Here's why stories make you a better communicator

Quote of the week

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel” Maya Angelou

Storytelling is a superpower

"I've a BIG presentation coming up," said a client.

"You should tell a story," was my input.

"But these are serious people and I have to convince them to partner with us."

I've had this conversation innumerable times, whether it was a business development meeting as with this client or a job interview or an eulogy.

The unstated thought here is "This is serious stuff. Is a story appropriate?"

Science shows us that stories evoke emotions in the listeners. They do this by literally changing the listeners brain chemistry through the secretion of hormones¹ .

When you tell a story that poses a problem ("That time the networks went down") it leads to tension and the release of cortisol (stress hormone) in your listeners

Cortisol makes us FOCUS. So your audience is now paying attention!

When your story introduces a relatable character, it leads to the release of oxytocin (feel good hormone) in your audience.

This promotes EMPATHY. You now establish a connection with your audience.

When you share a succesful resolution ("And the network stays up!") the protagonist is a hero and it triggers dopamine with your audience.

The dopamine makes listeners hopeful and optimistic.

Now you have a receptive audience, with whom you have a connection and so can communicate effectively with. Regardless of how serious, technical or complex your situation is.

And the best part is such storytelling can be as short as a minute or as long as you need. In the video below, see how global health expert Hans Rosling uses storytelling to communicate, memorably and with verve, the serious matter of life expectancy and infant mortality in the Global South.

¹  Zak PJ. Why inspiring stories make us react: the neuroscience of narrative.

Video

Hans Rosling manages, in under 90 seconds, to tell a complete story laying out the context, a problem, rising action, a climax and resolution. And in between this, he also sneaks in some facts about relative child mortality rates in ten countries and gets a few laughs out of his audience. And this is just his opening!

For a detailed analysis of how he does it, check out our blog post here.