As we lead by example, we continue to demonstrate the principles we espouse.
By showing before we tell, we add credibility to our words.
When we listen, we understand the issues and outcomes important to those with whom we speak.
Now that we’ve demonstrated our principles, made ourselves credible, and understand the issues and outcomes, we can talk about our ideas.
It is very easy to jump to facts, figures, and studies to make the case for what we believe. Reason, logic, and philosophical principles are what likely grabbed our attention, but they are not particularly persuasive to those who are not yet on the same page in their thinking. So, how can we reach them?
Tell The Story
A very effective way to convey your message persuasively is to tell a story that offers a solution in action.
Telling stories helps connect the listener to details, important points, and outcomes that are not found in citing statistics and studies.
Think about the last time you went to an event where there was an in-depth Powerpoint presentation with lots of slides, filled with statistics, facts, and figures. You likely took copious notes to keep up with every last shred of data.
When you left the presentation, how much did you retain without those notes? And six months later? A year later? A decade later?
Very few adults are blessed with an eidetic memory, like Sheldon Cooper on The Big Bang Theory, so recalling these details does not come naturally.
What’s something we all remember?
What We Remember
The stories we learned at a young age. Fables from Aesop, movies by Disney, and silly rhyming books by Dr. Seuss. Why do we remember, sometimes in amazing detail, something we heard, read, or watched twenty, thirty, forty or more years ago?
When did you last read or hear the story, “The Tortoise and the Hare,” one of Aesop’s fables?
If asked for a synopsis, we could easily give an accurate retelling of how the hare was beyond confident in his abilities to defeat the tortoise in a foot race. He was so confident that he sped off to an early lead and took a nap. When he awoke and hopped to the finish line, he found that the tortoise had beaten him by staying the course.
The lesson that we can all recite in unison? “Slow and steady wins the race.”
It’s probably been twenty years or more since I’ve heard that fable, but I remember what occurred due to the structure of the plot, characters, climax, and resolution involved in storytelling.
Twenty years ago, I would likely have been sitting in Chemistry class, but I don’t know that I could tell you what Avogadro’s number is or why it’s important, despite its repeated use.
If you’re interested in the science behind why storytelling is effective, here is an article about how stories activate our brains.
So, how many stories are you going to have in your repertoire?