The Business of Telling Stories
Unlocking the potential of storytelling for organisations and leaders
Storytelling is such a buzzword in today’s world. Everyone wants a dash of stories to be added into their work just to make it sound more appealing. The word story has almost become an umbrella term that covers anything and everything that is interesting. Got a presentation to give? Make it sound like a story. Want a sales pitch? It should have a story in it to grab the buyers attention. A quick Google search for leadership will give you many points on how a good leader should be adept at telling stories.
But how does one begin the process of learning to be a storyteller?
That’s where my good friend Michael Burns and his new book on storytelling for businesses comes in. Having worked in the field of storytelling for over 15 years, Michael comes in with a plethora of knowlegde on what makes a great story, be it fiction or non-fiction. His teachings have helped me become a better writer and storyteller.
So when he proposed that he had further expanded his knowledge on what makes a great story in the professional setting, I was all ears. I’ve worked with Michael for several years, and I’m fortunate enough to read an early draft of his book: 8 Stories for Businesses & Professionals. It’s a short and delightful read. As anyone in my position would, I had a few questions for him after reading it. Which he replied to with aplomb. I’d like to share our conversation here.
Akshay Gajria: Why did you write this book on business stories?
Michael Burns: First, because I think it’s a fascinating topic. Second, something I’ve learned in my artistic and literary pursuits is that an idea grabs you instead of you grabbing it. When it grabs you, it doesn’t let go until you’ve created something. You can call it an obsession but it’s a more pleasant sensation than that. It’s an energy that says, “You have something to say here that’s worth listening to, that can help people and make a real difference in their lives.” So that happened with this book for me. I was locked in and the book took shape from there.
This book is really important to me — and perhaps the title is slightly misleading — because storytelling is critical for any organization. I’ve used the shorthand of “business,” but it applies to start-ups, entrepreneurs, NGOs, executives, and traditional businesses too. Their job — to attract investors and eventually clients and customers — is to tell the stories of how they started, what they do, and what they hope to do in ways that are not only powerful but genuine and deeply sincere. There is a ton — and I mean a ton — of terrible advice out there about how to do this. It starts with a supremely widespread misunderstanding about what a story is in the first place. Best-selling books on this subject are full of this very limited, and honestly, cliche-driven, storytelling concept. So I’ve broken that wide open here and have given anyone involved in any organization the tools to do what they need to do when it comes to storytelling that’s from the heart, compelling, unforgettable, and structurally sound.
“[S]tory structure is just beautiful. Like the inner-workings of a clock or a flower. The more you look, the more you see the exquisite interconnectedness between all the parts. Each of them has a function and each of those functions leads to the overall end goal. Nothing is wasted. You can get lost in how shockingly gorgeous it is.”
AG: What interests you so much about story structure?
MB: Well, there’s a long answer to this and a short one. I’ll give you a medium-sized one. First, story structure is just beautiful. Like the inner-workings of a clock or a flower. The more you look, the more you see the exquisite interconnectedness between all the parts. Each of them has a function and each of those functions leads to the overall end goal. Nothing is wasted. You can get lost in how shockingly gorgeous it is.
There’s also another reason. Story structure parallels what I would call the grand mission of our species. I believe that one of the things that we’re called on to do is to make this world a little bit better than we found it, for the sake of those who will come after us and for the sakes of all the creatures we share this planet with. To do that, we must start with improving ourselves. We have to start with looking at the things we need to personally change. To let the things we don’t need anymore inside of us die and to embrace a new version of ourselves. This sentiment is shot through the heart of story structure. Story structure is about how this character is going to face her demons in order to attempt to let her old self die in order to give birth to her new self. And this new self will either solve the story mission or be consumed by it. This is life in a nutshell. Will we change quickly enough to become the best versions of ourselves or will we let the storms around us suffocate us into a life of regret and “what ifs”? In other words, story structure is the structure of our own existence.
AG: Do you need to be a writer to tell stories?
MB: Yes and no. You do not need to be a published author or anything like that. But I do think that writing is important, even if it’s only for yourself. Writing is the mental workshop for the storyteller. It’s where you come up with ideas, consider what works, make mistakes, and refine your thoughts. So on a notebook, in a drawing, on a whiteboard, or whatever. Without writing, your ability to tell dynamic and important stories is extremely limited. It’s still possible but it’s not a long-term strategy to success. It’s heart-breaking to see people write to me who say, “I want to tell stories but I don’t want to write.” It’s like saying I want to scuba dive but I don’t want to go into the water. Sorry but those two things go together. Writing, even if it’s just for yourself, is where you build your ideas and make them better. The first idea that comes to mind is never the best one. Since that’s true, you need a space to make errors and improvements. Writing is that space.
AG: How does understanding how to tell and shape stories help businesses?
