9 Tips for Storytelling: This is How to Tell a Better Story!

In his N.Y. Times bestselling book, Tell to Win: Connect, Persuade, and Triumph with the Hidden Power of Story, author Peter Guber tells a great story about the time he had lunch with former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and former U.S. President Ronald Reagan. At the time, Guber was CEO of Sony Entertainment and he saw the lunch as a perfect time to begin a conversation about bringing his Loews theater clubs into Russia.  The problem was that Guber had little in common with Gorbachev and he wondered how he could create a shared context so that Gorbachev would hear his story.

He then remembered that as a boy, Reagan used to play mumblety-peg, which is a game you play with a jackknife. He also bet that Gorbachev played the game as well. So, to create a shared connection, he went to Tiffany’s and bought three engraved sterling silver Swiss Army knives – one for each of them.

When he presented them with the knives…

…he said: “Remember when you were kids, and you played mumblety-peg?”

Immediately both Regan and Gorbachev insisted they had and were captivated by the gesture and Reagan’s staff eventually took the picture of the three with their pocket-knives.  Guber’s strategy worked like a charm, as he said:

“This prop created a common reference point that leveled the emotional playing field for all of us. The game playing diminished Gorbachev’s formality and made him more open to the story I eventually told him about my vision for Loews in Russia. He not only directed me to the folks who could best serve our challenge, but he vouched for me when I approached them.” ¹

Using props is just one of the tips for storytelling that I want to share after reading Guber’s great book. Before we get to those tips for storytelling, let’s first discuss…

The Importance of Stories

Often, to be successful in both business and in our personal lives, we need to persuade others to support our dream, vision, or cause.

One of the best ways to do this is via storytelling. Take a minute to stop and think about how some of the stories you have heard in movies and books have been able to teach, model, unite and motivate you by transporting you to a different place emotionally.

By learning how to tell better stories, as Guber says, we can: “move people’s hearts, minds, feet, and wallets in the story teller’s intended direction.” ¹

Let’s now move on to the 9 tips for storytelling that I gleaned from Guber’s book. The first two are related to creating the story itself, while the rest are related to your actual delivery or telling of the story:

9 Tips for Storytelling

(1)  Use the 3 Building Blocks of Purposeful Stories

Let’s start by discussing Guber’s 3 building blocks of purposeful stories that many of us may already be familiar with:

(i)  Challenge – the first part of the story is where you get the audience’s attention. You do this by introducing a character whom they like and whom they can identify with. The character needs to answer an opening question or overcome a challenge. A great story sees your character embarking on a quest to do something difficult.

(ii)  Struggle – next you need to give your audience an emotional experience as you describe the struggle the character is enduring to meet the challenge or answer the opening question.

(iii)  Resolution – lastly, you can galvanize your audience to do something important by giving them a bold eye-opening call to action that motivates them to act differently in the future.

(2)  Transport Your Audience Emotionally to a Different Place!

All great stories transport the audience emotionally to a different place. Guber specifies the following critical elements that you can embed into your story to enable this kind of emotional transportation:

Use likable and recognizable characters

Using characters whom they like and recognize will allow the audience to empathize and identify with them.

Add a little drama and uncertainty

By adding a little drama, you can create a little uncertainty and tension about the outcome which makes things less tedious and ordinary. This gets the audience wondering how things will turn out and what will happen next.

Drop in an aha moment!

This is the moment when the key character does something special or profound. As Guber says:

“In this eureka moment your Trojan horse delivers its payload. Your listener experiences the same thrilling charge of emotion, purpose, and meaning that you felt when you experienced your original epiphany. Your call to action hits home with a resounding “I got it!”. ¹

A “Me-to-We” factor

This is where you show them what’s in it for them by shining a light on an interest, goal, or problem that they share with you, as well as what they need to do differently in the future.

Now that you have the story created, it’s time to move on to telling it, and Guber provides several elements that you may want to incorporate into your stories to ensure people will respond better to how you tell them.

