Let the Story Do the Work

Key Concepts

Orient your story to generate reactions in your audience

“When most people are preparing to tell their stories, they tend to think only about what they will tell and how they will tell it. Too often they neglect to think about how their audience will react to the stories, as influenced by their own needs and preferences.” (p. 9)

Ask: “Feeling and knowing, discussed above, take place internally, within members of your audience. But effective communication will yield an external sign of their interest: they will ask questions.” (p. 10)

Act: “But the goal of a story told in a business context is to inspire action, no matter how big or small.” (p. 11)

“Principal Elements of Storytelling”

The Three-Act Formula:

“In Act I, you are oriented to the time, place, and setting of the story. You meet the main characters, and ideally you are intrigued by what is about to happen next because there is a hook (see below) at the end of the act. Act I is typically the shortest part of the story because the hook needs to work its magic as soon as possible, lest the story lose the audience’s precious interest.” (p. 12)

“Then Act II represents the main journey of the story. This is usually the longest part of any story, including large and small setbacks, moments of clarity, newfound insights, and known and unknown obstacles. Toward Act II’s end, the protagonist typically meets the biggest challenge head-on.” (p. 12)

“In Act III, we see how she overcomes it. As the challenge is resolved, the lead character and her situation also have changed, typically for the better. This leads to a final, satisfying ending and resolution.” (p. 12)

The Hook: “While there are innumerable potentially valid hooks, a more systematic way to create one—even when you don’t feel particularly creative—is to follow the “3 Cs”: conflict, contrast, and contradiction.” (p. 13)

Challenge and Change: “Having a central challenge in your story also creates change, in the main characters, in their situations, or (ideally) both. If challenge is the nerve center of a story, then change is the soul of it. If everyone or everything remains the same at the story’s end, then what’s the point of the journey? Audiences innately want to know not just what happened in the story, but what’s different at the end, and why.” (p. 15)

A Clear Theme: “A story needs a theme, and chronology is not a sufficient one. In order for listeners to understand and appreciate the story theme, the storyteller must tell his stories by weaving events and reflection together.” (p. 15)

Open or Closed End? “Whether you go with Open or Closed, consider the desired results you wish to see in your listeners. Is there a specific set of actions you hope they will take? Are you trying to sway opinions? Or are you intending to create an exchange, a dialogue, to collect stories? Whatever the outcome might be, craft the end of your story accordingly, and with care.” (p. 17)

“The Five Basic Plots in Business Communication”

Origin: “An origin story—which all of these are—can instill a sense of identity and heritage, place an event or person in historical context, or simply satisfy deep curiosity.” (p. 26)

Rags to Riches: “A variant of rags to riches is the David-versus-Goliath story, or what many know as the underdog story. Whatever you call it, this plot is about someone who starts from a very low station in life, without much hope for improvement, but surprises everyone with a dramatic turnaround.” (p. 27)

Rebirth: “The concept of redemption is key here. Put another way, a rebirth story is about having a second chance. In business, this often takes the form of a turnaround.” (p. 29)

Overcoming the Monster: “Fighting to survive or thrive is elemental to human nature. So audiences of any type will root for defeat of the monster, whether at the hands of an individual, group, or organization, making this kind of story compelling in business and leadership stories.” (p. 31)

The Quest: “...protagonists in quest stories tend to be enjoying a good life at the outset. But they are not content to sit at home, like many of us would in their situation. Instead, they know that somewhere, in a remote and possibly dangerous place, lies a prize of immeasurable value. Against his better judgment and his friends’ and family’s advice, the hero in this kind of story ventures out on a quest to claim this prize.” (p. 31)

“As suggested in the descriptions above, each of these plots has a unique emotional quality. The origin story addresses the desire to connect the dots between past and present, in an inspiring way. Rags to riches evokes empathy and gets audiences cheering for the down-on-their-luck main characters. A rebirth story is about redemption, a second chance to reverse a bad situation and evoke optimism. “overcoming the monster” stories can induce righteous anger and compel people to act to ward off a present or imminent threat. And a quest can provoke restlessness, the desire to achieve more than what life seems to promise.” (p. 32)

Focus on the audience, not your internal narrative

“Telling a story with a strategic point of view is not about starting only from what you know. Rather, it is about first being clear with what you are trying to accomplish—pitching an idea, suggesting a change, winning an account, or whatever—and then crafting your story from the point of view that will be most persuasive to those you need to convince.” (p. 49)

“You have to take yourself out of your own mindset, preferences, and biases and put yourself into the shoes of your most important audience, asking ‘What do they want to know? What do they need to know?’” (p. 49)

“AIA: ACKNOWLEDGE-INSPIRE-ASPIRE IN ACTION”

“Acknowledging your audience is like stabilizing patients in the ER. Once your audience feels acknowledged, they are much more ready to listen to what you have to offer.” (p. 54)

“You too can follow the AIA model for any presentation, pitch, or other form of persuasion. First, acknowledge your audiences by telling stories from their point of view. Second, inspire them to feel good about your proposed changes, ideas, products, or services. Third, get them to aspire to a different future with concrete details, one with you and your solution as important parts of it.” (p. 55)

Telling data stories

“Poor understanding of audience composition and needs is why so many data-rich presentations fail to offer satisfying answers, insights, or takeaways. As noted above, there’s often a mismatch between what presenters deem share-worthy and what the audience wants to hear.” (p. 70)

“No, the narrative components are crucial for data-driven presentations because the human mind is built to process stories, rather than cold, hard facts or logic alone. In fact, understanding logic outside the context of a story is much more difficult than processing the same ideas delivered in story form, according to a recent Scientific American article.” (p. 73)

Three Prep Questions

1. “What is the makeup of my audience? What do they need to know? (Use the five major categories of audiences presented earlier.) 

