Storytelling

John PisapiaManeuvering Tactics

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Why? Story Telling “The artful creation and articulation of stories …[help] individuals to think and feel about who they are, where they come from, and where they are headed….”

Howard Gardner: Leading Minds.

The story is a prime method leaders use to convince other people of certain viewpoints or visions.

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We are not talking about this!

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Its not about entertainment!

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Create a

Cause!

We are talking about this

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If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, and then divide the work, and give orders.

For Example

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Instead... teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.

Antoine Marie-Roger de Saint-Exupery

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Assumptions

Leadership is essentially a task of persuasion—of winning people’s hearts and minds. Storytelling is the single most powerful form of communication.If you can change minds, you can change behavior.Stories convey emotion, context, and a picture of what happened and why it happened. Great story tellers attach emotion to information, therefore making it more memorable, engaging, and powerful. Stories must be human, authentic, and easy to identify with.One method for humanizing leadership storytelling is to share personal stories.

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So, How Do I Tell A StoryEvery story can be told in three Acts:

The Structure of MacbethAct 1: …Whine, whine, whine

Act 2:… Out damned spot!Act 3:… I’m dead.

THE END• Key elements of a story:

– Protagonist the listener cares about: The story must be about a person or a group whose struggles we an relate to.

– Catalyst compelling the protagonist to take action: Somehow the world has changes so that something important is at stake.

– Trials and tribulations: The story’s second act commences as obstacles produce frustration, conflict, and drama often lead the protagonist to change in an essential way. The trials reveal, test, and shape the protagonist’s character.

– Turning point: This represents a point of no return, which closes the second act. The Protagonist can no longer see or do things the same way as before.

– Resolution: This is the third act, in which the protagonist either succeeds magnificently or falls tragically.

(Source: “What’s Your Story?” Ibarra Hermina, Kent Lineback, Harvard Business Review, January 2005, Vo. 83, Iss. 1. pp. 64-71)

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How - Key Concepts - Framing a Story

The way a leader uses story to frame planned change influences whether followers to see constraints and roadblocks, or opportunities and potential success.

Get Their Attention Elicit Desire Reinforce

with Reasons

Adapted from Steve Denning 2005Sophia’s Story 9www.TheStrategicLeader.org

Act iv i ty (Please get into groups of 3 or 4)

• Select a change that needs to happen in your organization.• One of you will put yourself in the shoes of the person who

needs to change and tell his/her story as persuasively and coherently as you can. The story will end, “That’s why he/she does not want to change.” [Told in 3rd person]

• Then the other participant will tell the same story in first person through his/her eyes as persuasively and coherently as possible. The story will end, “ And that’s why I don’t want to change.”

• The leader in the group, will be asked deliver a two- minute speech using the elements of storytelling to motivate this change to happen within the organization.

• If there is a fourth person, that person will be responsible for helping to develop the scenario and the speech.

• Tameka King 2009

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Problem will get

worse

•The situation is deteriorating!

The condition now

•Our problem is much worse than you think!

Your story

of adversity

•We have coped with this adversity before

Get their Attention

Stimulate Desire

Reinforce with Reasons

Effective presentation to get attentionTake-away Make The Case

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The Key Challenge of Communicating Change

Get their Attention

Reinforce with Reasons

Takeaway: The storyteller must enter the hearts of listeners, where their emotions live

Start from where they are, not from where you are.

www.TheStrategicLeader.orgAdapted from Steve Denning 2006

Let me tell you a Story!

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The Takeaway

The ROI of Storytelling“They (stories) reinforce within followers

notions of who they are, where they came from, how they got to this particular place, and who and what they will leave behind. They remind followers of the values they share. They inspire followers to commit and recommit to a common journey.” (Pisapia, 2009)

• Pisapia (2009www.TheStrategicLeader.org 13

References

If you would like to do further reading about storytelling I suggest the following.

• Balderrama, Sandra Rios. (2000). “This trend called diversity.” Library Trends. Volume 49 (1): 194-214.

• Bennis, W. (1996). The leader as storyteller. Harvard Business Review, 74(1), 154.• Boje, D. M. 1995. "

Stories of the Storytelling Organization: A Postmodern Analysis of Disney as 'Tamara-land.'" Academy of Management Journal. 38(4): 997-1035.

• Conger, J. A. (1991) ‘Inspiring Others: The Language of Leadership’, The Executive 5: 31–45.• Denning, S. 2005. The Leader's Guide to Storytelling: Mastering the Art and Discipline of

Business Narrative. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. www.stevedenning.com • Gardner, H. (1995). Leading minds : An anatomy of leadership. New York, NY: BasicBooks.• Guber, Peter. (2007). The Four truths of the storyteller. Harvard Business Review.• Heath, c. & Heath, D. Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die• Hardy, B. (1978).Towards a poetics of fiction: An Approach through narrative. In M. Meek & G.

Barton (Eds.), The cool web (pp. 12-23). New York: Antheneum.• Pisapia, J. (2009). The strategic leader. New tactics for a globalizing world. Charlottee: IAP• Simmons, A. (2006). The Story Factor: Inspiration, Influence, and Persuasion Through the Art of

Storytelling. New York, Basic Books.www.TheStrategicLeader.org 14