To Cut a Long Story Short... ?

Once upon a time, "when I wore a younger man’s clothes" (as Billy Joel plaintively sang on his minor 1973 hit, ‘Piano Man’), there was a UK variety performer who was already immensely famous and popular, around the time Joel was just starting out on his own career, called Max Bygraves. A fellow south-east Londoner. But, more importantly for this story, also a singer, actor, TV host, and would-be comedian / raconteur. Although I suspect the timelessness of his delivery might now be debated long and hard.

Nowadays, we would probably regard him as an A-list "Celebrity". And we would probably wish him well as he chowed down on challenging "bush tucker", or stoically endured something even more gross. The times they have a-changed, after all.

Bygraves acquired a much-loved catchphrase, regardless of the true level of his story-telling credentials, that became an integral, crowd-pleasing element of his popular variety act - and helped him to stay in the spotlight ("literally") for many decades. It still acts as a useful start-point for me, here and now.

Max would only have to muggingly repeat his famous line,

"I wanna tell you a story…"

to have an audience instantly and expectantly in the palm of his hand, figuratively speaking. I don't mean to suggest he performed for ants, fleas, or Cinderella's / Sleeping Beauty's little feathered friends.

There was a back-story, though, even behind this catchphrase about story-telling. That’s because it had originated in impersonations of Bygraves by the comedian Mike Yarwood, Max’s TV star contemporary, who passed away this month.

Yarwood apparently adapted HIS phrase from a version Bygraves was already using: "I want to tell you a joke". It was a perceptive and deeply wise, if simple, amendment. Since, although most of us do like a joke, we almost ALL love to hear a story even more. It may not ("literally") be in our DNA, but it is a behaviour reflective of our long-held, common values. And it goes back deep into the mists of prehistoric, if not quite primordial, times.

The impersonatee, himself, subsequently presciently picked up the revised comic catchphrase Yarwood had satirically applied to him - and just ran with it. Or "owned it", we might say now. Like so many catchphrases (and most good stories, in fact) it caught on because it struck a chord with the public. The common chord in this case being that, as already stated above, almost everybody loves to hear a story told well. Max knew this. By using it, he signposted that he was about to tell us a good one - and that we should, therefore, pay close attention.

Now, some readers will already know that I spent a chunk of my earlier career in the drinks industry, as well as working in other business and non-profit sectors. That drinks experience included running an independent fine wine and spirits import agency, called Barwell and Jones (B&J – for whom there’s a long origin story, from which I'll spare you, here).

“We” were well-known, at that time, for developing intriguing back-stories to tell to potential customers. These arose out of our unique, premium drinks sourcing from around the globe. They were intended to help bring our products to life; and to get them to stick in the minds of extremely busy professionals.

For instance, we were relative pioneers in exploring the (then) comparatively undiscovered world of Brazilian wines and spirits. Although, admittedly, that was partly a lucky accident, arising from the fact that our Master of Wine head buyer was originally from Brazil, himself; and so had a head-start on most, in terms of helpful local knowledge and intriguing trivia.

FYI, 'the most important producers... and the focus of fine wine development' [1] are to be found in Brazil's deepest south: in a comparatively narrow land strip near its Uruguay and Argentina borderlands - over a thousand miles from Rio. This area benefits from a 'drier climate, longer days and less fertile granite and limestone soils... with some potential for [high quality] Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir' [1]. But not many people knew that, back then. And, even now, Brazil barely merits a full page of coverage in the industry's unofficial "bible", 'The World Atlas of Wine'.

By the time of the 2014 FIFA World Cup?, then, B&J was able to exploit tantalising Tales of the Unexpected, from the back stories of our unique wine and spirit portfolio - to our commercial advantage. Those emanating from that year’s “sexy”, samba-partying, diverse and colourful World Cup host nation were especially topical, tropical, and attention-grabbing. Thus, we were able to use B&J's "distinctive asset history" to appeal to our clients' emotions, as well as their logic.

