Shawn Callahan's about-to-be released book Putting Stories to Work: Mastering Business Storytelling, is a must-have for your actual or digital library. It is available now on pre-order and will be on the "bookshelves" on March 20.
Shawn is the founder of Anecdote, the world�s largest business storytelling company. His book is engaging and wise, and yes, replete with useful stories. His advise is concise and helpful, and--unsurprisingly--he has a way with words! Let me provide some excerpts. First, this teaser:
Natural as it is for us to tell stories, as soon as we enter a meeting, begin a presentation or start a formal conversation with a colleague, all our stories disappear. We bring forth our most authoritative voice and opine away, saying things like: �There are three key points here...� and �I think that...� and �It�s my view that...� But as we�ve seen, the problem with this approach is that it�s mostly forgettable. You need to inject some storytelling into business proceedings to get the right balance of argument and narrative. And to do this effectively as a leader, you need to concentrate on what I call small stories.
Big �S� storytellers apply plot structure, character development, beats, scene design and myriad other storytelling principles and practices�they�ve probably read Robert McKee�s fabulous book Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting. At the other end of the spectrum is little �s� storytelling, where we find the stories we tell on a daily basis in conversations: anecdotes concerning real-life experiences.
We can certainly improve our storytelling by applying some of the techniques used by the best screenwriters, playwrights and novelists. But beyond a certain point, your storytelling will drop into the Uncanny Valley, at the bottom of which your efforts will seem artificial, forced and unappealing. And that�s fatal for business communications.
And some basic rules:
It�s been proven that the real efficacy of storytelling lies in three standout features of stories that can help us do our jobs as business leaders:
They're memorable�There�s no point in saying something if it�s forgettable.
They convey emotion�People are inspired to act when they feel emotion.
They�re meaningful� In the complex environment of work, people need to be able to make sense of what�s going on and how they fit in.
I could go on with more, but you can download a free sample here. Reading this book once will be well worth your time. And, then you will come back to it many times over the years.
It�s been proven that the real efficacy of storytelling lies in three standout features of stories that can help us do our jobs as business leaders:
They're memorable�There�s no point in saying something if it�s forgettable.
They convey emotion�People are inspired to act when they feel emotion.
They�re meaningful� In the complex environment of work, people need to be able to make sense of what�s going on and how they fit in.
I could go on with more, but you can download a free sample here. Reading this book once will be well worth your time. And, then you will come back to it many times over the years.
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