Issue 10 - November 11th 2024
This week, I invite you to consider storytelling when...
You want to build sympathy
I have been hurt before. It was not pleasant. I did not want to get hurt. Whenever I came to a new place, I scanned people around me carefully and took care not to reveal anything personal that might give someone the opportunity to hurt me. I felt protected. I was completely wrong.
After a long period of loneliness, I learned that by keeping my personality hidden, I prevented sympathy from developing and sometimes even aroused suspicion ("what does he have to hide?"). Ask yourself: Who do we attack first: those we know well or those we don't know or consider suspicious?
There Isn’t Anyone You Couldn’t Love Once You’ve Heard Their Story
Mary Lou Kownacki, Order of St. Benedict
Why is storytelling the answer? It has been observed that storytelling serves as a crucial tool in the emotional development of children. Through stories, children encounter characters with diverse experiences, backgrounds, and challenges. This exposure allows them to step into someone else’s shoes, helping them see the world through different eyes. By engaging with these narratives, children begin to recognize and understand emotions beyond their own, fostering the growth of empathy. In this way, storytelling becomes a bridge that connects young minds to the lives and experiences of others, enriching their capacity for compassion and understanding.
The same is true for us as adults. By sharing our own stories and listening to the stories of others, we can create a sense of connection and empathy that can help us navigate even the most challenging situations. It is important, however, that these stories include an emotional component from the teller.? A story without an emotional component can often leave an audience feeling detached and disinterested. Whether it is tears or laughter, emotion creates lasting impressions that eagerly connect us to the narrator and his/her story. This increased engagement leads to improved retention of the narrative, as emotions tend to enhance memory recall.
Troubadours had to build sympathies quickly. Otherwise, nobody would have offered them a dinner. Follow their example and tell stories about yourself when you are in an environment where you are the stranger. You will be surprised how many friends you have in this world.
About The Troubadour
Storytelling can be a powerful tool - even for those of us who are not professional writers. There are numerous books, videos and classes on the subject. Typically, they provide insights on HOW to draft and present a story.
The Troubadour is about WHEN to leverage storytelling.
The use cases and examples presented in the newsletters are all based on my personal experience as someone (a manager) who has the responsibility to archive a business outcome by leveraging a team of humans. Although telling stories usually was not something I was compensated for, I found the techniques superior to many other means of communication.
The Troubadour is about storytelling as a MANAGEMENT TOOL.
Storytelling is often taught by journalists, actors or others who were professionally trained to excel in this art. What I am sharing are my own observations, lessons learned and numerous sources reviewed on the subject.
The Troubadour is based on my PERSONAL EXPERIENCE AS A MANAGER.
Do you like The Troubadour? Please forward to anyone who could be interested.
About Me
Storytelling has been part of my professional life for more than 20 years. Although I was never trained to become a professional writer (or narrator), relying on stories to communicate better has always felt natural to me.
Besides of blogs and articles, I published a novel (The Lion of Ishtar) which is available in book stores with the ISBN?9783757809959 and 9783757881603 (Book 1 and 2).
Outside of my day job, I am also coaching with special focus on storytelling.
About the Logo: For centuries, troubadours were the dominant tool of mass communication. Their ability to present content ultimately determined their income (and survival). Troubadours were masters of storytelling.
Senior Learning and Development Advisor - EdTech | Corporate Digital Business Coaching and Language Training
3 个月I'm an extrovert by nature so telling stories about myself is something that comes easy to me. I see your point though. Whenever you do, you open doors and create connections, you get attention and you are remembered but the great thing is that works exactly the same on yourself too: you see others, you remember them, you come much closer to them. Your listeners will remember you because of the emotions enhanced by your story but you will remember your listeners because of the emotions enhanced by your telling your story to them.