Story Telling As a Business Tool
Long long ago, it was a time when time itself stood still.
That was the time this story of story telling began When
everyone listened to the story and people learned. And that was
the time people when people were also very happy. Because they
were listening to a story.
Stories have been the purveyor of knowledge from time
immemorial. Much before the advent of writing and publishing
story telling was used as a means of communicating essential
knowledge and preserve it for the future generations.
Our ancient elders were wise men who understood that for
knowledge to be kept alive, absorbed and passed on from
generation to generation they needed an interesting methodology.
That became the art of story telling. The historical facts were
woven into interesting fiction which held the attention and
curiosity of man and made them pass it on to their next
generation.
Every culture has its rich fables woven with the moral fabric
necessary for the evolution of a civil society.
With the development of writing skills, from stone and clay
tablets to the modern printing technology and now the digital
publishing stories never lost their power in communicating and
has remained one of the best sources for transfer of knowledge
effectively. Now leadership is all about using story telling to
craft their success . Take any successful business or political
leader and you would find that they are master story tellers.
"The essence of American presidential leadership, and the secret
of presidential success, is storytelling."--Evan Cornog in 'The
Power and the Story: How the Crafted Presidential Narrative Has
Determined Political Success from George Washington to George W.
Bush'; A powerful statement indeed about story telling. So how
can we ordinary mortals use story telling to our advantage and
success?
Start everything you do whether you are writing or speaking with
a short story, a personal anecdote or an interesting event.
Instead of reeling out impressive statistics tell a story with a
human touch to emphasize the same point. It is more interesting
why someone bought your products than the number of people who
bought it.
Read plenty of interesting stories and episodes for all
occasions and weave them in appropriate places instead of long
drawn narratives to convey your message.
Put emotion behind the story to make it more appealing.
Make the story telling a lot of fun. This will break the
monotony of dry business presentations.
Use the story to create a grand vision about your business, a
larger than life image about your brand and as motivational tool.
Use story telling to show you are person in the flesh and blood
with the same weaknesses similar dispositions as the audience to
get close to their hearts.
Use your creativity in story telling to shape up opinions and
decisions which you want. The better story teller wins. So plan
your story. Polish it up. Don't miss a chance to tell the story.
"You are the storyteller of your own life, and you can create
your own legend or not."--Isabel Allende.