Smart Guide To Storytelling For Leaders and Salespeople

Big-S stories are usually stories we attend
to voluntarily. We‘ll even pay admission to
hear or see them performed. We typically
expect them to provide some form of entertainment.
On the other hand, Little-s stories are not
necessarily sought for enjoyment. Instead
they they are provided, often unexpectedly,
by a speaker who uses them to exemplify
or elucidate a point being made.
We can learn a great deal about
storytelling from the way Big-S stories are
structured and delivered. However, in a
business presentation or meeting, the
closer we come to telling a Big-S story,
the more likely we fall prey to either losing
or turning off our audience. Simply put,
there‘s a place for Big-S storytelling and
it's not in a business meeting. Once you
are seen as someone trying too hard to
entertain your audience, you credibility will
be lost and very difficult to regain.
"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" story- telling, where we
find the stories we tell on a daily
basis in conversations: anecdotes
concerning real-life experiences.
Businesspeople don’t need to be
screen-writers or novelists. In fact,
applying too much craft in communicating
with stories can lead you
into a big trap.
Shawn Callahan, Putting Stories To
Work
17
www.story-lab.net
Better Chemistry Through Stories