01. Storytelling is Sticky

0:03 [Vinod] In the first episode of this podcast we are going back to school.

Welcome to the Storytelling at Work Podcast. I'm your host Vinod Krishna and here we will talk about storytelling, communication, leadership and more.

0:26 When I was in school that one boring class was history I could never remember the dates. I hated being tested for things, like when a king ruled or when some battle was fought. But the stories? The stories have stayed with me.

0:41 Like this one story about ancient Rome I read way back when I was in grade four.

So the story goes that Rome had this king who was ruthless and cruel. The people were fed up so they kicked him out. This king got furious. He returned with an army to take back the city. The only thing standing between Rome and defeat was this wooden bridge. And this bridge was over the Tiber River. The Romans needed to destroy it. But time was running out. The enemy army was closing in.

1:15 But then one man stepped forward. His name was Horatius, a young captain. He

called for two others. And together they stood on this narrow bridge holding off an entire army. Three men against thousands. While the Romans behind them hacked away at the bridge, Horatius fought until the very last moment. Then there was a huge crash. The bridge collapsed and Rome was saved.

1:43 This story is still crystal clear in my mind. But if you ask me what year it happened? I have no clue. Back in grade four I loved reading the story of Horatius. And I loved it so much that I kept it safe all through school. And to this day I continue to hold on to this history textbook filled with stories of Horatius and others from the past.

2:07 Stories actually make a huge impact on us humans. At the workplace we see most leaders and managers continue to fill their conversations with facts and figures and

they make it dry and boring. We all have those meetings that we sit through but do not really recall anything much of value from them. People actually don't care much about spreadsheets. They actually care about stories. The reason you remember your childhood teacher's lesson isn't because of some PowerPoint. It's because of a story they told.

2:38 And yet at work we just dump information and expect people to understand and care. So let's say you're rolling out a change at work. Don't just go about saying this is our new process and here's the implementation plan. Tell the story of change. Tell the story of why it matters In case you're hiring don't just list out job responsibilities. Tell the story of the company the story of the culture, maybe of the role itself and what they'll be part of. What is the story of the impact the role will have, let us say on customers or on the business.

3:14 When we hear a story as humans we don't just process information, we experience it. So have you experienced conversations where the speaker has dumped information versus a speaker who shared a story? Go ahead and let me know.

3:32 Using stories is not hard but it takes a bit of effort. In the upcoming episodes we will talk about what makes a story a story, how to find them, how to use them and a lot more.

3:42 Also if you have a storytelling challenge at work let me know I'd love to explore it in a future episode. So, do subscribe and share it with a colleague who needs to hear this.