How to tell a great business story

Leaders use storytelling so that audiences listen, remember and act on what they say.

In fact, stories are “the single most powerful weapon in a leader’s arsenal”, according to Harvard University professor and noted psychologist Dr Howard Gardner.

But many business leaders shy away from storytelling because they don’t know how to do it. The good news is that you don’t have to be an author or orator to come up with an effective story.

Simply follow our four-step process for creating great business stories and read/watch our examples of business storytelling in action.

How to craft a great business story in four steps

Step 1 – Break it down

Step 2 – Use vivid language

Step 3 – Use metaphor and analogies

Step 4 – Use emotion

Business Storytelling Step #1. Break it down

Plot twists and character arcs are for novelists – you need a story that will resonate with your audience. Keep it simple yet relatable. Pitching to a client? Align your problem with something they’ve experienced themselves.

Break your story into three parts: situation, complication and resolution. Almost every story has this basic structure, from fairytales to business anecdotes. In fact, your story might only need to be three lines long, as long as it covers all three parts:

1. The situation: what kind of environment or characters were you dealing with?
2. The complication: what hurdles, challenges or problems did you face?
3. The resolution: how did you fix things, and what did you learn along the way?

Business Storytelling Step #2. Use vivid language

Good writers know that the key to a compelling read is to use the five senses – sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste. Great storytellers pepper their stories with sensory details to spark the imagination. These details make us feel like we’re really there, right in the middle of the action.

For example, metaphors involving texture stimulate activity in the sensory cortex, the part of the brain responsible for actually perceiving texture through touch.

• Instead of talking about ‘bad’ customer service, you might refer to it as ‘raw’, ‘coarse’ or ‘abrasive’.
• Instead of talking about ‘good’ customer service, you might use ‘warm’, ‘solid’ or ‘bubbly’.

You can do this with your business storytelling too, by adding splashes of sensory detail to your stories. Using vivid language and imagery invokes the five senses. You can paint a picture in their minds and make them more receptive to what you say. For example, when describing a product launch, you might say

“The new prototype was Ferrari-red, with modules that clicked into place like a seatbelt into a buckle”.

Business Storytelling Step #3. Use metaphors and analogies to make ideas relatable

Do you break down technical, complex or scientific concepts into easily understood ideas?

Metaphors and analogies can help make even the most complicated of topics relatable to an audience, by comparing the known to the unknown (or turning dry stuff into more interesting material).

Here’s an example of a metaphor applied to the most basic business context:

A fragmented business is like a leaky bucket; it may still work but you have to make a lot more trips to get your water. If your business is leaking money then you’ll have to sell more to keep up. It’s far easier to plug the leaks than to keep going back to the well.

 

Business Storytelling Step #4. Engage your audience with emotion

Stories appeal to the right-hand side of the brain, bypassing the logical and judgemental left-hand side. We make decisions emotionally, then try to back them up rationally. A story gives you direct access to that emotional decision-making centre.

In business, presenters too often try to connect with people only on the rational level. But people will only act on your message if they feel emotionally engaged.

As Maya Angelou said,

“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.”

Emotion is the vehicle that will take your audience on a journey with you. So share the emotional highs and lows. Tell your audience how the situation felt. Describe how the challenges and solutions affected people personally.

For example, if you’re telling a story about how you changed the company’s direction after misreading the market, describe the consequences of that mistake. Reveal how you felt when you realised things needed to change. Then talk of the frustrations of making those changes, and your joy and relief once they were implemented, as well as the positive impact they had on customers and employees.
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Storytelling in action: Case Study

One of our clients, John, was the MD of a large utility company. He approached us to help him improve his public speaking. John had avoided speaking in public, but now he had to deliver a presentation on health and safety to hundreds of staff.

That’s a dull topic at the best of times and, to make matters worse, his presentation had been prepared for him by the HR team. It was pretty dry.

John knew how to communicate well from his training with us. So he binned the HR presentation. Instead, he started his piece with a great business story. He said:

“I once managed building sites. In my first two weeks of a new job, we had a crane collapse on site.

“That night, I had to knock on the door of a house and tell a woman that her husband was dead because of an accident on my site. I never want any of you to have to go through what I went through that day. And that’s why I’m talking about health and safety today.”

John started by describing the situation (managing building sites), introduced a complication (crane collapsing) and finished with the resolution (telling a woman that her husband had died and wanting the audience to never have to experience that). The language is simple, but has a powerful emotional impact: we can all imagine what an awful day that was.

Videos: business storytelling in action

For other examples of business storytelling, watch the previous CEO of Uber Travis Kalanick use a story about what happened over 100 years ago as a warning against over-regulation today, or watch Stanley McChrystal share what he learned about leadership from the military.

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We’re hardwired to understand the world through stories. Our ability to recall the past and imagine the future is a defining aspect of what makes us human. Great stories enable us to do this, and effective leaders use them to help us do it.

Are you ready to transform your communications by leveraging the power of storytelling?

We’ll help you use stories to inspire, engage and persuade your audience. We’ll help you craft your message, transform your content and rehearse your delivery. You’ll feel calm, confident, and ready to deliver your most powerful talk or presentation yet.

CEOs and Senior Executives consistently rate our award-winning advice and coaching as the most practical, effective and transformative they’ve ever had.

Find out why. Call Louise Angus on 020 7018 0922, email her via louise@nullbenjaminball.com or fill in our enquiry form.

What makes storytelling so powerful?

Storytelling is in our DNA.

Humans have been using stories for thousands of years, from ancient cave paintings to trivial stories about waiting in line at the supermarket. Creating a narrative isn’t hard; most of us do it every day.

American author and business consultant Peg Neuhauser neatly summarises how business leaders can learn from our rich storytelling heritage. She says,

“No tribal Chief or Elder has ever handed out statistical reports, charts, graphs or lists of facts to explain where the group is headed or what it must do.”

Recent scientific work has put a much finer point on just how stories change our attitudes, beliefs and behaviours. When we’re presented with “hard facts” (data) it only activates a particular area of the brain associated with the simplest form of language processing, decoding the incoming words into meaning. And that’s it.

However, a story ignites the parts of the brain linked to the actual experience of the subject, according to a study reported in the New York Times. In other words, stories create empathy.

Applying storytelling to your business communications

Being able to articulate your story, or that of your company, is crucial to almost every aspect of business management.

Film producer and CEO of Mandalay Entertainment Peter Guber explains,

“An effective CEO uses an emotional narrative about the company’s mission to attract investors and partners, to set lofty goals, and to inspire employees. Sometimes a well-crafted story can even transform a seemingly hopeless situation into an unexpected triumph.”

Yet, contrary to popular belief, storytelling is not always about you or your company. The most powerful stories are the ones that resonate with your audience. It’s all about context.

So, When you want to use storytelling in your next leadership communications, ask yourself the following questions:

1. Who am I speaking to?
2. What is most important to them?
3. Which stories will resonate with this audience and their interests while communicating my message effectively?

One way to ensure you have the right story for the right context is to begin curating a library of stories. Encourage people at all levels in your business to contribute relevant stories to this library. You’ll be able to pick and choose the most powerful one for each audience you need to address, as and when you need them.

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Transform your talks and presentations with business storytelling

Find out how we can transform the success of your business communication with great business storytelling. Call Louise Angus on 020 7018 0922, email her via louise@nullbenjaminball.com or fill in our enquiry form.

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