With that aim in mind, we could hardly go wrong (could we?) by summoning up, reflecting, and projecting

the siren sights, sounds and scents of: 'The Beautiful Game' (five-time World Cup winners Brazil are FIFA’s most successful national team ever); the seductive rhythms of the bossa nova; captivating capoeira; samba schools; the Rio carnival (the world’s largest); the Amazon river (the world’s largest) and its ecologically all-important rain forests; favelas (amongst the world's poorest!); Copacabana beach (one of the world’s most famous) and its grand protector, the legendary Christ the Redeemer statue, atop Corcovado mountain; Sugarloaf Mountain (P?o de A?úcar) and its iconic cable car ride.

You may recall the last of these was harnessed (exploited?) and captured for posterity in a famous cinematic cable car tussle. One that was staged in 1979, between Roger Moore (as Commander James Bond, "007") and Richard Kiel (as the giant, steel-toothed villain, “Jaws”). Lois Chiles (as "Holly Goodhead") was also along, for the ride of her life - in more ways than one.

In the scene shared at THIS LINK Bond inexplicably decides the best place to be, when a cable car comes to an abrupt and unexpected halt, is outside on top of it. Almost 400 metres above sea level, with no safety harness. In real life, nobody - NOBODY - has ever reached this same conclusion, have they?

Although, as he exits the cabin up a surprisingly handy ladder, he wisely (if rather ungallantly and abruptly - she's the physicist, after all) tells his NASA astronaut and scientist lady-friend to “bring that chain”. It’s such a clumsy non-sequitur and obvious plot device, that most of those watching it will have worked out the likely denouement of this little vignette long before it finally arrives (clue/spoiler: and them with it!).

The resulting scene was considered by some to be Hollywood story-telling Gold. So, it was frequently trailered at the time of the movie's launch. Although, by contrast, it may be worth remembering that the source novel for the film (Ian Fleming’s far less exhilarating 1954 effort, ‘Moonraker’) is mostly set, prosaically and disappointingly, on terra firma near the more "pedestrian" White Cliffs of Dover. The Bond movie franchise has always revelled in such outbursts of extreme poetic licence, though.

Anyway, I digress! But go on, admit it: your imagination was at least briefly transported away from your electronic device's screen to the heady sounds, smells and scenery of Rio's balmy, sunny, sultry, Latin fleshpots - wasn’t it? That's what stories tend to do.

I find, coincidentally, that I have referenced Sir Roger Moore, here, in a week in which his family put much of his 'Bond' memorabilia up for auction. See coverage at the following link, under the clever-but-obvious headline, 'Bond on Bond Street' .

For the record, unlike in the Bond movie, there was no fairy tale football ending. The lack-lustre World Cup final that year was won by Germany (their 4th title) by defeating a lack-lustre Argentina 1-0, via a goal in Extra Time. Both finalists just so happened to also be nations with fine wines featured in B&J’s premium product portfolio, incidentally - and luckily. Meanwhile, the pre-tournament favourites and hosts, the Sele??o Canarinha (or "Canary Squad") could only manage 4th place, sadly, in their home tournament. But I digress, again!

Luckily, while preparing my preliminary thoughts for you, about the persuasive potential of story-telling, the following Guardian headline caught my attention. It took me back in time, to my own fine wine days (could you tell?) entirely by chance, in a well-timed coffee break:

‘Every bottle has a story: most valuable wine collection ever sold could fetch ￡41mn’ [2].

So, a glutton for stories - AND for fine wines! - I read on. Well, what else could I do? They're my one weakness! Even though I realised the auction was unlikely either to feature many Brazilian wines, or other examples within my price range.

The specific bottles I reference later in this story are well outside even B&J’s typical price range, in fact. The immense scale of some, reflecting their scarcity, might well be enough even to undermine a well-travelled old industry adage: that

the easiest way to make a small fortune out of wine... is to start with a large fortune.

It turns out that Taiwanese billionaire, art collector and wine-lover, Pierre Chen, the 66 year-old founder and chair of Yageo Corporation, is off-loading ‘the largest and most valuable collection of rare wines ever sold’.

It’s worth noting he’s younger than many of the more expensive wines in his collection. Given that he's clearly a canny operator, it’s surely no coincidence or surprise to hear he’s selling “when global interest in fine wine has arguably never been greater”. To ensure prices are bolstered to the maximum possible, though, the popular appeal and mystique of stories is to be harnessed in support of them.

