Leaders Are Great Storytellers
This week I have been reading and thinking a lot about storytelling. I’ve been reinvigorated about the importance of storytelling – not only for us sales people selling our brand, service or product, but also for us as leaders. Whether you are seeking to convince someone to buy from you, or encourage them, or inspire them, storytelling is a great way to do that. Storytelling is powerful because, when done well, it creates an emotion in your audience – and emotions drive behaviors. Certain behaviors produce results. Being able to communicate a message to someone that elicits emotion(s) is mission-critical to effective leadership.
When you go to tell a story, be intentional about it. Be genuine. If you tell a story that comes across sounding so out of character for your normal self, it could not only confuse someone, it could turn them away from you. Honesty lends credibility to extraordinary situations.
Make sure there is a plot to your story, too. Pixar Animation Studios is an organization that has exercised the excellent ability to experience a range of emotions through their stories in films for several decades. They famously operate by a set of 22 rules of storytelling to work through their storytelling development process. Rule #4, and one of the 5 major pillars of an excellent story, is “Once upon a time there was ____. Every day ____. One day ____. Because of that, ____. Until finally, ____.” If you can’t fill in these blanks for your own story, you don’t have enough of a plot.
There needs to be a character who is the “hero” of your story. What do they desire most? What are they best at or most comfortable with? Then, throw the opposite at them. Challenge them with an obstacle or some adversity. How do they deal? The best stories and the ones most remembered are the ones where a hero comes in contact with some adversity or villain, but then, overcomes that to achieve their desire. Extra credit is awarded if they happen to learn something along the way.
Tell your story like you are an author of a fiction novel. Make sure you give enough detail that someone can picture themselves in the situation you are describing. Think about why you must tell this story to your audience – let it fuel your details so your audience can actually feel those same feelings you are conjuring in that moment. Giving enough detail matters.
BUT – don’t forget to keep it simple. Smart leaders pitch ideas using third grade words. Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, even Winston Churchill have all well-understood and executed this in their communications. Think about it – the words are short; most words are one syllable; sentences are free of jargon and the language is easy to understand. Using third grade language is a smart tactic if you wish to reach the most people and spread your ideas. If you choose to communicate at a 9th or 10th grade level, you are going to lose people. Their eyes are going to glaze over and they will tune out because they cannot follow along. So, SIMPLIFY your story as much as you can. If there’s no way to avoid a complicated topic, relate that complicated thing to something very simple and easily understood. Use this sort of format to deliver your story: (A) complicated object is kinda like (B) very simple object.
When you create the structure with a strong plot, remain genuine, share powerful details like a fiction writer, and keep it simple, the ability to inspire, encourage, and convince people will be yours. Remember to deploy this method when you are trying to inspire or teach someone something.
Don’t belittle storytelling – practice storytelling!
Written by Schuyler Williamson
REALTOR. Leader. Veteran. Business Owner. Investor.
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God Bless!
~ Schuyler Williamson