Storytelling is a crucial communication strategy and a powerful method for business leaders.  For example, when leading people into the future, taking them through change, influencing, unifying people towards a common purpose, transmitting values, motivating and inspiring. Incorporating stories into your messages help to develop a shared sense of identity.  The power of story can be seen in MRI scans which reveal that when we read/hear words like "perfume" and "coffee", our primary olfactory cortex activates.  We know from research that when someone listens to a character-driven story, their brain immediately floods with oxytocin.  The hormone cortisol is released during the rising arc of the story, prompting a powerful emotional reaction, this biological reaction holds even when the listener knows the story is fiction.  Crafting stories which put our users as the characters is a powerful tool that we can use to align team members.

A few quick story tips:

• People admire a character for trying more than for their successes
• What are the stakes? Give the listener a reason to root for the character. What happens if they do not succeed? Stack the odds against them.
• Pull apart the stories you like. What you like in them is part of you; you have got to recognize it before you can use it.
• Give the character of your story an opinion. Passive, malleable might seem likeable to you as you write but it is poison to the audience.
• Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.

We are surrounded by stories, keep a story journal as you hear stories.

Storytelling Frameworks

Below are frameworks from the storytelling world. Following a structure helps your audience ease into the story you are trying to tell.