The other day I read an excellent book by Annette Simmons - “Storytelling - How to Harness the Power of Stories.”

Storytelling is a derivative of 2 English words story and tell.

The essence of storytelling is not just to convey bare facts, but to tell stories.

In this article I have selected the best, in my opinion, quotes from the book.

What is the power of storytelling?

If you want to influence people, there is no more powerful tool to influence than a coherent, interesting narrative. By telling stories, Scheherazade saved her life, but Jesus and Mohammed changed the lives of mankind. Stories about the battles of gods and goddesses, about their love for mortals, maintained order in some societies no worse than other forms of government.

The Naked Truth was not allowed to spend the night in any village house. Nudity scared people away. The Parable found Truth shivering with cold and dying of hunger. The parable took pity on the Truth, brought her into her house, warmed her, dressed her in history and sent her on her way. Dressed in a decent story, Pravda again began knocking on the houses of the villagers, and now they willingly let her in, seated her by the fireplace and fed her deliciously.

Jewish moral history, 11th century

Remember yourself. I'm sure the naked truths with which you knocked on the doors of your colleagues, bosses or spouses hardly met with a warm and welcoming reception. Naked truths can - literally - doom you to hunger and vegetation. If you tell your boss that his idea "won't work," you'll likely have to find a new job. A timely and appropriately told story can help here - less straightforward, more elegant and causing less resistance than the naked truth.

In most cases, a story is better than boringly repeating: “You should do this and that.” The story is like a computer program that you download into someone's mind so that the person can run it themselves. The best stories play out over and over again, producing results that align with your goals, and the people you continue to influence in your absence are glad they made the choice for themselves.

If the speaker simply states a sequence of facts and actions, then such a description whets the appetite no more than the phrase “delicious cold raw fish” in an advertisement for a sushi bar.

Stories and faith

People don't need new information. They're fed up with her. They need faith– faith in you, in your goals, in your success. Faith—not facts—moves mountains. Just because you can get people to do something doesn't mean you can influence them. True influence is when people pick up the flag you drop because they believe in you. Faith overcomes any obstacle. She is capable of conquering everything - money, power, power, political advantage and brute force.

History can give people faith. If your story inspires your listeners, if they come to the same conclusions as you, if they follow your story his, you can consider that you managed to reach them.

“For an entire hour, the narrator bombarded his listeners with depressing data about infant mortality, the destruction of the jungle and the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Literally before our eyes, the audience, charged with positive energy, turned into a gathering of depressed, scared, ashamed and guilty people. Negative energy flooded the hall, turning the sparkling sea into a dead lake.

Yes, this man spoke the “truth,” but the story of his truth was demoralizing, taking away hope and discouraging the desire to do anything. His sincere desire to encourage us with the truth was undermined by the negative story he created for himself. He believes that neither you nor I want to save the world, that we are indifferent, careless and blind, and he has successfully conveyed this truth to us. The negative emotions that this man was filled with infected us too. He was anxious, depressed and upset, and he conveyed this same mood to his audience. We had to either feel depressed and upset or stop listening to him. Action is not born out of depression, depression, anxiety or ignorance. The story of this man did not awaken good feelings in us, it gave rise to shame. But it is not shame, but hope and faith that move mountains.”

A story about yourself

So, we already understand: before people allow themselves to be influenced, they will want to know who you are and why you are here. If you don't tell, people will do it for you, and their opinion will almost certainly not be in your favor.

Give people the opportunity to understand who you are, help them feel like they know you, and their trust in you will automatically triple. Remember the common phrases: “He’s a normal guy, I know him” or “It’s not that I don’t trust her, I just don’t know her.”

