Recently, when I was sharing with my son the reasons to play less video games, his eyes glossed over. Like he wasn’t processing the importance of my underwhelming lecture about the impact of too much gaming. After I expressed myself, with great sincerity he responded, “Dad, do you mean that I will feel happier like you did when you started to play less?” At that moment, I realized that my facts weren’t resonating with him, but a story I told him years ago, actually did.
Michael Lewis, the author of Moneyball, The Blind Side, and The Big Short said that “a story organizes our facts into meaning. When we provide just the facts, people don’t remember most of what you’re saying. But if you give people a story, they tend to remember the facts within the story. It’s up to the communicator to organize the data into a story.”
Stories are certainly authentic human experiences and the listener wants to know that the person telling the story is doing it for the right reasons. Listeners can sniff out arrogance and tune out when they hear a story told to simply bolster an ego, rather than authentically share. The listener wants to be a part of the story, so sharing should be two-way. Otherwise, they are not effective.
As someone who works in the field of telling science stories, it’s apparent to me that not everyone seems to believe in the power of great storytelling. Trust me, we see this every day in our business. So, I’d like to share what I believe are the right times to tell stories and hope that this will help you in your daily communication as much as it has been helping mine.
- When we want to collaborate and connect with others. Stories, told well, elicit emotion and those listening can feel transcended far beyond just hearing the facts.
- When we want to convey a meaning of something deeper. Stories are methods of explaining how things work, how we make decisions, and how we justify our decisions. Stories can convey lessons, morals, and cultural knowledge—think of parables.
- When we want to create order out of chaos. The structure of a story can provide a persuasive insight because a good story shares conflict that is followed by resolution.
- When we want to get beyond the facts and into the imagination. Doing so can generate genuine emotions from the listener because the listener can be transformed into the story.
- When we want to share why our values, culture, or history matter. Stories help us understand our traditions, customs, and the meaning of values.
Storytelling is an art. It takes practice. It’s a skill I continuously try to develop. Like my son, embrace the power of storytelling by genuinely and authentically listening and sharing human experiences. You never know the impact that your story might have on someone else.
