Is Our Hunger for Story a "Bug" in Our Brain?
Peter Guber
CEO, Mandalay Entertainment; Owner Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Dodgers, LAFC (MLS); #1 NYT Bestselling Author
I have that “bug” in my brain.
Through my own successes spanning diverse industries including Entertainment, Sports, Technology and Education, I have discovered the best way to persuade customers, employees, shareholders, media and partners to respond to my call to action is by taking the facts, figures and data important to demonstrate intellectual capacity and embed them into the “tell” of a purposeful story. This has been my single biggest competitive advantage. This emotional transportation engages your audience whether it is a customer, client, or patron, political contributor or voter to heed your call. Story powers this process in an incredibly unique fashion. I’ve made it my mission and purpose to share this secret sauce with others so they, too, can benefit from its power for their purpose.
But is this a dangerous proposition? This was the contention of Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired magazine and author of the bestselling books, Free and The Long Tail, when he visited one of my UCLA courses.
Not one to shy away from a contrarian point of view, Chris asserted that stories are too powerful and using story as a call to action can often be a distortion of the truth. To Chris, our hunger for stories- a beginning, middle and end - is a bug in our brain! He explained that stories assume certain patterns of logic that evolution – since the Stone Age – which have trained the human brain to anticipate. We expect something to happen or change over the course of a story to a character or characters we can empathize with. We assume the outcome will be the result of whatever happens in the course of the plot. We not only want the story to make sense, but we assume the events within the story will make more sense to us after the story’s conclusion. The story, as compelling as it may be, in fact, may not be the truth. Chris concluded his point of view by acknowledging that our wiring created an evolutionary skill set that’s allowed us to teach each other and grow, to establish social networks and culture.
I, of course, whole-heartedly disagreed that story telling was a liability to the listener. If it was, evolution would have weeded it from our systems long ago. What’s more, research has proven that we’re hard-wired for stories as is evidenced that long before we had the written word for tens of thousands of years, the rules, beliefs and values of our species were passed along by these stories told around the campfire for our survival and success. And, they are with us now, waiting to leap into action for your survival and success today!
Chris asserted that his problem with depending on the power of story to drive action is that we’re so intrinsically drawn to story telling that we often miss the statistical randomness of life -- because it doesn’t fit into our sense of how the story should go. He believes that the tragedy of our species is that we’re wired for narrative, yet we live in a world that’s random.
My view remains that if humans are wired for story telling and story listening, then to ignite action, you must use them.
Chris had a final concession to the magic of story by acknowledging that the marketplace does in fact, want stories. And that’s what he does every day in his magazines and books is to package complicated ideas in terms that resonate with people through stories – making it his business to take advantage of this bug in our brain.
Cheif Finance Executive at PDS Multinational
12 年"It sounds like Chris is stating a typical point-of-view of a frustrated audience member, someone who is, or considers themselves to be, on the outside of the greater storytelling realm (either consciously or subconsciously). To simplify his argument, it sounds like he's saying that if narratives are not true, or cannot be true for all listeners/viewers/audiences, then it is not useful or otherwise insults the audience. This is the complaint of media fanboys everywhere. The Hobbit? Just plug that into Google and see all the enraged fans blogging about the films' failure to capture the strength and power of Bilbo's story, as they see it. Or Dallas? When Bobby Ewing suddenly appeared in the shower, back from the dead, it threw all logic out the window. Though these properties still have value, they nonetheless lost credibility with much of the audience. I completely agree with you, Peter, but I do see Chris' point. However, I think that he's subconsciously talking about the harmful effects of POOR STORYTELLING. Poor or irresponsible storytelling can absolutely lead your target audience astray. If you're pitching a VC and your story, albeit well-intentioned and engaging, doesn't hold water, or simply feels "off," then you've lost the money. On the flip side, say you're a politician, and you've sold the populace on a story born of greed and your desire for power, then the damage can be enormous, immeasurable, breaking the spirits of those who had hope and gave support because of your narrative. It sounds like Chris may be hypersensitive to the harm that bad stories can cause, similar to the feelings we have when a father or older sibling lets us down. We turn to stories to motivate us, inspire us, call us to action... and storytellers tell stories to motivate, inspire, and call you to action, about something, anything -- good or bad. So, the power of a well-told story is undeniable, in my eyes, and have inspired individuals and whole nations (Beowulf, Huckleberry Finn, The Gettysburg Address, The Metamorphosis, The Art of War, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Shawshank Redemption, many of Kennedy's speeches, many of Reagan's speeches...etc). These can be used responsibly to get what you want and motivate others to succeed in whatever way they need to... or it can manipulate a society to their detriment. In the end, it is all up to the storyteller." 8h
Director | Award-winning cinematic storyteller, crafting incredible and transformative experiences.
