Smart Guide To Storytelling For Leaders and Salespeople

The 2+2 Formula
5
This is a formula gleaned from
a Ted Talk, entitled, The Clues
To A Great Story, given by
Pixar’s Andrew Stanton, the
creator of Finding Nemo and
Wall-E. Look it up when you
get a chance.
During this talk, Stanton
explains that audiences don’t
like to be told that 2+2 equals
4. Rather, he said, "They
like to discover the answer
themselves."
jokes. People prefer to draw
their own conclusions rather
than to have them explicitly
revealed. Anytime you tell a
story, it’s important to allow
your audience to employ their
imagination, to see what they
choose to see, and to react
they way they choose to react.
This runs contrary to the
presentation maxim,"Tell
them what you‘re going to tell
them, tell them, then tell them
what you told them.“ A more
engaging way to involve your
audience is to "Show them
and then shut up.“ It‘s always
better to give your audience
the paint, the brush and the
canvas, but let them create
the painting.
The 2+2 Formula really
underscores one of the
fundamental reasons why
stories are more interesting
than factual explanations. It‘s
also why comedians don’t
explain punch lines to their
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Better Chemistry Through Stories