2. “After listening to my presentation, I hope my audience will remember the following points, even if they cannot recall anything else I tell them: (up to three major points expressed in 10 or fewer words each)

3. “Outside of the project I am communicating about with them, what are the most pressing challenges my audiences face currently? What keeps them up at night?” (p. 75)

“In this regard, Brent Dykes, former senior evangelist of Data Science & Analytics at Adobe, offers the following process. First, he advises structuring a data story around one central idea, emphasizing that ‘it should have an intended end point or destination that drives discussion and action.’ Second, he urges analysts to add sufficient relevant context and commentary so that the audience can grasp what the data means. Third, arranging well-explained data in a linear sequence will keep the audience from getting bogged down in the numbers. Finally, as you consider the linear ‘plot’ of your data, consider what else you can borrow from classic storytelling. “Setting, characters . . . and conflict help to engage the audience more deeply on an emotional level,” says Dykes.” (p. 85)

“THE SIX TYPES OF STORYPICTURE”

TYPE 1: The Virtuous Cycle

TYPE 2: Venn Diagram

TYPE #3: The Graph

TYPE 4: The Pie Chart

TYPE 5: The Formula 

TYPE 6: FEE (Freestyling for Everything Else)

“STORYPICTURE BEST PRACTICES”

“1. Always have something to write with and to write on. The best way to communicate a StoryPicture, perhaps ironically, is to not make a big deal out of it. No pomp and circumstance, no big announcement or unveiling. For example, in a group setting you could casually go to a whiteboard or poster-paper and use a marker (make sure at least one is working ahead of time!) and draw your visual while telling the related story. Or you can do this with pen and paper in a more individual setting. A latent benefit of the StoryPicture is that it allows you to be in charge of the conversation by putting you in the spotlight with your visual as you draw it for the audience.” (p. 125)

“2. Tell your StoryPicture in the beginning of a meeting/presentation.” (p. 126)

“3. Save your best for never. Do not include your best StoryPicture in any pre-printed materials.” (p. 126)

“4. Practice telling and drawing, and the timing between telling and drawing.” (p. 128)

Crafting a response to “What do you do?”

1. Create a vivid image (p. 180)

• “I stand between people and prisons.” (Criminal defense lawyer) 

• “I protect audiences from boring speakers.” (Speechwriter) 

• “I catch terrorists with spreadsheets.” (Risk-management consultant) (p. 180)

2. Use a concrete object and/or action-oriented verb (p. 181)

• “I build financial roadmaps.” (Financial planner) 

• “I’m a digital revenue generator.” (Website designer) 

• “I unpack brains.” (Corporate strategist) (p. 181)

3. Pair words or ideas that don’t usually go together (p. 181)

• “I’m a habit destroyer.” (Leadership or life coach) 

• “I’m an idea architect.” (Social innovator) 

• “I help keep the Internet free.” (Online marketer) (p. 181)

Quotables

“Given the choice between trivial material brilliantly told versus profound material badly told,” McKee wrote in his acclaimed book, Story, “an audience will always choose the trivial told brilliantly.” (Introduction)

“The idea is that your story, no matter how well told, can’t achieve its full intended effect until you embed within it an emotional quality aligned with your purpose.” (p. 8)

“This most challenging stage to reach involves making sense of highly complex issues in a world where information and implications grow with unprecedented speed and volume, and expertise must necessarily be more nuanced. There never seems to be enough time to convey what we know. In stage three, a few true master communicators emerge. They can simplify without dumbing down. They can distill complex ideas to their core essence. They can get novice audiences to understand, follow, and appreciate complicated topics. They can get audiences of all levels of sophistication to ask for more and to take action. They do so through telling stories. You can become a master communicator by honing your storytelling skills!” (p. 22)

“As I thought more about it, I realized that this kind of communication challenge happened with lots of service providers, from auto mechanics to IT support staff. Only recently did I gain better perspective on this phenomenon, when I spoke to Greg Kim, a friend who oversees customer retention for a major online retailer, managing a team of data scientists. ‘You know why they do that, right?’ he said when I mentioned my frustration with the verbose explanations of service providers. I ventured that some of them might have been motivated by money, as they were paid by the hour. ‘No,’ he said, ‘they do it to demonstrate their value.’ That is, they want me to know how hard they’ve worked, how knowledgeable they are, and how they have bent over backward to provide service to me. “(p. 66)

“Why does pairing the unfamiliar with the familiar work so well? The research of Larry Jacoby and his colleagues has demonstrated what psychologist Daniel Kahneman captures very well about the unfamiliar-to-familiar link: ‘The experience of familiarity has a simple but powerful quality of ‘pastness’ that seems to indicate that it is a direct reflection of prior experience.’ That is, when you ‘hitch’ an unfamiliar idea to one that is more familiar to your audience, you are creating the sense that the unfamiliar idea is already part of their personal experience, rather than some foreign concept. And since we tend to value our own experience more than any other, we’re more likely to buy into the new (but seemingly old) idea.” (p. 93)