I’ve written about using the power of the 5 basic stories that Western culture has to make your speeches stronger, ‘stickier’ and more instantly graspable.  Look here: http://tinyurl.com/6sdl5v or here: http://tinyurl.com/nxblef for more detailed information.  Today, I’m going to revisit the stories as a quick refresher course. 

The most fundamental of the stories is the Quest.  Here, case the audience as the hero.  Enlist them in your quest – bring them with you to accomplish something difficult.  A new product launch, a business launch, a re-organization – quests are best invoked when you want to ask for sacrifices from your audience and you need them to overcome obstacles. 

The nature of change today readily involves the second story:  Stranger in a Strange Land.  In this story, the rules, the terrain, the marketplace – something complicated and pervasive – has changed, and the audience needs to learn new rules in order to master the new situation.  Most consultants should invoke this story, since it allows them to play the mentor – the expert – in the story, the one who knows the new rules and can explain them.

The third story is the Love Story.   We can use this in organizational life more often than you might think.  Mergers, acquisitions, partnerships, even different parts of an organization working together – all of these can be love stories.  The strength of the love story is that we expect the road to be rocky – boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back is the old-fashioned version.  That means that you have ways to deal with problems when they come up if you use this story. 

The fourth story is Rags to Riches.   This story is always powerful, but never more so than in a recession.  The strongest version is the individual one, which is why the lottery does well in good and bad years.  So cast your story in personal terms and you’ll engage your audience strongly.  Tell them how they’re going to get rich, not how the company is going to get rich.

The fifth story is Revenge – never underestimate it.   Revenge is a very powerful motivator, so don’t leave it off the list because you’re squeamish.  Many a business pushes itself to succeed because of the competition, and that’s at base a revenge story.  Think of all the small software companies that began in order to take on Microsoft!  Think of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. 

Invoking each of these stories on a thematic level can be a wonderful way to increase the impact and power of your speeches.  Don’t be too literal about it.  Don’t say, ‘we’re on a quest’.  Instead, say, ‘the journey will be long and difficult, but at the end of it is a pot of gold and glory we can all share’.  You’ll have the audience engaged instantly; everyone knows and loves these stories.  And we all want to be heroes.   

 

Comments

[Nick Morgan]

Marcus --

thanks for the comment. the two stories I end up using the most in client speeches are the quest (because it is the most universal) and stranger in a strange land (because that's the way our world today often seems). Which story resonates most with you?

[Marcus A Smith]

Nick

Great article. Which of these story types do you find yourself using the most and why?