(3)  Bring the Energy!

Showing excitement and passion for your story will show that you are authentic which will help the audience get on board with your message. As Guber says: “Like intention, authenticity and energy cannot be faked. If you’re telling a story you don’t believe in, your audience will sense it instantly.” ¹

(4)  Be vulnerable

There is no doubt that people love seeing your feelings overwhelm you as it humanizes your message. Of course, be genuine but also don’t be afraid to show some vulnerabilities.

(5)  Use some interactivity

By involving the audience, it helps make them feel as if they have a stake in the outcome. You can do this by using your body language, gestures, and smiles to take them on the journey with you.

(6)  Stimulate curiosity

Asking questions at the beginning of the story helps engage the audience and their minds. Then by throwing in some questions along the way, you can engage them as active participants.

(7)  Engage their senses

Another suggestion he has is to get them out of their chairs and physically engaged to help them remember what you have said.

(8)  Be an active listener

Your story needs to be a dialogue with the audience as much as it is not a soliloquy. The idea is to listen so you can figure out what’s going on in their mind and heart so that you can modify the story to address their unique challenges.

(9)  Be ok with dropping your script

Sometimes you need to drop your script and speak from the heart. By letting them know you are dropping your script and addressing their concerns you will have their undivided attention.

I’ll Be Honest, I Had No Idea What Mumblety-Peg Was…

…when I read Guber’s story.

What’s interesting is that after declining since the 1970s, apparently, it is becoming more popular amongst kids and adolescents – and not in a good way.

Before we get to why it isn’t returning in a good way, apparently, there are two versions of the game:

“In one version of the game, two participants take turns throwing a pocketknife at the ground, and the player whose knife sticks in the ground closer to his own foot is the winner. Another version involves tossing the knife in progressively difficult ways with the aim of getting the knife to stick in the ground.  The concluding act of this version gives mumblety-peg its name. The first person who completes the tosses hammers a wooden peg into the ground with the handle of his knife. The last person to complete the tosses must pull the peg out of the ground with his teeth, and as this individual likely will “mumble” curses at the winner, the game was named “mumblety-peg” ²

 The problematic part comes courtesy of the Journal of Injury and Violence Research which explains that:

“…primary care physicians and emergency physicians may encounter patients who present with injuries secondary to playing mumblety-peg. Ophthalmologists and infectious disease specialists may become involved in the care of patients who sustain ocular trauma from playing mumblety-peg or whose wound sites become infected.” ²

 Yikes! Maybe kids being on their cell phones 24/7 isn’t so bad after all!

 Until next time, use these tips for storytelling, be careful with knives, and as always…PYMFP!
–Rick

Use it or Lose It

9 of Guber’s tips for storytelling that we discussed in this blog post are:

(1)  Use the 3 building blocks of purposeful stories:

(i)  Challenge
(ii)  Struggle
(iii)  Resolution

(2)  Transport your audience emotionally to a different place

(i)  Use likable and recognizable characters.
(ii)  Add a little drama and uncertainty.
(iii)  Drop in an aha moment.
(iv)  A “Me-to-We” factor.

(3)  Bring the energy

(4)  Be vulnerable

(5)  Use some interactivity

(6)  Stimulate curiosity

(7)  Engage their senses

(8)  Be an active listener

(9)  Be ok with dropping your script

When to Use It

When we are trying to persuade others to support our dream, vision, or cause.

What Do You Think?

Have you used any of the tips for storytelling that we discussed? Do you have any other great tips for storytelling that we didn’t cover? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!

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References

1 Tell to Win: Connect, Persuade, and Triumph with the Hidden Power of Story by Peter Guber

2 BOSMIA, Anand Natwarlal; GRIESSENAUER, Christoph J.; TUBBS, R. Shane. Mumblety-Peg: a potential cause of flesh wounds and ocular trauma. Journal of Injury and Violence Research, [S.l.], v. 7, n. 2, p. 91-92, dec. 2013. ISSN 2008-4072