Why Stories Work

Stories work. Telling stories to get people engaged is not new - people have been doing this since time began. Stories draw people in, engage people, and somehow the world outside the story becomes blocked out and immaterial. Church ministers and Rabbis have been telling stories as part of their sermons forever - and the congregations lap it up.

And stories play a huge part of how we engage our customers. Look at how many great talks you have been to that either start with a personal story, or have a story embedded somewhere in the presentation.

I was reminded of this by an article on the HBR Blog Network by Andrea Ovans around story telling. It focuses on the video below. Watch the video. Watch carefully. It's actually a story about storytelling. You will see what I mean. And what is the subject that he is talking about - yes, fairytales!

Notice how it gets you in. It certainly did for me. And think about what you can learn.