Day 4: The Art of Storytelling
🎵 Hendrix, Davis, McCartney.
✍🏼 Tolkien, Rowling, Disney.
🏅 Kobe, Ronaldo, Bolt.
🤼 Rock, Jericho, Flair.
In their special way, each of these is a master in the art of storytelling.
Looking back at my almost 40 years, I have spent countless hours watching, reading and listening to the power of the stories these men and women told.
The sound of Miles Davis’ trumpet over vinyl always takes me to a crummy little bar (weirdly in black and white grainy film), filled with people, cigarette smoke and loud sweaty music. Kobe’s free throws against Golden State with a ruptured Achilles, always bring my dopamine levels and sense of human capability through the roof. And the way that Flair (woooo!) talks (woooo!), with his $15000 watch (woooo!) and his $10000 shoes (woooo!) always makes me laugh.
Stories have a way of connecting with me, transporting me into a new reality and seeing the world under a brand new set of eyes.
I’ve spent countless hours unconsciously researching the art of storytelling. And I practice storytelling every single day.
Tell a story at work.
Those who work closely with me know one of the most important questions I always look for answered: “What is the story we’re going to tell?”.
We need to be able to communicate clearly but in a way that resonates with whoever is reading the message.
Think of these 4 main points to tackle:
1. Who is going to read your message?
- A message to a team is different than a message to an individual
- A message to someone in your team is different from a message to a C-Level
2. What is the reader interested in?
- Is the reader always short on time?
- Is there a lot of background stories that you need to cover?
3. Why should they read it all?
- Don’t waste the reader’s time. Make it interesting for them.
4. What makes them care about your message?
- What makes your message different from the other dozens they got?
- How can you appeal to their inner feelings? Their sense of justice or pride?
I believe that storytelling is an overtalked but underused art form. While you see people trying to use it in presentations or speeches, I find that it’s often forgotten in everyday routines like Slack messages, user story descriptions, strategic announcements, etc.
📢 When was the last time you used the power of a good story?
