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- Metaphors make your story relatable
Each week, we share a practical technique to become a more effective storyteller and analyze a video that demonstrates its use in the real-world.
Quote of the week
“Metaphors have a way of holding the most truth in the least space.” Orson Scott Card
photo: Stephen Noulton: via Pexels
Metaphors make your story relatable
The beginning of a new year usually marks the making of resolutions to do better. Many of these are around health (get fit, lose weight, eat better), finance (save more, spend less, invest), work (acquire skills, change job) or relationships (be more present, demonstrative, get out.)
Money and appearance particularly are amongst the most common themes around which resolutions are made. Money or personal finance causes a good deal of anxiety, as most people don’t feel they are competent or know enough.
This week two different financial educators on two continents demonstrated how through storytelling and the use of metaphors, the subject of investing can be made accessible and dare I say even friendly?
Darius Foroux, author and creator of the Wise and Wealthy newsletter, explains the stock market in three different metaphors. The first one he uses is the investing as farming.
Picture the stock market as a farming field. Just as farmers plant seeds and patiently wait for them to grow, investors buy stocks and wait for them to appreciate. The concept of sowing and reaping is central to both farming and investing.
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When the harvest season arrives, the farmer reaps the rewards of his patience and hard work. In the same way, over time, your investments can grow and provide a substantial return – your financial harvest.
Even if you aren’t a farmer, (or a gardner) most people will be able to follow (in this case the concept of buy and hold in investing akin to sowing and reaping. Darius also offers two further metaphors investing as a board game and as a creating art. I’ll let you figure those two out!
Andy Gupta, who helps ‘women learn the art of investing to build financial independence,’ uses the metaphor of a stock portfolio as a wardrobe.
Investing? It's akin to curating a timeless wardrobe.
Here’s a better game plan: Select 5 to 10 diverse funds, like picking staple pieces for every season. Choose funds that match your goals and values, just like you pick clothes that suit your style. Commit to monthly investments in these funds, akin to a routine wardrobe refresh.
While no one would accuse me of being a fashion plate, even I could follow this analogy of having a few “staple pieces for every season.” Andy also manages to stay in character with this metaphor when using other rhetorical tools such as this simily “predictions are AS trustworthy AS a fad diet.”
So the next time you tell a story, what metaphors will you use?
Video
Steven Van Belleghem, customer experience expert begins his keynote with the story of the rhino and how nature seems to have failed it with poor eyesight. As the story progresses you realize he’s building up to a metaphor. In this instance the role of companies vis-a-vis their customers (the rhinos).
This is an excellent example of an entire story built as a metaphor. He doesn’t stop merely by saying you should be the oxpecker bird on the rhino, but alludes to how flies on cows aren’t helping by being always present, for they are actively irksome even whilst adding NO value!