The Top Four Mistakes that Make Business Leaders Suck at Storytelling

Storytelling is all the rage in the business world, and for good reason – it works. But it’s become a victim of its own success. Suddenly, everyone fancies themselves a storyteller but without really knowing what a story is or how to tell one. Having trained thousands of executives on storytelling, I’ve seen every storytelling mistake you can make. Here are the four most common ones I’ve seen and how to avoid them.

Mistake #1 - Thinking you’re telling a story when you’re not. If you want the unique benefits of storytelling (memorability, engagingness, and appeal to the subconscious emotional decision-making centers in the brain) you need to actually tell a story. Despite the fact that everyone around you is calling them “a story,” your speech, memo, mission statement, brand equity statement, or corporate sales pitch probably aren’t really stories. If they start out, “Our vision is to accomplish four things this decade. . .”, or “These six attributes define our brand. . .”, or even, “There are three reasons you should invest in my company,” what you’re doing is not storytelling. Those aren’t stories. Those are lists. And they might be a great list. But don’t kid yourself. Those aren’t stories, no matter how smoothly they roll off your tongue.

Stories are narratives about something that happened to someone. Period. If the first words in your speech or memo or email sound like this, “Saturday morning our biggest customer called our CEO at home in a panic. . .” or “The first time Janet tried our brand, she. . .” or “I got the idea to start this company when I got fired from my last job -- here’s what happened. . .” now you’re telling a story. Stories have a time, a place, a main character, and tell about something interesting that happened.

Mistake #2 – Asking permission or apologizing for telling a story. You’ve heard this many times. Someone interrupts in the middle of a meeting and says, “I’m sorry, can I just tell a quick story? I promise, it’ll just take a minute.” What do you think that communicates to your listeners? It tells them that you don't value the story nearly as much as what would have been said otherwise. And if that’s true, please don’t tell your story. Just get back to the bullet points on slide number 62. But if you do think your story is important, just tell it. Leaders don’t ask permission to lead. They just lead. Never apologize for or ask permission to tell a story. Your audience is lucky you took the time to craft a more impactful and enjoyable way to make your point.

Mistake #3 – Starting with the words, “Let me tell you a story.” Imagine it’s 9 o’clock on Monday morning and the staff meeting is about to begin*. The boss walks in and says, “Okay, let’s get started. I thought I’d kick this meeting off by telling you a story. . .” Admit it. More than half of you are rolling your eyes already, and we’re just pretending here. Unless you’re addressing a bunch of kindergarteners, telling your audience you’re going to “tell them a story” does not set you up for success.

Now, imagine instead that the boss walks in and says, “Okay, let’s get started. As some of you know, something really important happened last week and it completely changed how I think about running this department. I thought I’d tell you about that. . .” Are you more eager to listen now? Of course you are. In both cases you’ll hear the same story from the boss. But in one case you’re dreading it already, and in the other you’re on the edge of your seat in anticipation. That single sentence at the beginning of the story is the hook that gets your audience’s attention and lets them know something important (to them) is about to be shared. And nowhere should it include the word “story.”

Mistake #4 – Not recognizing a great story when you hear one. In the early 1980s, Sterling Price worked at a pizza restaurant in Springdale, Arkansas. A lady came in one night and asked if they had meatball sandwiches. When Sterling told her they didn’t, she got upset. Apparently her husband was very sick and had lost his appetite, but thought he might be able to eat a meatball sandwich if she could find one. So Sterling improvised. He took the sandwich rolls, meatballs, tomato sauce, and mozzarella cheese they had in the kitchen, and made her the best version of a meatball sandwich he could. She thanked him and left.

Sterling didn’t think anything more of it until the next day when she called the restaurant and asked for him by name. She told him that meatball sandwich was the most enjoyable meal her husband had eaten in days, and she was very grateful. Then she explained a bit more. It turns out he’d been diagnosed with stage four cancer a few months earlier. His loss of appetite was the least of his unpleasant symptoms, but the only one she could provide any comfort for. So she was very grateful that he’d been so flexible with the menu. Then she told him he passed away quietly during the night. That sandwich was his last meal, and it meant the world to her that he helped her make it a good one.  

In the 30+ years since that event took place, the first time it was ever written down and shared outside the four walls of that restaurant was in 2012 when it was published in my first book, Lead with a Story. That’s a cardinal sin of leadership. Imagine how much good a story like that could have been to that restaurant chain. It could have helped employees all over the world understand what stellar customer service looks like. Or it could have been used in great public relations or marketing campaigns. But it wasn’t. Why? Because nobody ever wrote it down. Nobody saw the value in it. After all, it was “just a story.” A priceless company asset went to waste.

There’s no such thing as “just a story.” Wonderfully poignant moments like this happen all around us every day. When they do, take note. A great story is about to be born, or lost forever, and it’s up to you to decide which it will be.

Source: Sell with a Story: How to Capture Attention, Build Trust, and Close the Sale, by Paul Smith. Article originally edited and published in Fast Company Magazine.

* Thanks to my friend and colleague Shawn Callahan for the analogy in Mistake #3.

About the Author

Paul Smith is a former director and 20-year veteran of the Procter & Gamble Company, and one of the world’s leading experts on business storytelling. He’s a keynote speaker, storytelling coach, and bestselling author of three books on harnessing the power of storytelling: Lead with a Story, Sell with a Story, and Parenting with a Story. He can be found at www.leadwithastory.com.