Story Telling As a Business Tool
Long long ago, it was the time when time itself stood still
That was the time this story of story telling began
When everyone listened to the story and people learned
And that was the time people were also very happy
Because they were listening to a story.
Stories have been the purveyor of knowledge from time immemorial. Much before the advent of writing and publishing story telling was used as a means of communicating essential knowledge and preserve it for the future generations.
Our ancient elders were wise men who understood that for knowledge to be kept alive, absorbed and passed on from generation to generation they needed an interesting methodology. That became the art of story telling. The historical facts were woven into interesting fiction which held the attention and curiosity of man and made them pass it on to their next generation.
Every culture has its rich fables woven with the moral fabric necessary for the evolution of a civil society.
With the development of writing skills, from stone and clay tablets to the modern printing technology and now the digital publishing stories never lost their power in communicating and has remained one of the best sources for transfer of knowledge effectively.
Now leadership is all about using story telling to craft their success . Take any successful business or political leader and you would find that they are master story tellers. "The essence of American presidential leadership, and the secret of presidential success, is storytelling."-Evan Cornog in 'The Power and the Story: How the Crafted Presidential Narrative Has Determined Political Success from George Washington to George W. Bush'; A powerful statement indeed about story telling.
So how can we ordinary mortals use story telling to our advantage and success?
Start everything you do whether you are writing or speaking with a short story, a personal anecdote or an interesting event.
Instead of reeling out impressive statistics tell a story with a human touch to emphasize the same point. It is more interesting why someone bought your products than the number of people who bought it.
Read plenty of interesting stories and episodes for all occasions and weave them in appropriate places instead of long drawn narratives to convey your message.
Put emotion behind the story to make it more appealing.
Make the story telling a lot of fun. This will break the monotony of dry business presentations.
Use the story to create a grand vision about your business, a larger than life image about your brand and as motivational tool.
Use story telling to show you are person in the flesh and blood with the same weaknesses similar dispositions as the audience to get close to their hearts.
Use your creativity in story telling to shape up opinions and decisions which you want.
The better story teller wins. So plan your story. Polish it up. Don't miss a chance to tell the story. "You are the storyteller of your own life, and you can create your own legend or not."-Isabel Allende.
R.G. Srinivasan is a Certified Trainer, Writer and Author with more than two decades of managerial experience. He also writes a regular blog on home-business resources which you may check out at http://www.home-businessresources.blogspot.com for online marketing tips, resources, opportunities and online promotional strategies
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