Leading with…Visual Stories.
Why Stories?
I was once delivering a workshop on leadership storytelling for a group of CEOs when one of the participants commented, “I hate storytelling—I’m a terrible storyteller.” When I asked him what made him say that, he went on to tell this terrific story about why he thought he was so bad at it.
Looking around the room at the other CEOs who had all started to smile in recognition of what had unfolded before our eyes, I remarked, “Do I have to say it, or would someone else like to?”
Basically, it turned out that this guy was, indeed, a terrific storyteller; he just needed to be reassured of this fact in order to feel confident in his ability to do so.
By the way, the above is an example of a complete story in four simple sentences.
We are all natural storytellers. We tell stories all the time. When we tell someone about our day…that’s a story. When you say, “You won’t believe what happened to me on the way over here!”…that’s a story. When you try to teach your kid something by starting out with, “When I was your age”…that’s a story.
Pretty much everything that has ever happened to you in your life is, if you think about it, the basis of a story. And from each of our stories we share a piece of who we are, what we think and feel, and what’s important to us. And through the power of story, we can teach, we can change people’s point of view, and we can even change the world.
Unlike just delivering facts or data, stories are human, stories are emotional, stories are compelling, stories are engaging, stories are universal, stories are relatable, stories are entertaining, and stories are memorable.
What makes something a story? Aristotle said that it’s a narrative that contains “a beginning, a middle, and an end.” And what are the components of a story? Basically, a story tends to cover the “5 W’s and 1 H”: Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How.
In brief, to construct a story, you need to think about Who the characters are (the cast); What happens to them (the plot); When and Where the story takes place (the setting); Why it happened (the message); and How it ends (the conclusion). That’s the formula for any story, from a four-sentence anecdote like the one above…to an Academy Award-winning screenplay.
Another way to think about it is that a story has: (1) a Set-up (“Here’s the situation”); (2) a Conflict (“Then, what happened was…”); and (3) a Resolution (“Here’s how it ended…”).
The key, from a leadership perspective, is to use stories purposefully and strategically: to convey information, to connect with people, to influence, and to inspire. One way to think about it is in terms of these “Three E’s”: Educate (What do you want people to learn and to know?); Engage (How are you going to capture and hold their attention?); and Excite (How are you going to inspire them to act?).
And what do we mean by “visual” storytelling. Basically, it’s about using language “to paint a picture with words” (which, by the way is, of course, a metaphor). You can do so using visual images (that is, slides, video, demonstration), or through words alone. Either way, you are taking someone on a journey and sharing an experience in such a way that they are able to “see” it in their mind’s eye.
There are many different types of stories, used for different purposes. One type of story is the “Cautionary Tale” whose message is, “Don’t let this happen to you.” Another related type of story is the “Personal Failure Story,” in which you reveal a mistake that you made so that others may benefit. For example, “Let me tell you about the worst mistake I ever made.” In order to do so, a leader, must be willing to be authentic and vulnerable.
Modeling this type of storytelling helps to create a climate of “psychological safety” (a term you should definitely look up), in which others will then be willing to share their stories, leading to a culture of openness, collaboration, and trust.
One of the most popular types of stories is the “Origin Story.” It is human nature to be curious, and to want to know how and where and why things started. That’s why origin stories of comic book heroes—from Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman to Spider-Man, Iron Man, and Black Panther—tend to end up being huge commercial blockbusters when they hit the screen.
So, how can you use this concept from a leadership perspective? You might, for example, share a story about your career journey, which could be anything from how you got started to how you ended up in your current position. Or you might share a story about the history of your company. If you think about it…
Disney started with a mouse.
GE started with a light bulb.
eBay started with a PEZ dispenser.
Amazon started as an online bookstore.
Netflix started with those little red mailing envelopes.
And so on!
So, tell us…what’s your story?
Once of the best story frameworks I know of is called the PARLA method. This method can be utilized in a whole variety of situations, from presentations to job interviews to coaching conversations. PARLA stands for:
Problem/Situation: Here’s what happened (the backstory).
Action: Here’s what I, or someone else did.
Result: Here’s the outcome (positive, negative, or mixed).
Learned: Here’s what I learned (and what you can learn from it too).
Apply: And here’s how I use what I learned (and how you can too).
One other skill related to story-telling that leaders would benefit from developing and practicing, by the way, is “story-listening.” As discussed previously, the best leaders tend to be great listeners, and creating a psychologically safe environment in which others are encouraged and empowered to share their stories so that all may learn from them will serve to benefit everyone. As Bill Nye the Science guy once said, “Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don’t.”
Lastly, one of my top suggestions to help you build up a repository of stories for future use is to start journaling! Whether you do so electronically, or by hand in a notebook (which I strongly recommend, as the act of writing by hand is more kinesthetic), jotting down your stories provides a terrific exercise in capturing your thoughts, ideas, and feelings for future access and retrieval. Moreover, the act of writing them down will encode them in your brain, and having them in a format that you can thumb through and reflect back on will enable to you access them in the future when you are in search of the details of that one amazing story that will make your presentation.
Self-disclosure: I started keeping a journal, just by chance, on the first day of my freshman year of college. And I have not missed a day since. Yes, I’ve written in my journal every single day for (I hate to admit it) the past thirty-nine years. And I’m so glad I did, as doing so allowed me to reconstruct, in detail, many of the stories contained within this book.
With that, I am excited to share with you the following stories as an illustration of the power of visual storytelling. In each one, I tried to paint a picture with words to capture the time and place, the characters involved, and the leadership lessons learned.
In so doing, my hope is that from my stories, you will not only take away a variety of valuable insights but will be inspired to formulate your own stories so as to share the wisdom of your experience with others. For, when you think about the Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How model, you are the “Who” in the story of your life. And, looking to you for leadership, we want—and we need—to hear your stories.