The Storytelling Edge

3Honing Your Storytelling Chops

Before we get into the second half of this book, which is about how businesses (and businesspeople) can make use of storytelling in all sorts of ways, we're going to talk about a few timeless things that can help anyone get better at understanding and crafting great stories.

A lot of people we talk to in our line of work say, “Well, I'm no Hemingway.” As we saw in the last section, neither are we!

And that's okay. We don't have to be Hemingway to be good at stories. Storytelling is part of what makes us human. If you have human DNA, you're built for story. Unfortunately, some of us give up on our storytelling ability too early.

In this chapter, we're going to help you see some patterns of great stories. Once you understand them, you're going to have an easier time noticing the good and bad stories in your life, and you may just have a hard time telling lame stories the next time you hit the bar with your coworkers.

Universal Storytelling Frameworks

See if you can guess what story this is.

We have a hero who starts in humble beginnings and answers the call of adventure. They leave home, get out of their comfort zone, receive training from a wise old mentor, and then go on a great journey. On this quest, they face a bad guy, almost lose everything, but eventually succeed and return home having changed.

What story are we talking about?

Is this Star Wars? Harry Potter? The Hunger Games? The Odyssey? The Matrix?

It's actually all of them.

This is ...