I've seen leaders effectively harness the power of stories in which they share their shortcomings. Psychologists call this self-exposure. Its meaning is clear to everyone: if I trust you so much that I tell you about my shortcomings, then you can, without hesitation, tell me about yours. Showing vulnerability fearlessly helps us come to the conclusion that we can trust each other in many other ways. For example, a new manager, during his first meeting with his subordinates, may talk about the beginning of his administrative work, when he endlessly told employees how and what they should do, and as a result was reprimanded for annoying everyone with petty control. We know deep down that true strength does not come from perfection, but from understanding our own limitations. A leader who reveals knowledge of his own weaknesses demonstrates his strength.

"I Know What You're Thinking" Stories

“I know what you're thinking” stories are great for allaying fears. I recently attended a talk by someone who began his speech with the words: “I’m a statistician, and the next hour will be the most boring hour of your life.” Then he joked that in the previous group one of the listeners had a seizure out of boredom and had to call an ambulance. Everyone liked it. He read our thoughts and dispelled our fears with a funny story.

Economy of attention

In our modern technological world, human attention is becoming a disappearing resource. Almost everyone you want to influence lives in a human attention deficit environment. The people they love, the people who matter to them, don't give them time. On the other hand, those whom you want to influence can have any information, any facts at their disposal. In fact, they are even drowning in a sea of ​​this information. Depression has become almost an epidemic precisely because all this information makes us feel even more acutely our own incompetence and helplessness. We don't need new facts. We need to know what they mean. We need a story that explains to us what all this information means to us and where we fit into its flow.

By telling me a story that touches my heartstrings, you give me human attention - attention binds me to you, touches me, helps me feel alive. Even a simple story about a blueberry pie that you use to sell me a microwave oven is better than a list of its parameters and characteristics only because the story awakens a truly human emotion in me.

Acquiring storytelling skills is not about jumping on the latest brightly colored circus wagon of professional psychologist talkers. To find and tell a story is to join a worldwide search for authenticity and truly important things, a search for meaning.

Why don't we tell stories?

There are two main reasons why people are hesitant to tell such stories. First: people are afraid of looking stupid, naive, and “unprofessional.” Some fear that telling a great story could damage their ability to inspire confidence. It's strange, but sometimes we are afraid to appear as ordinary people, especially if we want to impress someone. Because of this, we present things in a “professional”, clear and rational manner. We use meaningful arguments, convincing evidence, and reach logical conclusions. Unfortunately, such a presentation becomes dry, like a clinical analysis, unemotional and incredibly boring.

Such a performance will, of course, be reliable and safe. There is no risk in it. But mountains cannot be moved without risk.

Theory VS History

Theories of all kinds are addressed to a tiny part of our brain. Specific stories take over the entire brain without a trace. For example, I recently heard a nutritionist speak on the radio. This guru did not talk about the permissibility of adding fat to the diet by increasing the ratio of protein to carbohydrates (snoring in the gym). Instead, he said he suggested the French diet because the French "eat fatty foods, drink wine, smoke and enjoy life, but they have fewer heart attacks than us Americans." As soon as the theory was dressed up in the clothes of a specific story, it immediately became interesting. The opportunity to consume more fatty foods through a balance of proteins and carbohydrates becomes interesting, as the new diet is linked with pleasant memories of French cuisine - its aromas, taste and beauty, the gastronomic pleasures that carefree French people indulge in. Specifics are always more interesting than generalizations.

Generalizations are the playground of intellectuals, which explains the fact that intellectuals, as a rule, are terrible bores and do not know how to tell stories. The storyteller casts a spell on the masses, while the intellectual loses the thread, delving into theory.

I found one good Lincoln story in Keith Jennison's book The Humourous Mr. Lincoln (“Mr. Lincoln as a Humorist”). After a long argument about slavery with his friend Judge Lyle Dickey, Lincoln woke him up in the middle of the night and asked him to imagine himself as the hero of three stories: “If the right to enslave depends on the color of the skin, then anyone you meet whose skin is lighter than yours has the right to make you as my slave. If it is a matter of intelligence, then anyone you meet who is smarter than you has the right to make you his slave. If it is a matter of interest, then anyone who is interested has the right to make you their slave.” Lincoln influenced Dickie by showing him a different point of view rather than appealing to shame or guilt.

