Business Stories: Lessons from Tell to Win

I've been reading Peter Guber's "Tell To Win" book and recommend it to anyone who needs to persuade others. That includes sales, marketing, pitching ideas, getting your spouse to agree to your vacation idea......

Not surprisingly he uses stories to illustrate all his points about the power of story in business. He also uses several examples which is nice and reinforces the fact that different stories speak to different people.

What I especially like is that he proves the point that stories do no need to be lengthy to be powerful. He tells some very short stories, which in business are usually the best.

Too frequently people feel you cannot tell a story in three lines, yes you can but you do need to craft it well. Peter masterfully summarizes movie length stories so the reader understands the references. These are full length movies he summarizes in just a few lines. When you read the book pay attention to what and how he condenses the plot to reinforce the point he is making. And I do recommend you read the book, there is nothing tedious about it, just great examples and directions on using stories purposefully and powerfully.

Business Stories: Capture an Audience

From the blog 53 Mind-Blowing, Psychology-Proven Facts You Should Know About Yourself I found the following post "People Process Information Best in Story Form". Short and informative, give it a read.

Suan Weinschenk, of course, starts with a story about when she first realized the power of telling a good story to engage a rather reluctant audience. She then gives tips on story structure and lists several motifs.

Her first motif listed is The Great Journey. I sat in a Donald Davis workshop when he said ALL stories are about the journey. When you look at the other motifs you can see that indeed they all involve a journey of some kind, physical, emotional, or intellectual. Stories are powerful because they show a transformation giving hope that we too can change, improve, survive.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/100-things-you-should-know-about-people-part-2#people-process-information-best-in-story-form-9#ixzz1LNy75aj4
http://read.bi/iImfCE

Business Stories: Stories in Leadership

President Obama was on the Oprah show. When Oprah asked him how he thought he was doing so far his answer included "Part of leadership is telling a story of where we are going." He said he understood that during the campaign and thinks he did a good job of telling a future story then but he has not been doing such a good job of telling the story since the election.

It doesn't matter whether you agree with his politics or not he gets the power of story for leaders. People want to follow someone who has an idea of where they are going, stories communicate that vision. Stories make it easy for people to see the possibilities of a future world and inspire them to work towards that goal. It is hard to feel inspired or passionate for a goal when you have no idea what that goal is. A well told story will ignite the passion.

If your organization is facing changes (which ones aren't?) then think about what your vision is for the changes and create a narrative to share with your staff so they see your vision in your story.