Stories

"Find the most important ideas that people should be aware of and smuggle them into people’s heads by telling stories that people are desperate to finish."

That's how author Charles Duhigg (The Power of Habit), describes his personal mission statement.

Research clearly shows the power of emotion, human connection and storytelling as a tool for influence and persuasion. Yet most of us believe it's more important to overwhelm our reader or listener with facts and figures to "make our case".

Duhigg used a story people were "desperate to finish" to “smuggle into their heads” awareness of the human costs and harsh labor conditions tied to producing iPhones and iPads. That story (told via this NY Times article) did more to spark action than all the technical reports and analyses offered by advocates and consultants before it.

One tool that we teach "Explainer-in-Chief"-type leaders (those whose primary method of influence is persuasion) to use is a?Story Journal, but it's also useful for anyone. It's less about your own storytelling initially and more about training your brain to recognize the elements of a powerful story. Here are some tips for keeping a Story Journal:

Keeping a Story Journal:

WHY

• Open you to new ideas and information
• Train your brain to think in stories
• Plant seeds of stories you can harvest later
• Creativity is often just turning up and tuning up what’s already there Look afresh at what’s normally taken for granted
• Openness and exploration rather than self-censoring

WHAT

• Small notebook you can keep with you all the time
• Writing is more powerful than typing into your phone or computer
• Every day for 30 days

HOW

Jot down observations and ideas – NOT stories

• Behavior, dialogue, experiences, tension, metaphors

Capture examples of others using stories effectively on TV or in a movie, speech, or conversation with others

• What happened?
• To Whom?
• With/by Whom?
• Context?
• Outcome?
• Emotion it triggers?
• Potential Application to my work?

Note the elements, story length, what emotion or picture did it conjure in you? What worked about it? What was the key takeaway?

Use this tool to help develop your storytelling ability and you'll soon have another powerful tool in your influence toolbox.

Nancy Murphy is Founder and President of CSR Communications, which specializes in helping socially-conscious organizations achieve their next big initiative & rapidly expand their impact. Nancy is creator of Intrapreneurs Influence Lab and brings over 30 years experience to the work she does as a trainer, speaker, and advisor to local and federal government agencies, non-profits, philanthropies and businesses. Learn more at?csrcommunications.com.