The power of a good story is clear.  Stories relay details with considerable influence, capturing the listener and linking them directly with the speaker in a unique way.  Before written history, the local mores and knowledge of an area were passed on by word-of-mouth.  Even the influence of the Torah, Bible and Koran can be traced to the use of stories, in the form of parables.  Molly Epstein, team leader of the management communication department and professor in the practice of management communication at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, notes, “Parables keep the message simple, and they create a human connection that cuts across all audiences to a common experience.”

 

However, storytelling needn’t be limited to the page.  Sir Winston Churchill and President John F. Kennedy, just to name a few, had a tremendous flair for motivating through words.  Today, business leaders often model themselves after great orators, as they recognize the considerable power of a well-crafted speech.  While storytelling may be an ancient art, its ability to teach, persuade and relate memorable information is the reason why it is such a common communication technique at use in businesses today.

 

Corporate leaders who are able to deliver entertaining stories that highlight their vision and strategy can motivate a sales force, inspire shareholders, and revive a lagging enterprise.  Many successful businesses build a company culture, whether it is one of the entrepreneurial upstart or the established market leader, with speeches and advertising that repeat their story along the way.

 

This past summer’s session of Goizueta Plus, the seminar series at Emory University’s Goizueta School Business School, featured a lecture titled “The Art of Storytelling,” led by Nancy Neill, president of the business communications firm Atlanta Communications Group, and Steve Beshara, president of the brand consultancy firm Vista.  “Creating good stories is a discipline,” notes Neill, one that she says is now essential in the business world.  Marketers, more than any others in the corporate arena, use a story, in the form of advertising, to brand a product.

 

Beyond marketing, Beshara notes, “Corporate leaders who successfully employ storytelling need to strike an objective balance between the emotional and intellectual elements.  By telling a credible and defensible story that includes a dramatic conflict, a person is explaining a legitimate struggle that earns respect and gains favor.”  Epstein adds, “The story generally starts with a situation, conflict, and then a resolution.  The story should clearly illustrate the point, with the audience feeling empathy, excitement, or some other emotion along the way.”  Neill credits a move away from an authoritative style of management, and toward a participatory one, as part of the reason for a rise in storytelling as a communication technique.

 

Storytelling can also bridge the great divide between the leadership of a company and its employees.  H. James Dallas, CIO of Georgia-Pacific, once told a group of Georgia-Pacific employees the story of when he was much younger and working as a janitor at Pepperidge Farm.  He noted, “My job was to clean all of the flour and dough out of the machines so that bugs wouldn't form.  The plant manager would take the time to tell us how important our jobs were.  He explained that if bugs got in, it would cause quality problems, leading to people not buying our products, resulting in the company losing money and people losing jobs.  Twice a year, OSHA would come in and do an inspection.  If we got a grade of 95 or higher, he would personally serve us steak dinners.  His actions made me think of myself not as a janitor, but as a key part of our company’s success.”

 

Storytelling can also act to rally the troops around in a difficult stage of a company’s existence.  “Any significant initiative requires understanding and inspiration from beginning to end,” says Dallas.  After the recent spate of corporate scandals, he adds, “people found out that they didn't know their leaders as well as they thought they did.  Effective storytelling creates that connection and answers the question of ‘Why should I listen to or follow you?’  Stories start forming a common bond because everybody has a story, and one story builds on another.”

 

Alan Lacy, CEO of Sears, Roebuck and Company, says, “Stories are where concepts and values are played out in real-life situations.  Well-told stories are vivid and ask us to accept or change behaviors.  They are also entertaining; we remember stories.”  For retailers like Sears, identifying the needs of the customer base is paramount in creating a story upon which to build a successful brand, such as the company’s usage of the “family” in the majority of its’ marketing and advertising efforts. 

 

Certain common experiences immediately evoke an audience reaction.  Marc Adler, CEO for Macquarium Intelligent Communications, an interactive strategy and development firm, says “We recently assisted a large financial institution in overhauling their website, to make their services better address their relevance for prospective customers.  From buying a first car or saving for your son’s college education to getting married and financing a new home; we used stories with heart that touched customers and, in a personal way, explained the benefits of doing business with our client.”

 

It all sounds so simple.  Build a story, and the customers will beat a path to your door.  However, capturing an audience and using market research and management feedback to your advantage requires effective communication across all levels of the organization.  “If organizations are better in capturing positive information on customer service experiences, for example, it can be the basis of storytelling,” says Professor Epstein.  “A good database of market research makes an effort to gather the stories that may be right there.”  However, the company not only has to capture its data effectively, it has to disseminate the information to the rest of the organization.  Additionally, the company’s leadership must be adept at translating that information to customers, shareholders and employees. 

 

It’s no wonder that the marketplace for communications firms that teach effective corporate speaking and speechwriting is growing at tremendous pace.  Corporate leaders now find themselves inundated with opportunities to act as the public face of the company.  Websites archive the speeches of the company CEO.  24-hour cable news channels trail management with the furor of the paparazzi chasing a rock star.  Shareholders demand more information than ever before.  In all of these scenarios, storytelling offers the corporate leader the flexibility to respond to a shifting audience.

 

Perhaps that most compelling need for storytelling skills is when a company is seeking funding.  The ability to “sell” potential investors on the company is a critical skill that the management team must carefully cultivate.  Shane Jackson, president of NextStart Capital, a venture capital firm, notes, “You have to have an ability to tell the story of your company and to relate that to people.”  Of course, a strong business model has to be at the heart of any pitch to venture capitalists, but Jackson adds, “The emotional side of it is important as well.  Investors have to believe that company management is going to do what they say they are going to do.”

 

However, in a high-tech world of presentations powered by streaming video, a return to storytelling -- what some might call a primitive form of communication-- almost seems out-of-place.  Epstein disagrees, noting that this technique “is part of a larger trend toward simpler tactics, in a backlash to the complexity of technology in business presentations.  A story focuses the audience on the presenter and his or her ability to engage the audience through the power of language, drama, and presence. Once they are riveted on the presenter, she or he has a greater opportunity to persuade."

That persuasion comes in handy, particularly when the message is less than flattering.  Lynne G. White, global program manager of the capability development program for junior strategy consultants at the management consulting practice of Accenture, recalls an organizational assessment for a corporate client.  “It was a sensitive situation because we didn’t want to alienate the front line people, and yet, the organization needed to make some major changes.  We started our presentation with a history lesson—the story of how the organization had evolved over time.  This explained why the current inefficient processes existed, and opened a dialogue to discuss other ways they could be organized.”

 

Those who worry that storytelling is merely another way for marketers and company leaders to pull the wool over the eyes of employees and consumers may be underestimating the power of the listening audience.   And while analytic skills are highly valued in the corporate world, compelling substance is often undermined by inadequate delivery skills.  White adds, “Anyone can do an elegant qualitative analysis, but if you can’t position that analysis in a way that can hook the audience, make them understand the context, explain why they should care, and compel them to action, then it doesn’t matter how great the analysis is.”

 

(This the 2nd in a series of articles focusing on Leadership Communication.  See the links below for related articles.)

 

 

October 2003