12 年It sounds like Chris is stating a typical point-of-view of a frustrated audience member, someone who is, or considers themselves to be, on the outside of the greater storytelling realm (either consciously or subconsciously). To simplify his argument, it sounds like he's saying that if narratives are not true, or cannot be true for all listeners/viewers/audiences, then it is not useful or otherwise insults the audience. This is the complaint of media fanboys everywhere. The Hobbit? Just plug that into Google and see all the enraged fans blogging about the films' failure to capture the strength and power of Bilbo's story, as they see it. Or Dallas? When Bobby Ewing suddenly appeared in the shower, back from the dead, it threw all logic out the window. Though these properties still have value, they nonetheless lost credibility with much of the audience. I completely agree with you, Peter, but I do see Chris' point. However, I think that he's subconsciously talking about the harmful effects of POOR STORYTELLING. Poor or irresponsible storytelling can absolutely lead your target audience astray. If you're pitching a VC and your story, albeit well-intentioned and engaging, doesn't hold water, or simply feels "off," then you've lost the money. On the flip side, say you're a politician, and you've sold the populace on a story born of greed and your desire for power, then the damage can be enormous, immeasurable, breaking the spirits of those who had hope and gave support because of your narrative. It sounds like Chris may be hypersensitive to the harm that bad stories can cause, similar to the feelings we have when a father or older sibling lets us down. We turn to stories to motivate us, inspire us, call us to action... and storytellers tell stories to motivate, inspire, and call you to action, about something, anything -- good or bad. So, the power of a well-told story is undeniable, in my eyes, and have inspired individuals and whole nations (Beowulf, Huckleberry Finn, The Gettysburg Address, The Metamorphosis, The Art of War, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Shawshank Redemption, many of Kennedy's speeches, many of Reagan's speeches...etc). These can be used responsibly to get what you want and motivate others to succeed in whatever way they need to... or it can manipulate a society to their detriment. In the end, it is all up to the storyteller.
Systemic Constellations & Consciousness Studies + Open Learning Community (Director)
12 年I believe stories are an excellent way to connect head stuff with heart centeredness and can be hugely therapeutic. One of the stories I remember being told is the story of the red Indian sent to the Vietnam war. He was traumatized by the experience. On his return the elders of his tribe got him to stand in a stream and tell them the story of this experiences there. He had to do this three days in succession each time repeating his story. While the facts of the story remained the same, with each telling the emotional quality of the story changed ultimately freeing him of the trauma he had experienced. I find this very insightful not only from the story telling perspective but think the listening / to be heard factor is just as important. Now I don't know if I got the facts of this story correct but the ethos of it finds fit with me.
Financial Services Professional with Nylife Securities LLC.
12 年Good stories are great! What are the components of a good story. How does one keep the audience engaged within the topic and focused. People loose interest fast and time constraints limit the opportunities. Assuming this is in a sales environment.
Created real change at Amazon's delivery stations. Transportation. Printing.
12 年In the future, stories will probably be considered as “mapping apps” to go where we want to go and to become who we want to be. This notion is founded on my observation that Steve Jobs’ commencement address at Stanford is unique. He got to the point in about 20 seconds. The visionary, who brought apps to the mainstream market, offered three stories as “apps” to encourage Stanford’s graduates to pursue their dreams. To make the “statistical randomness of life” the norm more often, we may have to make stories 3-dimensional so they can become chain events of success. From my own experiences: Born in Austria, I heard Heinrich Harrer talk about his “Seven Years in Tibet” in 1973. His presentation moved me deeply. In 1987 I visited Tibet. When I published my ebook I added pictures I took there as well as a picture of the dedication Heinrich Harrer wrote into my copy of his book. One of my test readers decided right away, that now knowing that it was doable, he would adapt his lifestyle to save money to travel to Tibet.