I woke up greeted by the first snow of the season. A story popped into my head, as I lit the fireplace — a tale that stayed with me since high school. Set in the 18th century, the main character is a miserly businessman who, in the first scene, refuses to let his employee add more coal to the dying fire, even though it is biting cold. The story goes on to show how the heartless businessman redeems himself and takes to love and kindness.
The businessman is Scrooge from "The Christmas Carol," a novel by Charles Dickens. In December, fireplaces often remind me of this heartwarming story.
I'm sure many of us recall scenes from books, movies or narrations that make everyday life more interesting. They've taught us lessons or cradled our memories.
The authors, Chip and Heath of, "Made to Stick", state the result of an experiment they conducted with their students at Stanford, which tells us that stories are 12 percent more memorable than dry facts like numbers. Some sources claim it's 22 percent!
Take another scenario — consider I shop for flowers often (I actually do). My question is: is it easier to remember what type of flowers you bought from a particular store on any given day or is it easier to remember that they were lilies, because the lady at check-out told you how she was severely allergic to lilies? That's exactly how I remembered — her story.
But what does all this have to do with business or the corporate world? How can the craft of story-telling give you a chance at becoming CEO? Well, it lies in the art of communication.
Children know that if they say the magic word, "please," it's more likely to convince someone to give them candy. The child learns the rudiments of presentation through one word.
As a professional, you'll need more words, because presentations are better when they appeal. Stories add flavor to an otherwise insipid environment that workplaces may be prone to.
Nowadays, companies are leaning to skills such as story-telling and ability to communicate while hiring candidates.
According to a recent study published in the Harvard Business Review,
"…when companies today search for top leaders, especially new CEOs, they…prioritize one qualification above all others: strong social skills."
Strategic Storytelling
My friend, James, an employee of a multi-million dollar financial institution tells me that he cannot simply state his facts at a meeting and expect everyone to get it. Even if they do, it's a tough bargain. He is unable to convince them of his plan.
His client tells him, "Put it in a deck, and then show me."
He does that. Elaborate charts of facts and numbers light up the board room screen. You'd think he were presenting a state-of-the-art AI module.
His idea is to propose an interactive voice response system to handle customer calls. This product would save his client millions but over a period of time. Till then, he needed to convince them to release roughly $70 million to effect the change.
James' math made total sense to him. However, they were not convinced. This might be the reason why, author and leadership expert, Simon Sinek, said:
"Stories are much more powerful than statistics."
The reason is that there is an emotional connect. We connect with other humans better than we connect with inanimate objects and numbers.
As for James, his boss luckily knew a company who'd made a similar transition. So, together they presented their client with the reason why they should buy their product considering not just the math, but also the human factor of employee and customer satisfaction that a rival company boasted.
According to a McKinsey study, storytelling is a foundational leadership skill. Overtime, story-telling establishes trust, which is a key factor for business relationships. Lightening the mood with a personal story can pave the way to new perspectives.
So what's the first step to storytelling?
Listen, Learn and Speak
The ability to listen is vital to professional success.
If you talk a lot, when you first meet someone, they may become disinterested. Why? Because it seems like no one is listening to them or they may feel they're hostage to an agenda.
Instead it is better to listen to your client, so you understand the core issue before you tell a story, because you certainly don't want to tell them a story that doesn't suit their needs.
Marketing professional, Kelly Parker, gives an example on how Nike connected with its customers by telling a story in their ad campaign.
Nike sought LeBron James, a player that fans related to, and told a story of overcoming challenges to beat the opponent. They didn't focus on closeups of his shoes for the ad, but instead showed how he turned defeat into hope and resilience — a high human-interest topic. Viewers would be hooked into his story, and whenever they thought of LeBron James, they'd associate an image of him with his sportswear and shoes. Now, which fan wouldn't want those very shoes! The likely next step would be for those customers to buy Nike shoes. That is called marketing with telling — or in this case — showing a story.
Imagine the power of that! Those who use this skill in businesses are more likely to motivate and harmonize their teams in the coming decade even as AI and robotics enter mainstream.
Consider a leader like Warren Buffet who drives home concepts with the use of analogies or Richard Branson who often narrates Trans-Atlantic's failure-to-success story or even Elon Musk who places his customers in the center of his narratives. Whatever story you tell — whether to convince, inspire or motivate, it's sure to bring value and fast-track you on a path to dynamic leadership.