Chen describes fine wines as being “to me, the ninth art. It’s the only art form one can consume, using senses that other art forms don’t typically involve, such as taste and smell – and it requires creativity on the part of the owner.” I was right there with him - until that final phrase. Surely what it really requires rather more of than "creativity", on the part of the owner, is the sort of disposable income most of us can only dream of. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, Chen offers no opinion on Brazilian wines, specifically.

So, in due course, that Guardian article quoted Nick Pegna (Sotheby’s global head of wine and spirit) telling us that:

“This is a cellar in which every bottle has a story… the most broad-ranging, valuable cellar ever formed”.

Although beguilingly, teasingly, and rather frustratingly, he didn’t go on to tell us what any of those stories actually are.

I wanted to hear them. Immediately! And you probably do too. Because, for many millennia, we humans have loved to listen to stories. Firstly when huddled in our unlit caves, avoiding sabre-toothed tigers and other predators - including our fellow early humans. Then around camp fires. And now via books, journals, newspapers and multiple digital devices and services.

But just why is it that we love stories so much? I’ll try to answer that simple-sounding question fairly briefly, and offer some helpful advice on how we can best deploy them ourselves, to positive effect.

Chris Anderson, the owner and “curator” of TED talks, thinks he knows part of the reason why stories work, for the human brain:

“People who’ve never seen each other before, find that their brains start to synch with a TED speaker [story-teller]... A pattern involving millions of neurons is teleported into the minds of the audience, just by people listening to a voice and watching a face. A pattern of information that helps you understand and navigate the… scary but wonderful real world out there… shaping actions” [3].

Anderson offers us some clues there, about the science behind the “why?” of successful story-telling. Incidentally, he was apparently born in Pakistan in 1957 and attended Woodstock School, in the idyllic Himalayan hill station of Mussoorie. But that, of course, is a whole OTHER (exotic-sounding) story…

Dr. Daniel Taylor, meanwhile, advises us on some of the “how?”, if we care to pay attention. Although it's not clear which exotic hill station school he attended, in his youth:

‘story does what facts and statistics never can… The audience tunes in because they see themselves woven in… [it] not only keeps their attention; it’s also easy to recall and begs to be repeated. But it doesn’t stop there… they’re also involved—both in head and heart’ [4].

These are all aspects of Persuasive Communication that GPB endorses, and routinely proposes as focus areas for our clients. When they need to optimally engage audiences with important messages. Our advice is to try building engaging stories to successfully draw your audiences in. To help hold their attention to the end, and make your messages (even more) memorable, or “sticky”. That way, they can also be more easily recalled by your audience and re-told to others, later.

We should help each of them project themselves into our narratives. They should immerse themselves and become the hero in our journey story, for instance, if that's the narrative model we adopt. Using stories this way makes us more Persuasive.

Stories are a powerful tool for influencing and inspiring others. Helping THEM to vicariously experience our narrative(s). That's what makes stories such a valuable part of your persuasive communication armoury. Other impactful factors being: how you use your voice to deliver that content; and what you look like when you’re doing so - as Anderson implies, above.

Elsewhere, our friends at the Harvard Business Review [6] authoritatively advised us all, similarly, back in 2003:

'Persuasion is the centerpiece of business activity. Customers must be convinced to buy your company’s products or services, employees and colleagues to go along with a new strategic plan or reorganization, investors to buy (or not to sell) your stock, and partners to sign the next deal. But despite the critical importance of persuasion, most executives struggle to communicate, let alone inspire... [yet he goes on to quote Robert McKee - former professor at the University of Southern California] "executives can engage listeners on a whole new level, if they toss their PowerPoint slides and learn to tell good stories instead".'

So, if nothing else, you now know it's not new thinking to suggest that PowerPoint slides can be a burden, rather than a help. "Visual aids" of all descriptions should always assist the delivery of your persuasive content. There's a big clue in their name. To do this, they should be image-heavy and text-light, wherever possible. They should NOT be a proxy for the "script" or notes to your story. Far too often, unfortunately, presenters become slaves to their wordy slide decks. With predictable, negative results for both them and their audiences.

If we can read most of your story content for ourselves, after all, why on Earth would we (why should we) bother LISTENING to you droning on, with your head frequently turned away from us, distracted by your slides?

