According to authors Richard Maxwell and Robert Dickman in The Elements of Persuasion, there are two things everyone in business does every day. “We all sell something – our products, our services, our skills, our ideas, our vision of where the business is going – and we tell stories.  We sell things because that is how we as a democratic, capitalist society organize our energy. We tell stories because, as cognitive psychology is continuing to discover, stories are how we as human beings organize our minds.”

Leadership, essentially, is an act of persuasion - of winning hearts and minds, of engaging people in the vision, goals and everyday work of an organization.  Stories – and other forms of business narrative - powerfully weave fact and emotion together in a way that connects us – to the storyteller and his or her message. A well-told story not only transmits important information, it helps the listener to understand what the information means and put it in a context that she can connect with on a deeper personal level. Think of all the business parables that are in the bookstores today – people are hungry for stories that help them make sense of the complex environments in which we live and work.

Stephen Denning, author of The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling, says that effective business narrative – or storytelling – can help us as leaders to ignite action and implement new ideas; build trust (in us); build trust in our companies; transmit our values; get others working together; share knowledge; tame the grapevine; and craft and share our vision.

 In The Story Factor, Annette Simmons tells us that there are six stories we need to know how to tell:

• “Who I Am” Stories
• “Why I Am Here” Stories
• “The Vision” Story
• “Teaching Stories”
• “Values-in-Action” Stories
• “I Know What You Are Thinking” Stories

By taking the time to be intentional about the stories we tell as leaders and telling them clearly, consistently and with integrity, we build trust and credibility with our listeners.  If we’re to build successful and sustainable organizations, we need to find and tell stories that others want to be part of and connect our larger organizational stories to their personal ones. 

What’s your story?

[tags] Richard Maxwell, Robert Dickman, The Elements of Persuasion, storytelling, business narrative, persuasion, influence, inspiration, leadership communication, Stephen Denning, The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling, Annette Simmons, The Story Factor [/tags]