We are all storytellers

We tell stories about how a meeting went, what we did this weekend, or why we think we are perfect for a particular job. 

We tell stories to make a point, sell an idea, or just connect with friends. But some stories are better than others.

A perfect story turns customers into converts. It transforms employees into evangelists. Executives into leaders.

Storytelling is one of the most powerful business-building tools in existence. Stories create lasting impacts because we remember them. Stories are what stick.

You must master attention, influence and transformation. 

Great stories capture attention, compel the audience to take the action you desire, and then create a lasting impact leaving the audience changed.

We often focus on just one of the elements, maybe two, but rarely three. We talk at people instead of engaging with them.

So what do you find in a great story?

  • Identifiable characters. Someone we care about and connect to.

  • Authentic emotion. Felt by the identifiable character. It is through that emotion that the receiver experiences empathy with the story. This is essential to make it more relatable, compelling, and sticky.

  • A significant moment. A specific point in space, time or circumstance that sets the story aside from the rest. Instead of going big and broad, we need to go small and detailed. Don't stay too vague, too high level, too broad and too general.

  • Specific details. Involve use of specific, descriptive, sometimes unexpected details and imagery that are relevant to the intended audience in an effort to create and draw the listeners into a world that sounds familiar to their own. The finer the detail, the better. This is how you tell the audience that you know them.

Why don't we tell more stories? The biggest barrier to not telling your story is assuming you don't have a story in the first place.

It isn't a lack of stories that keeps you from being able to find yours but rather the ineffective questions we use to get them. Getting better stories requires asking better questions. 

Our stories attach themselves to the nouns in our lives. The people, the places, the things, the events. A memory can be turned into a story.

Pick a story that fits your needs, your business and your audience. 

You are not telling a story for the story's sake. Who are you telling this story to? What do you want them to think, feel, know or do?

Start with a story next time! It eases the natural tension that sometimes exists between audience and speaker. Starting with a story helps to break down barriers and makes you a person just like them instead of the expert in front of the room they are forced to listen to.

"Stories that Stick" by Kindra Hall

The Trillion Dollar Coach

What do Steve Jobs, Sheryl Sandberg, Sundar Pichai, Jeff Bezos, Sergey Brin, Eric Schmidt, Donna Dubinsky, Shellye Archambeau and the boys and girls flag football teams at Sacred Hearth have in common?

They, and many others, had Bill Campbell, that passed away April 18, 2016, as a coach, mentor and perhaps most importantly, as a friend.

He was Silicon Valley's best-kept secret.

Without Bill, Google would not be where it is today. After Bill passed away, Google started teaching his principles via internal seminars to emerging leaders.

He worked side by side with Steve Jobs to build Apple from near bankruptcy.

Spending his first decade of the career coaching football, Bill learned that great teams need to work together, and he learned how to make it happen. Being a good coach is essential to being a good manager and leader.

Bill taught business leaders that the path to success in a fast-moving, highly competitive, technology-driven business world is to form high-performing teams and give them the resources and freedom to do great things.

The book is loaded with his lessons and simple, yet powerful, practices and principles. 

Here are some of my favorites.

"It's the people!"

"It's the people" he said. People are the foundation of any company's success, and the primary job of each manager is to help people be more effective in their job and to grow and develop.

Make people flourish through support, respect, and trust. Leading teams become a lot more joyful when you know and care about the people. Believe in people more than they believe in themselves.

Structured 1:1 meetings

Have a structure for your 1:1 meetings and come prepared. Start with a brief small talk, then move to performance: 

  1. What are you working on?
  2. How is it going?
  3. How can I help?

Bill also included peer feedback and relationships, teams and innovation on the agenda. For him, the 1:1 meetings were the best way to help people grow.

Strive for the best idea, not consensus

Get all authentic opinions and ideas on the table for the group to discuss. Sit down with individuals before the meeting to find out what they are thinking.

Failure to make a decision can be as damaging as a wrong decision. If you have the right conversation, then eight out of ten times people will reach the best conclusion on their own. But the other two times you need to make the hard decision and expect everyone to not only accept, but to commit.

Listen

Listen to people with your full and undivided attention. Don't think ahead to what you are going to say next, and ask questions to get to the real issue.

"Don't stick it in their ear"

... he said. Don't tell people what to do, tell them stories about why they are doing it. When people understand the story, they can connect to it and figure out what to do.