Stories for Work summary

From a child’s bedside to the campfire to the conference hall, a well-narrated story seems to possess a magical quality. But there isn’t any magic involved – just a whole lot of science.

Stories are effective communicative devices because they trigger reactions in our brain that excite our emotions. And these emotions are no laughing matter; human beings are innately emotional creatures with a supercharged capacity to feel. These feelings are naturally stimulated by a great story, but how does this process work?

Think back to the movie Titanic. Remember how it made you feel? Now think about The Wizard of Oz. At the end of each, you should remember feeling two very different emotions. What you’ve experienced are two types of stories – tragedies and triumphs.

Like Titanic, a tragedy revolves around a disaster. These disasters come in different sizes, ranging from grave catastrophes right down to trivial blunders based on regret.

Imagine all stories are a giant family and you’re at the family party. Tragedies and triumphs would be the old, loud uncles taking center stage, while tension and transition-type stories would be the quieter, understated cousins in the corner. Everyone has a role to play in a family, and these cousins aren’t any less important.

A tension story revolves around conflict or friction. This could be interpersonal – perhaps a “clash of personalities” tale – but the most effective tension stories describe situations where your values or behavior were questioned.

It’s tough to find your own stories, and even tougher if you’re unsure where – or how – to look. One key tip for story-searching is to embrace the everyday and not always aim for life’s big events.

Why? Well, most of our lives aren’t marathon-finishing, promotion-earning days, so we shouldn’t ignore the simpler moments. These are untapped reservoirs of inspiration and the source of our most authentic stories.

We often believe new is better. But that isn’t the case with structuring a story. Greek philosopher Aristotle’s ancient three-step framework of beginning, middle and end is still taught in schools to this day.

First, you need a great beginning. This should capture the listener’s interest, provide context and, above all, be concise. Quibbling over unnecessary facts is a common error here – call it a beginner’s mistake!

Now that you can find, categorize and structure your stories like a pro, you’ll need one more critical element: good content. To make sure your stories are as authentic and powerful as possible, you should follow four simple principles.

First off, keep stories concise. In the last blink, we saw how introductions should be succinct, but the same is true for the finished product – nothing dampens the mood like verbosity! As a rule of thumb, stories for business should take between one and two minutes to narrate.

There’s no point crafting beautiful, engaging stories if you don’t share them. But when and where can you use them? In the wide world of business, there’s plenty of chances to tell tales – but each situation varies.

Sometimes, you might want to introduce your story early on. This is helpful if your window of opportunity is limited, because it quickly engages an audience and builds rapport.

Imagine you’re on an airplane staring out the window. There’s heavy turbulence and you’re watching the wing of the plane bend and sway in the tumult. Why does it do that? Why is it not strong and rigid? Well, if wings had no flexibility, they’d snap clean off. It’s the same situation with your stories – you need to be flexible and pivot.

And this doesn’t just mean changing specific details of stories to fit new situations; the key here is having a variety of stories.