How to learn to tell stories?

Such deep learning can only be achieved through daily practice. Martial arts masters do not read books on fighting techniques; they practice it every day. Athletes also train every day. Anyone who wants to master any art (and influence is an art) needs practice. Storytelling is the easiest way to practice the fundamentals of influence every day.

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Storytelling, or telling stories, is a widespread persuasion technique in the West. The author of this book, Annette Simmons, is not only a communications consultant. She is also a professional storyteller who teaches this art to people in business.

In her book, she goes to the heart of storytelling and explains how stories work, how they affect the listener's emotions, and why they persuade, motivate, and inspire better than commands, logical arguments, or philosophical arguments.

This book will be useful to anyone who has to speak in front of a large audience, as well as to those who want to improve the effectiveness of their communications.

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Introduction

It was October 1992. It was a windy day with typical Tennessee weather. Four hundred people gathered in a tent covered with thick fabric. We waited for the next storyteller to speak. The crowd was very diverse - urban fashionistas and rugged farmers, professors and senior students. Sitting next to me was a white-bearded farmer wearing a National Rifle Association baseball cap. When the African American man came on stage, the farmer leaned towards his wife sitting next to him and whispered something irritably in her ear. Я разобрала слово «ниггер» и решила, что не смолчу, если он еще раз скажет что-нибудь подобное. But the farmer fell silent and began to study the canvas shed with a bored look. And the speaker began his story about how, in the sixties, somewhere in the outback of Mississippi, he and his friends were sitting around a fire at night. A civil rights march was scheduled for tomorrow, and people were afraid of the approaching morning, they did not know what it would bring. Everyone silently looked at the flame, and then one of them began to sing... And the song conquered fear. The story was so talented that we all saw that fire in front of us and felt the fear of those people. The narrator asked us to sing along with him. We sang Swing Low, Sweet Chariot2. The farmer sitting next to me also sang. I saw a tear running down his chapped cheek. This is how I became convinced of the power of words. A radical fighter for the rights of blacks was able to touch the heart of an ultra-conservative racist. I passionately wanted to understand how he managed to do this.

This book is about what I have learned over the past eight years. It's about the craft of storytelling, the power of persuasion that lies in a good story. I write about everything I know about this wonderful art.

While studying storytelling, I realized one very important thing. The science or art of influence through oral history cannot be taught in the traditional way, through reference books and manuals. To understand influence, we will have to abandon convenient models of cause and effect. The magic of influence is not in what we say, but in how we say it, and in who we are. This dependence does not lend itself to rational analysis and cannot be described using conventional diagrams and tables.

Dividing the art of storytelling into fragments, parts and priorities destroys it. There are truths that we simply know; we cannot prove them, but we know they are true. Storytelling takes us into areas where we trust our knowledge, even if we cannot measure, weigh, or evaluate it empirically.

This book will give the “rational” left hemisphere of your brain a little break. For the most part, it appeals to the “intuitive” right brain. The secret to the influence of oral history lies in the creativity of people. But this ability to create can be suppressed by the erroneous postulate that if you cannot explain what you know, then you don’t know it. In fact, we all have knowledge that we are not even aware of. Once you begin to trust your own wisdom, you can use it to influence others to discover depths of wisdom they themselves have not yet realized.

Your wisdom and power of persuasion are like a bag of magic beans that you put in a distant drawer and forgot about. This book was written just so that you can find that very bag and regain the most ancient instrument of influence - oral history. Stories are not just fairy tales and moral tales. Telling a good story is like watching a documentary and telling it so that others who haven't seen it can understand it. A good narrative can touch the soul of the most stubborn opponent or the power-hungry scoundrel who blocks your path, depriving you of the opportunity to achieve your goals. If you are not sure that the scoundrel has a soul, I advise you to re-watch the film “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”3. Everyone has a soul. (In fact, there are not many dangerous sociopaths in the world.) And deep down, every person wants to be proud of himself and feel important - this is where the opportunity to influence him with the help of the right story lies.

