I was asked to give a storytelling presentation to entrepreneurship students at ASU in October. The instructor wanted his students to learn storytelling skills that would serve them through their careers in business, because ultimately, they are in the business of people, and people connect to stories. He had spent some time earlier in the semester covering Joseph Campbell's "Hero's Journey" in class, and wanted them to apply this to their experience in business.
To bring them to story, I gave them a core value exercise. From a list of 75 core values (i.e. social connection, honesty, advocacy, courtesy, etc.) they narrow it down to a list of ten. I invited them to share their Top Ten in small groups. As I walked around the groups I saw mini-stories start to form as they explained their choices. From there they brainstormed memories sparked by their Top Ten core values. After sharing some techniques and structures for story crafting, they each took a turn telling their story to their small group. My favorite part of the class was when four students told their stories to the whole class. What ensued was incredible.
One student who, to the chagrin of the instructor, arrived 45 minutes late, told a story about his mother battling cancer, and working a full-time job selling pest control while attending school full-time. Even though his life is hard he sees the blessing of being healthy and able to do the things he enjoys. Because of this story, the instructor had a better understanding of how this student's inability to sleep at night causes him to be late to class in the morning. His perspective of this student completely changed. As the other students told their stories their classmates saw them on a deeper level. They experienced the power of storytelling.
According to an article on the Berkeley ExecEd website, storytelling in business is effective because it creates an emotional connection for customers, and customers make decisions based on how they feel. Stories are also easier to remember than data. I've seen a few great stories in class that told a story with a data set, and I STILL remember them (one was about the "O" ring failure that was responsible for the Challenger explosion). Stories also encourage action. People who buy TOMS shoes know that for every pair of shoes they buy, a pair is donated to someone in need. I had a strong TOMS shoe era a few years ago.
This ASU professor understands the power of storytelling in the business world, and sees the importance of intentionally including it in his curriculum. Budding entrepreneurs can apply storytelling skills to all aspects of business life.
Storytelling in business. Berkeley Exec Ed. (n.d.). https://executive.berkeley.
The image at the top of the post can be found here.
Lauren, your energy and enthusiasm for storytelling have impacted not only your classmates but also these students.
Posted by: Dee Dee | 12/16/2023 at 08:22 PM