The Science of Storytelling

One of the things I love most about working in storytelling is that I am dealing with something that is already so familiar to people. Things would be a lot more challenging if I had to help leaders use quantum physics to transform brands, businesses and people. In this regard, I am blessed.

Storytelling is how we naturally communicate with each other. Ever since early hunters first gestured to each other in front of a fire, storytelling has been the way we most readily convey thoughts, feelings and experiences to other people. Stories work because we are, as humans, already hard-wired to hear, comprehend and remember them. Stories help us absorb and process information better, making us infinitely more likely to recall that information and act on it; which is why storytelling has always been so effective for leaders.

Dr. Howard Gardner – a professor at the Harvard School of Education and a thought leader in the way people think – has done a lot of work to link the way we cognitively process information to leadership; and he says, “The single most effective tool a leader has is story.” Here’s why.

By the time we’re adults, the fundamentals in terms of the way we think are more or less set. So, for a leader to come in and try to do something transformational they often have to ask their team to revisit and challenge those fundamentals; and this is hard for many of us to do. To think that a leader can just deliver a message once to a team and that it will work with the established fundamentals of each individual in that team is misguided. Some might get the message if the way that leader delivered it synchs up with the way in which those people naturally process information. However, the chances of that one way of delivery working with the brains of everyone on a team are slim to none.

Layers, richness, and the art of stimuli

When a leader wraps his or her message in a story, they hit the brain from a variety of different angles. Stories are richer and more layered than pure information or directives. They use different stimuli and paint bigger mental pictures, so they tap into and use different parts of our brains at once and, at the same time, appeal to different brains and ways of thinking. Stories surround the brain with a message instead of just attacking it from one angle, increasing the chances of a leader’s message getting through to the very people he or she wants to, needs to act on that message.

So think about how you can wrap your important messages in story to make them more impactful. You see, stories work, because they’re in our nature.

Looking Back from the Future

At the start of every January, amidst the dark days of my annual sugar, butter and alcohol withdrawal, I write out my personal goals for the New Year. I started doing this several years ago when I was struck by the irony that, although I help others think strategically about their brands and businesses, I hadn’t really thought strategically about my own life. Strategic storyteller, heal thyself.

A lot of people tackle this sort of thing by establishing New Year’s resolutions, looking at the year ahead and identifying what they want to stop or start doing. While this is certainly a valiant endeavor, in many respects these resolutions become a glorified “To Do” list. What’s more, a lot of resolutions have a negative, depriving nature to them – e.g. lose 12 pounds, finally stop watching “America’s Next Top Model,” give up drinking on Sundays – which makes them feel Lenten and uninspiring.

New Year’s resolutions are different than personal goals.

I’ve got nothing against New Year’s resolutions, but for most of us they just become promises to ourselves that we break. They’re often mired in the past or present, not forward thinking; and they tend to focus on actions, not achievements and the hopes and desires that fuel them. In contrast, personal goals focus on results. They reflect a situation that has yet to transpire and are therefore, by nature, future-oriented. And because they are future-oriented, they tend to be conceived in a positive light…because who really wants to think negatively about the future when setting goals?

I like to establish my personal goals for the next year by projecting myself mentally and emotionally into the future. I visualize myself on the next New Year’s Eve, savouring my last butter tart, sipping that last, precious glass of champagne, looking back on the year and reminiscing about the things I’ve accomplished. I literally envision myself in that place and time, imagining how I want to think and feel about the year that’s just passed. I think about the stories I want to be telling others – e.g. about how I learned jazz piano, secured three major new clients, booked a trip to South America, read “Middlemarch.” I imagine all these things from the future, and then I write them down. And I read them, out loud, at the start of each week (admittedly, sometimes in the mirror).

When you’re looking down the road at a brand-spanking-new year for you personally, don’t look at it from the perspective of January 1st; leap forward and look back on it from December 31st. I think you’ll be more inspired and motivated by the view from there.

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