Annette Simmons

Professional storyteller, communications consultant, author of The Story Factor, Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins, A Safe Place for Dangerous Truth (AMACOM, 1998) and Territorial Games: Understanding and Ending Turf Wars at Work.
Since 1996, he has headed his own consulting company, Group Process Consulting, which trains top managers, sales managers and everyone involved in raising funds for projects in storytelling - the art of telling stories.

Telling a good story is the same as watching a documentary and telling it so that others who have not seen it have a complete understanding of it.

• People don't need new information. They're fed up with her. Them need faith- faith in you, in your goals, in your success. Faith - not facts - moves mountains.
• Give people the opportunity to understand who are you, help them feel like they know you, and their trust in you will automatically triple.
• Even if your listeners conclude that you are trustworthy, they still need to understand For what you needed their assistance and cooperation.
• If you want to influence others and seriously entice them to follow you, you must tell them story of a vision which will become their temple.
• Your truth, dressed in a beautiful story, makes people open their souls to it and accept it with all their hearts.
• People don't care how deep your knowledge is, they care how deep you are perceive their problems.

A story told to the right place and on time is the most unobtrusive way to make the listener repeat your message to himself at the right time and be guided by the idea embedded in the story.

• Personal story It is doubly useful because it can give volume to both the speaker and what he intends to present.
• If you feel that a direct answer to a question will drive you into a corner, then resort to history.
• We don't need new facts. We need to know what they mean. Us need a story, which would explain to us what all this information means for us and what place we occupy in its flow.
• To influence people, you cannot convince them that they are wrong.
• Always attentive listen to stories that people will tell you. You cannot predict what this story will teach you and how much it will bring you closer together.

Annette Simmons is a professional storyteller who teaches this art to people in business, the head of the consulting company Group Process Consulting, a communications consultant, and the author of several books.

Complexity of presentation

Target Audience

Those who want to behave well in public, find interesting stories and practice storytelling, as well as those who want to learn how to convince colleagues, partners and clients.

The book describes six types of stories, suitable for different circumstances and audiences. The author talks about the power of gaining the trust of listeners through the depth of stories, explaining why storytelling can be a more powerful and effective tool compared to facts or figures. She also describes the types of “problem” listeners who are least amenable to influence.

Let's read together

People do not need new information, but confidence in themselves, personal goals and success. Getting people to do something does not mean having influence over them. Real influence begins where people begin to believe in us and our stories, which they are happy to make personal. Then further influence will not require much effort, as listeners will begin to retell our story to others.

Great storytelling empowers people to interpret facts in a way that shows the big picture. What they don't believe or understand begins to matter because of the experiences of others put into the story. Writing good narratives is an art that helps persuade others and give meaning to their lives. Such a story makes the world simpler and more understandable for us, offers a plot that we will follow and build our thoughts on. We can learn to understand the essence of personal experiences and problems, be it breaking up with a loved one or losing a job. Such semantic narratives have a greater effect than just advice, although they act as an indirect way of conveying a point of view.

Sometimes words are not enough to tell a compelling story, so you can use your body. After all, we want not just to tell a dry story, but also to play with our face, voice, and gestures, which makes our story a story of a new level. For complete immersion, what we talk about is no less important; emotional memories have a fairly powerful effect on the listener. You can also connect irrelevant but very specific details.

The story should reflect the long-term goal we are moving towards, and it is important to talk about inspiring moments. A story always carries a certain value; its purpose is transferred to real actions. A very effective way is to convey the narrative in such a way that we are reading the minds of our listeners, then they will feel more at ease.