When we read, some very different parts of our brains take over. The experience is not the same as being told a story. And it is rarely as rewarding. Anyway, what slide(s) could possibly encapsulate your story as well as your thrilling narration would?!

Above, I've shared messages from just a few authoritative sources on the power of stories. These help to explain how and why we should all be doing more powerful storytelling, especially at those times when we need to persuade others.

There are many more such sources. Most of them will tell you pretty much the same thing, however: that, in the right circumstances and delivered well, powerful stories make an all-important contribution and differentiate your most critical persuasive communication scenarios. If you're not doing so already, you should probably give storytelling a chance. Try using it next time.

It seems using the right stories to engage an audience might well even influence prices, auction bidding and profit margins. For instance, Mr. Pegna after all (see above) has a vested interest in making us believe that those wines he’s making a margin on have stories that are worth hearing, hasn’t he? Ones that add emotional value and associations to the products and, therefore, make them worth paying (extra) for.

But at some point, having excited our interest, Pegna really will have to tell us what those stories actually are. And they had better be VERY good ones. Otherwise, he risks disappointing us, his audience - and receiving lower revenues than planned. Or, rather, he’ll have to at least tell those stories to his target audience of super-wealthy fine wine buyers. That's if he wants those stories to excite more bidding, and to help him optimise his sale prices. As he clearly feels they can.

Take those ‘two six-litre Methuselahs of Domaine de la Romaneé -Conti La Tache 1985, estimated at up to $190,000’, [2].

They had better have truly great stories behind them, if Pegna wants to realise the kinds of eye-watering values listed. Perhaps tales involving conflict, adversity, love, hate, the unknown, sorcery, dragons, hobbits, avatars, time- and space-travel... or grape-growing. What else would YOU hope and expect to hear about, before parting with that sort of serious money for them?

Although it's worth remembering, by contrast, that Herman Melville successfully made do with just vengeance, a white whale and a one-legged sea captain, in his attempt to forge the elusive Great American Novel. And yet, that really is a long story. Chock- full of unlikely, but brilliant, detail, diversions and digressions.

Over 170 years later, Melville still conjures up (for those brave enough to tackle him) the briny essence of 'the watery part of the world... the great shroud of the sea' which he had experienced first-hand, on our behalf, a dozen years earlier still.

Now then, I wonder what the story (and the reserve price) is, on that 1982 Pétrus (pictured tantalisingly, further up the page^).

Well I can dream, can’t I? And buying it could give me one heck of an engaging story to tell. To the right audience. I might even find that I don't have to cut that LONG story so terribly short, after all - just so long as it's engaging enough for my audience.

Yes, we do need to make sure that our stories are genuinely engaging, and the right length. For the audience, that is, rather than for us. A story, like many other elements of a pitch or presentation, should be only as long as it needs to be. And not a moment longer. Camp fires are now optional, though, I believe.

Once we've identified the most engaging stories for our specific audience, we don't even absolutely have to think up the most unexpected, curiosity-inducing opening phrase of all time to kick them off. Although that can help, too:

“Call me Ishmael.”

* A blessedly short version of this article first appeared in the 86th Edition of Grant Pearson Brown's 'Speak Up' journal, Autumn 2023.

GPB routinely offers topical, helpful, free advice on all manner (and aspects) of Persuasive Communication, in our quarterly journal. Message me if you'd like to receive a copy of the latest edition. Or to be added to the email list of several thousand grateful, ongoing recipients - with no strings attached.

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Sources referenced:

1) 'The World Atlas of Wine' (2019), by Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson

2)https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/sep/27/every-bottle-has-a-story-most-valuable-wine-collection-ever-sold-could-fetch-41m

3)https://www.ted.com/talks/chris_anderson_ted_s_secret_to_great_public_speaking

4) ‘The Healing Power of Stories’ (1996), by Daniel Taylor

5) 'The Hero with a Thousand Faces' (1949) by Joseph Campbell

6) ‘Storytelling That Moves People’ (June 2003), by Bronwyn Fryer – in HBR Magazine

7) 'Moby-Dick; or, The Whale' (1851) by Herman Melville.

Title image: UXplanet.org - https://uxplanet.org/storytelling-elements-31b2a6a7e373