MB: Storytelling is the most powerful way to get your project, organization, or business remembered in a sea of competitors. It’s also the key to showing exactly why your service or product is going to transform lives. Data has its place, and it’s crucial. But when you take that data and you combine it with the principles of storytelling articulated in this book, you get something very special. You get meaningful, genuine connection. And when the world is filled with superficial connection, creating stories that are sincere makes a world of difference.
“When the falcon learns to fly, her world transforms. When a person learns that their storytelling powers have just been sitting there waiting to be tapped, their world gets turned upside down. Suddenly, there’s transformation and magic around every corner.”
AG: Can anyone learn to be a storyteller?
MB: Yes, although many storytellers don’t believe this. Maybe they’re scared that they won’t feel unique in the world, I don’t know. But storytelling is our species’ superpower. We are born storytellers. But we don’t realize it. And because of that we often fail to use the gifts, the mental muscles, that have been given to us. Once we realize what we have, however, the world becomes a different place. When the falcon learns to fly, her world transforms. When a person learns that their storytelling powers have just been sitting there waiting to be tapped, their world gets turned upside down. Suddenly, there’s transformation and magic around every corner.
AG: How can a leader incorporate storytelling into their lives?
MB: Leadership is a very interesting subtopic to me. In my opinion, the purpose of a leader is to make new leaders. So what true leadership means to me is modeling behavior that you want to encourage in others. Since storytelling is all about developing and growing in order to become the best version of yourself, leadership means being the first one to admit mistakes, the first one to articulate fear, the first one to confess to hesitation, and then the first one to step up to the challenges in front of you, the first one to sacrifice for the good of others, in whatever field it might be. That’s what radical leadership actually looks like to me. It’s not about financial success or power accumulation. It’s about far more important things.
“With these fundamental 8 stories, you can combine, trim, or modify them to create anything that you might need, even in future situations that we’re not aware of yet.”
AG: You say there are 8 types of stories in this book. Are we limited to only these 8 types or can there be more?
MB: I struggled with this, but I think there really are just 8 and that everything else is some kind of combo or hybrid of these 8. That might sound impossible at first but think of it this way: all of life as we know it is make up of DNA, and DNA itself is made up of ATC and G bases (adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine). With these 4 pieces we can make trillions of possible creatures — maybe even more than that. The same principle is at play with these stories. With these fundamental 8 stories, you can combine, trim, or modify them to create anything that you might need, even in future situations that we’re not aware of yet.
AG: How would you advise someone who has never explored anything regarding stories but wants to start?
MB: My book is a great starting place. Here’s why I say that. The first half of the book is about establishing story principles that you can use in any form of storytelling: fiction, non-fiction, speech-making, short stories, epic novels, film, literally any story format you can think of. I’ve been told that my strength as a teacher is to explain complicated ideas very clearly and with passion. One thing that will always stand out to me is when one of my students in my storytelling class said, “It’s obvious how much you care that we care about this.” When you care about something deeply it becomes infectious. And that’s my goal with the first half of the book: to explain what stories are, and to explain how they’re built with pinpoint accuracy and simple to understand terms and concepts. Storytelling is not a dark art that requires a year in a cave to understand. It’s one of the most powerful forces in the universe and has the ability to metamorphosize both you and any endeavor that you’re involved in. Sometimes all it takes is the right introduction to get you curious for more. That’s what I’ve tried to do here.
AG: You always say that everyone has at least one great story in them. What do you say to people who don’t think that’s true?
MB: When people say they don’t have stories, they say that because they think that a story is supposed to have massive drama, full of explosions or heartbreak or hilarity. Sometimes stories do have those things. But stories also have sacrifice and compassion and humor and subtlety. If you’re willing to be vulnerable, willing to let the world see you as you are, willing to share with others what you care about most, what you cherish, what you’d die for, then you have a story. Because a story is about why you feel that way. What happened in your life to create those conditions? In other words, sometimes stories are not about how big you can be, but how small you can be. Rather than about showing everyone that you have all the answers, the stories that we love the most are told by people willing to admit they know very little. People who are willing to stand there and ask the most difficult, uncomfortable questions. Stories live in that humility. For an individual that means being willing to look at where you’ve fallen short in the past so that you can grow as a human being. For organizations or businesses, it means fitting your product, service, or vision into a new version of the future where the best in us is amplified rather than the worst. That’s the challenge. But that, of course, is what makes life worth living.
You can grab a copy of his book (physical and e-book) in these places:
For more information about Michael Burns and Tall Tales Storytelling (South Asia’s Leading Storytelling organisation) see talltales.in.
Akshay G. loves everything to do with stories. He is in constant pursuit to better his understanding of how stories play an importnat role in our lives.
