Gavin McMahon is a founder and CEO of fassforward, specializing in storytelling, leadership and business transformation.
Every business sells stuff—a product, service or idea; that’s the essence of capitalism. Payment giants like Mastercard sell the ability to make secure financial transactions. Telecom leaders like Verizon sell technology to connect and communicate. Insurance companies like Allstate sell peace of mind. Every company creates value by meeting market needs—selling goods and services that people want.
Ultimately, the value a company creates is only as good as the decisions it makes.
People make those decisions, interacting, communicating and sharing information every day. People learn through stories. They move people to action. Stories are emotional. And emotions, according to a model proposed by Antoine Bechara and Antonio Damasio, “are a major factor in the interaction between environmental conditions and human decision processes, with these emotional systems providing valuable implicit or explicit knowledge for making fast and advantageous decisions.” That could be why we “feel” it’s the right thing to do or “go with our gut.” Stories can play into what psychologists call the “self-reference effect,” which refers to the fact that people can better remember information that is linked to them than information that isn’t. Companies that harness the power of storytelling to relate to people across functions stand to gain a competitive advantage.
So, how do you harness the power of storytelling in your organization?
Information exchange alone lacks meaning. Storytelling adds context. It shapes opinion. It enriches value with layers of emotion, vision and significance.
Stories build connections. A sales rep communicates how their solution fits customers’ dreams. An entrepreneur’s vision inspires teams and investors. Stories speak to our innate yearning for adventure, sense of self and human bonds. The most successful businesses will harness narrative—the ability to inspire, clarify, include and reveal essential truth.
To create value, consider curating and connecting these four genres of business stories.
Brand Stories
Brand stories construct compelling worlds where customers feel a sense of belonging. (Consider Apple’s cult-like following.) They create a strong connection between consumers and companies. Done well, they can bury the brand deeply into the buyer’s mind and conjure worlds the consumer wants to be a part of.
We can all name brand stories. They pop up in our heads years later. Think of the beer hawked by “the most interesting man in the world” or Dove’s campaign about real beauty. They should be unexpected and land a point. More importantly, they should build vibrant worlds that consumers want to be part of and elevate the value of the brand.
Product Stories
Product stories are a science fiction. They allow customers to see a better version of themselves. The product becomes a “magic bean” that will get them there. They attract users. The first product stories are tales that motivate teams and allow them to build successful products.
A good product story is more than just a list of features. The goal of the product story is to create longing and need. The story can morph and be retold. In the beginning, good product stories use old words to describe new things (think horseless carriage, metal woods or digital books). As products and markets grow, the stories around the products do, too, and they stand on their own.
Sales Stories
Sales stories explain how abstract products or services can solve tangible business problems. They explain and persuade. Vivid success stories convince customers they can slay their “dragons” with the seller’s “sword.” Sales stories build connections and context between buyer and seller.
Sales stories are carried around in back pockets, not on slides. Some are love stories; some are horror stories. It’s a story of SaaS security software that saved your hamburger on the 4th of July. (“The meatpacker’s plant was protected from ransomware by our software.”)
Leadership Stories
Leadership stories share context. They clarify vision, inspire change and provide urgency. Leaders motivate action and boost commitment by framing challenges and goals within narratives. Leadership storytelling sets the stage for direction, meaning and community to move people to action.
Leadership stories should move people. They should be authentic. They should tell of the lessons you learned along the way. Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, tells of the value of empathy (paywall), which he learned through caring for his son who was born with cerebral palsy. His son also influenced his vision of accessibility.
As author Jonathan Gottschall says, “A story is a trick for sneaking information into the fortified citadel of the human mind.” Strong narratives grease the wheels of communication, influencing organizational decisions and behaviors. Well-crafted messages across functions can drive innovation, build relationships, strengthen culture and promote growth.
Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?
Read the full article here