Stories have incredible power to relax audiences:

1. They help eliminate any suspicion when we take the listener's side and align our mutual interests. Then it is easier for people to trust us.
2. Stories are an excellent tool for bringing the audience closer, as if we have known our listeners for many years.
3. We can use knowledge of how people relax and listen to us almost as if under hypnosis. A good story stays in the head for a long time, and listeners will no longer be sure whether it really happened or whether they heard it somewhere. History can influence human actions as if all this happened to people in reality.

Without thinking that audiences don't care about stories, we can influence them by understanding the reasons why listeners have opinions that differ from ours. We should always be friendly and positive so that only positive emotions are reflected in the story. Then people will hope and believe. But if listeners are negative, you need to tell them about some points focused on this problem. People are capable of producing six reactions of resistance to any narrative: cynicism, resentment, envy, hopelessness, apathy, greed. To dislodge these defensive reactions, you need to tell people stories that are worthy of their trust.

People can be inspired by listening to their stories and engaging in genuine dialogue with them. Then it will be possible to understand not only their arguments, but also the real feelings they reveal to us. Sometimes the best way to influence another person is to simply listen to what they have to say. The person will be just as polite towards us, having already tuned in to our personal history.

There are a few slippery moments that can ruin any story. To avoid this, you need to remember three “don’ts”:

1. You should not demonstrate superiority to people, so as not to look like a guru who does not respect anyone. Then there is a chance to reach a wider audience who can think for themselves. It’s easier to show your listeners your personal sympathy for them and become closer to them through experience or common interests.

2. You can’t make people bored by telling very long stories that lead nowhere. Any of us always has a story to tell, we just need to connect what is interesting to people with what is interesting about us and our history. Here it is important to adhere to specific details, to shut up in time, and also to be able to puzzle the listeners.

3. Initially, you need to direct the content to the audience, share bright moments, but not instill in people a feeling of fear or guilt. Any negative emotions can turn listeners against us, having a bad effect on specific changes. Even a powerful story ceases to be effective as soon as we go too far with negative emotions. Therefore, only a positive charge allows people to change their minds in the long term.

By telling something, we not only change our outlook on life, but we are also responsible for the development of the plot. If our story is filled with worries and stress, we need to rewrite the plot and make it more positive. If the story is good and enjoyable to live in, we begin to see problems differently. The same applies to relationships with people, because our stories affect their lives. Don't underestimate our power and responsibility as storytellers.

We must learn to think not only critically, but also in terms of the stories themselves—the author calls this “storyteller thinking,” where we describe situations or problems as stories. In any problem, first of all, you need to get rid of uncertainty, humor and emotions. On the other hand, you can forget about the rules and include emotions that are important when telling a story, then it will become even better. Rules are not as useful as individual cases.

We perceive the world through the lens of subjectivity, and that is why listeners trust us because we speak freely and sincerely. Storytelling thinking helps increase creative intelligence and develop imagination.

Best Quote

“The habit of being results-oriented helps you master the market, reduce costs and increase profits. But this habit will never make you a great storyteller.”

What the book teaches

Storytelling helps to reach any audience in order to inspire them to take specific actions. Stories can change the lives of others by 180 degrees.

Only emotions can make people laugh, cry, and dream. No amount of objective thinking can do this.

A story can become compelling and moving when we learn to let go of critical thinking and begin to tell it from a subjective point of view, demonstrating vivid perception.

From the editor

Even if you don't plan to become a great writer, nothing can stop you from writing down your stories. This activity not only helps you relieve stress, sort out your emotions and sort out the thoughts in your head, but also master the “storyteller mindset.” What is bibliotherapy and how to use it, says a psychologist Anna Kutyavina: .

It is sometimes difficult for a shy person to say even a couple of phrases in public, much less decide to tell a long story. Psychologist Yaroslav Voznyuk knows how to turn shyness into confidence, and offers seven ways to overcome shyness: .

What can you do to avoid problems with thinking and speech as you age? Expert in the field of effective teaching technologies, teacher Nina Shevchuk explains that our cognitive base requires training and strengthening, and suggests several useful exercises: .