Getting Back To The Art of Storytelling
Last week, I was invited to guest host the weekly #kaizenblog chat on Twitter in which we discussed how to nurture and sustain creativity when we write. From the first question I asked to start the conversation going, there was a general consensus that one major key for instilling creativity in our writing is the ability to tell stories. While the art of storytelling is something that’s vital to the process of writing in a creative fashion, it’s also an important pillar in how we communicate and how we transfer information and ideas to those around us.
Through the act of telling stories, we can elicit emotional connections that not only help to make these moments more tangible and accessible, but also easy to recall long after the event has passed. Although the Titanic sunk in the North Atlantic almost a century ago, this historical event still resonates on some emotional level, not simply because of the number of lives lost, but because of the stories that arose from this maritime disaster. Stories like that of Ida Straus who refused to board a lifeboat, preferring instead to face death together with her husband Isador on board the sinking ship. Or the story of Hudson and Bessie Allison who, along with their 3-year old daughter Lorraine, perished on board the Titanic as they desperately searched for their 2-year old son Trevor, not knowing he had already left the Titanic with their maid on one of the ship’s lifeboats. It’s these stories of the people involved in this event that allows this one moment in time to continue to impact our imagination and thoughts decades after the disaster.
Of course, the fact that storytelling can unite people through a common emotional response means it also can serve as an instrument for change. When Lou Gerstner took over the helm at IBM in 1993, he knew that he needed to change the corporate culture which was no longer in sync with that of the outside world. To do this, Gerstner realized he had to use his ‘outsider’ point-of-view to bring in new stories that would not only create a different corporate culture, but provide the drive for executing the change the company needed to undergo. By using storytelling in his interactions with his team, Gerstner was able to help his employees understand not only the direction he wanted to take the company, but also where he was coming from and the change he wanted to bring to the company.
Another valuable side to storytelling is its ability to inspire. A wonderful example of this is the commencement speech Steve Jobs gave at Stanford University in 2005. In his speech, Jobs tells the audience three personal stories to highlight lessons he’s learned from various events in his life. In each of his stories, Jobs recounts how something he experienced helped him shape the future successes Apple would achieve under his leadership. Through his sharing of these stories, he also offers words of inspiration to his audience of how they can benefit from the lessons he’s learned through his own personal and professional hardships. The fact that the message of inspiration he instilled in his stories still resonates years later demonstrates the power behind sharing wisdom through stories.
In all of these examples, we can see that the act of storytelling is a vital communication tool for us to help others relate to an event or experience, to engage people in the pursuit of some common goal, as well as to inspire those around us to explore their full potential. The diversity of stories found in these examples also shows that the ability to be a storyteller exists in all of us; the only question being what story do we wish to share with those around us to start building those bridges of understanding, change and inspiration.
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Merci for your post.
Story telling is the foundation of our humanity. Way before writing, people gathered and spread their mythologies, their family anecdotes, their truths. TV is deleting these moments of true initiation. We need story telling to cement our community.
By the way, you may want to check the fabulous photo blog that Julie (@tangobabySF) created on San Franciscans. Each story is told through pictures and a text, and shared through the blog. It is truly beautiful.
http://iliveheresf.blogspot.com/
Namaste,
Catherine
http://www.frenchshuicafe.com/
Hi Catherine. It’s nice to see you on my blog and thank you for your comment. I agree with you that storytelling in some ways has become a lost art, in part because we tend to associate telling stories as being the work of writers and entertainers.
But the fact is all of us in our own ways are storytellers – how many of us have shared stories of trips taken with the family or a humourous anecdote of something that happened at work. Each of these in their own right are stories that either serve to allow us to share an experience or transfer an idea or thought. As you said, through telling stories, we create bonds that tie us together and inform us of our shared commonality.
Thanks for pointing out the photo blog. I’ll be sure to check it out. And thanks again for stopping by my blog and sharing your thoughts on storytelling.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by catherine grison and Tanveer Naseer. catherine grison said: I commented! Merci! RT @TanveerNaseer: My post “Getting Back 2 The Art of Storytelling” http://bit.ly/1j9QEc (inspired by #kaizenblog chat) [...]