When was the last time you told a story? Not just shared information or outlined a strategy, but told a good old-fashioned story?
Our ability to imagine – the quality that sets human beings apart from any other species in existence. Our ability to cooperate in the thousands, millions and billions today totally relies on our ability to, collectively, imagine and believe in the same things.
In fact, these two qualities are the foundation of our survival and dominance as a species according to historian Yuval Noah Harari, in his best selling book Sapiens. (A fascinating read for all kinds of reasons)
“Fiction has enabled us not merely to imagine things, but to do so collectively…Any large-scale human cooperation—whether a modern state, a medieval church, an ancient city, or an archaic tribe—is rooted in common myths that exist only in people’s collective imagination.” Sapiens
Stories are the most powerful tool we have when it comes to activating people to cooperate in groups of any size – a team of 2 working on a project, a manager trying to motivate an employee, a sales team working to exceed quarterly projections, a parent coaching her son or daughter’s little league team.
On some level, this seems obvious. Who doesn’t love a good story?! Why then, do we fill our meetings, emails, website, marketing messages with information, data points and jargon instead of stories?
What if… instead of leading with the strategic imperatives and KPIs, we started with a story about the problem we hope to solve, the people who need it and how our work will improve their jobs or lives in some way?
What if… instead of talking about the ‘company or brand’, we talked about the people who bring their unique talents and expertise to the task at hand? Instead of a SWOT analysis, we highlighted the advantages we have and the obstacles in our way? Instead of operational excellence, we talked about the people, the work they do and how when we all do it together, we do it better than anyone?
What if … we could turn every interaction into a story? A story that reveals the true value of the effort and the impact we can have?
There’s a captivating and engaging story hiding behind all that information and corporate speak just waiting to come out – to connect, relate and activate. The next conversation you have, sales presentation, customer interaction, you should try it.
We can help.
