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.
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Managing Director, The Strategy Group
Dr Tobias is an accomplished innovation consultant and entrepreneurship strategist, drawing expertise from the academic, entrepreneurial and corporate worlds. Jeffrey’s commercial and business experience is particularly focussed on lean startup, design thinking and leadership. Prior to The Strategy Group, Jeffrey was Cisco’s Global Lead for Innovation in the Internet Business Solutions Group helping Fortune Global 500 companies improve customer experience and grow revenue by transforming how they do business.
Jeffrey is a professor of innovation and entrepreneurship teaching MBA students at the Australian Graduate School of Business at the University of New South Wales. An active angel investor, Jeffrey is on the board of various well known startups. Jeffrey’s corporate background includes leading global innovation strategy at Cisco, working with large corporates such as Adobe, Westpac, Telstra, Woolworths, and Perpetual.
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