crafted story.

Telling powerful stories is one of the six things every great communicator does. Our brains recognize that timeless pattern and wants to know what happens next. Jay Golden’s Retellable is an inspiring and pragmatic primer on why stories are powerful and how to use that power in your communication. Every communicator needs to read it.

Jay explains how stories stimulate chemicals in our brains. When we hear the start of a good story we perk up and wonder what’s going to happen next. Dopamine triggers our curiosity and sense of suspense. Then, when we’re not sure what’s coming next, cortisol focuses our attention. As the story resolves itself, a burst of oxytocin gives us the payoff, the satisfaction that comes with a happy ending. As Jay says, “When you tell a story that anchors in the senses, leverages suspense, and eases the tension bit by bit around each corner of the story, we can’t help but pay attention.”

Humans crave and are satisfied by the ancient narrative patterns of stories — whether we’re at the movies, watching YouTube or in our All Hands Meeting. Bring the power of stories into your communication and you will not only inform, you’ll convert.

Communication is the essential last mile in finding and motivating the right teams, acquiring strong allies, powerfully bonding with customers, and capturing mindshare with compelling stories. Nothing will serve you and your vision better than developing exceptional communication skills.