In the age of 140 character
tweets, Chat messages, MCQs , 3 minute videos and breaking news ticker
headlines, a critical skill that is getting ignored and ill-acquired is
Storytelling.
whether you are pitching to investors for funding your startup idea, asking the first customers to try out your product/service, getting customers to commit to a long term relationship, convincing a prospective employee to join, get people to consider your approach vs others, managing investor expectations.... the everyday slots where storytelling becomes critical are just too many.
It is much different from selling/marketing and one will understand it if one knows how the greatest storytellers operate. There are multiple approaches and here are a few:
Frederick Forsyth - Story is conveyed through intricate minute details that make the story credible and almost real
James Patterson - Story is conveyed direct, simple and crisp so you get the storyline development with little effort and attention
Steve Jobs - Story is conveyed through impressive metrics, core principles and 'see it yourself' demos
Agatha Christie - The climax is conceived first and then the story is laid out in reverse order to condition your mind along a journey , the writer wants you to take
Jeff Bezos - Powerpoints are banned and every business idea is written as a a 6 page writeup that needs preparation, delving into multiple aspects with their pros and cons and helping the audience make a 'deeply informed decision'
Economist - Story is explained through style guides that have perfected the art of communicating to the people who matter, in the shortest possible time
Indian epics - story is conveyed through multiple stories embedded one inside the other
Elon Musk - story is conveyed more through the long term vision and the big picture
Bill Clinton - story is communicated by first establishing a deep connect with the audience
Adi Shankara - story is conveyed through rational, logical argument line that answers unasked questions and by removing all the incorrect options
As you can see from the above real world approaches, there is no one single way. And each approach has its strengths and vantage. Another common thread you can see is that more words help the audience picture/imagine better . It is also possible that the picture imagined by each recipient could be different from the other.
A critical enabler for Storytelling is the lost habit of reading. Reading helps energise neurons that the image/video cannot.
Also you might need to change the storytelling approach based on the audience, objective and the content.
No standup comic gets the joke delivery first time right! Keep learning and fine tuning approaches that work and suitable for specific occasions.
It needs significant preparation/homework, judging the audience, right delivery and answering questions.
The results make this way more than worth it !
whether you are pitching to investors for funding your startup idea, asking the first customers to try out your product/service, getting customers to commit to a long term relationship, convincing a prospective employee to join, get people to consider your approach vs others, managing investor expectations.... the everyday slots where storytelling becomes critical are just too many.
It is much different from selling/marketing and one will understand it if one knows how the greatest storytellers operate. There are multiple approaches and here are a few:
Frederick Forsyth - Story is conveyed through intricate minute details that make the story credible and almost real
James Patterson - Story is conveyed direct, simple and crisp so you get the storyline development with little effort and attention
Steve Jobs - Story is conveyed through impressive metrics, core principles and 'see it yourself' demos
Agatha Christie - The climax is conceived first and then the story is laid out in reverse order to condition your mind along a journey , the writer wants you to take
Jeff Bezos - Powerpoints are banned and every business idea is written as a a 6 page writeup that needs preparation, delving into multiple aspects with their pros and cons and helping the audience make a 'deeply informed decision'
Economist - Story is explained through style guides that have perfected the art of communicating to the people who matter, in the shortest possible time
Indian epics - story is conveyed through multiple stories embedded one inside the other
Elon Musk - story is conveyed more through the long term vision and the big picture
Bill Clinton - story is communicated by first establishing a deep connect with the audience
Adi Shankara - story is conveyed through rational, logical argument line that answers unasked questions and by removing all the incorrect options
As you can see from the above real world approaches, there is no one single way. And each approach has its strengths and vantage. Another common thread you can see is that more words help the audience picture/imagine better . It is also possible that the picture imagined by each recipient could be different from the other.
A critical enabler for Storytelling is the lost habit of reading. Reading helps energise neurons that the image/video cannot.
Also you might need to change the storytelling approach based on the audience, objective and the content.
No standup comic gets the joke delivery first time right! Keep learning and fine tuning approaches that work and suitable for specific occasions.
It needs significant preparation/homework, judging the audience, right delivery and answering questions.
The results make this way more than worth it !
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