Nearly everyone responds to a good yarn, and that's precisely the point behind The Story Factor by Annette Simmons. A "collaborative behavior" consultant to public and private organizations, Simmons argues that storytelling may just be the best management tool available to modern business leaders because it exerts influence in ways that other techniques cannot. And she doesn't suggest that stories be exclusively reserved for formal presentations, either; on the contrary, Simmons shows how they can be used effectively in small group settings and even one-on-one situations. She begins by describing six basic types that can be adapted to any circumstance (Who I Am, Why I Am Here, The Vision, Teaching, Values-In-Action, and I Know What You Are Thinking). She then offers pointers for finding them and advises that ideas be jotted down whenever they appear, built upon consistently, and practiced in private until the telling comes naturally. To that end, she includes helpful tips on presentation, noting that the words are only part of a package that includes body language, clothing, tone, and other components. Follow her lead and you'll likely never relate to any individual or group in the same way again. --Howard Rothman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
In this highly readable book, business communications consultant and author Simmons (Territorial Games) pitches storytelling as the modus operandi for business success. Identifying six stories one must learn how to tell "Who Am I," "Why I Am Here," "The Vision," "Teaching," "Values in Action," and "I Know What You Are Thinking" Simmons illustrates how they can be applied under any circumstance. A successor to Dale Carnegie's classic How To Win Friends and Influence People, this work follows the format of a traditional textbook, mirroring a PowerPoint presentation with minimal text and maximum graphics, bullet-pointing, etc. Potentially useful as a communications text, this is a viable selection for public libraries looking to strengthen their business communications collection. Robert Moore, Itworld.com, Southboro, MA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
The new material for this revised edition offers an expanded case study of storytelling in action that focuses on one of Simmons’s success stories. Over one hundred stories drawn from the front lines of business and government, as well as myths, fables, and parables from around the world, illustrate how story can be used to persuade, motivate, and inspire in ways that cold facts, bullet points, and directives can’t. These stories, combined with practical storytelling techniques show anyone how to become a more effective communicator. From “who I am” to “I-know-what-you’re thinking,” Simmons identifies the six stories you need to know how to tell and demonstrates how they can be applied. This revised edition offers a guide to using storytelling in specific business circumstances, including corporate reorganizations, layoffs, and diversity issues.
Book Info
Simmons reminds us that the oldest tool of influence is also the most powerful. She illustrates how a story can be used to persuade, motivate, and inspire in ways that cold facts, bullet points, and directives can't. This book will guide and inspire you to become a more effective communicator. Softcover. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
Annette Simmons is founder of Group Process Consulting, specializing in helping organizations build more collaborative behaviors for bottom-line results. A popular speaker, community activist, and author of Territorial Games and A Safe Place for Dangerous Truths, she lives in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Excerpted from The Story Factor : Secrets of Influence from the Art of Storytelling by Annette Simmons. Copyright © 2000. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved
The Story Factor By Annette Simmons Chapter 1. The Six Stories You Need to Know How to Tell To be a person is to have a story to tell. Isak Dinesen Skip looked into the sea of suspicious stockholders and wondered what might convince them to follow his leadership. He was 35, looked 13 and was third generation rich. He could tell they assumed he would be an unholy disaster as a leader. He decided to tell them a story. "My first job was drawing the electrical engineering plans for a boat building company. The drawings had to be perfect because if the wires were not accurately placed before the fiberglass form was poured, a mistake might cost a million dollars, easy. At 25, I already had two masters' degrees. I had been on boats all my life and frankly, I found drawing these plans a bit ...mindless. One morning I got a call at home from a $6/hour worker asking me "are you sure this is right?" I was incensed. Of course I was sure - "just pour the damn thing." When his supervisor called me an hour later and woke me up again and asked "are you sure this is right?" I had even less patience. "I said I was sure an hour ago and I'm still sure." "It was the phone call from the president of the company that finally got me out of bed and down to the site. If I had to hold these guys by the hand, so be it. I sought out the worker who had called me first. He sat looking at my plans with his head cocked to one side. With exaggerated patience I began to explain the drawing. But after a few words my voice got weaker and my head started to cock to the side as well. It seems that I had (being left-handed) transposed starboard and port so that the drawing was an exact mirror image of what it should have been. Thank God this $6/hour worker had caught my mistake before it was too late. The next day I found this box on my desk. The crew bought me a remedial pair of tennis shoes for future reference. Just in case I got mixed up again - a red left shoe for port, and a green right one for starboard. These shoes don't just help me remember port and starboard. They help me remember to listen even when I think I know what's going on." As he held up the shoebox with one red and one green shoe, there were smiles and smirks. The stockholders relaxed a bit. If this young upstart had already learned this lesson about arrogance, then he might have learned a few things about running companies, too. Trust Me People don't want more information. They are up to their eyeballs in information. They want faith - faith in you, your goals, your success, in the story you tell. It is faith that moves mountains, not facts. Facts do not give birth to faith. Faith needs a story to sustain it - a meaningful story that inspires belief in you and renews hope that your ideas, do indeed, offer what you promise. Genuine influence goes deeper than getting people to do what you want them to do. It means people pick up where you left off because they believe. Faith can overcome any obstacle, achieve any goal. Money, power, authority, political advantage, and brute force have all, at one time or another, been overcome by faith. Story is your path to creating faith. Telling a meaningful story means inspiring your listeners -- co-workers, leaders, subordinates, family, or a bunch of strangers -- to reach the same conclusions you have reached and decide for themselves to believe what you say and do what you want them to do. People value their own conclusions more highly than yours. They will only have faith in a story that has become real for them personally. Once people make your story, their story, you have tapped into the powerful force of faith. Future influence will require very little follow-up energy from you and may even expand as people recall and re-tell your story to others. Whether your story is told through your lifestyle or in words, the first criteria people require before they allow themselves be influenced by your story is, Can they trust you? The story above demonstrates that even a zillionaire can have trouble influencing others. If influence were simply a function of power or money, Skip would have it made. He has power and money. But there are times when being rich and powerful is actually a disadvantage. Is his story a form of manipulation? Possibly. If it were manipulation it would begin to unravel as soon as Skip stopped talking. When a manipulator isn't present to maintain his web of influence the web falls apart. Manipulation (getting people to believe a story that isn't quite true) demands constant energy to maintain the desired outcome and the ethics are bothersome. Frankly, manipulation is an inferior method of influence. There is a much more powerful source of influence available to anyone with experience as a human being - telling an authentically persuasive story. There are six types of stories that will serve you well in your efforts to influence others.
I. Who I Am Stories
II. Why I Am Here Stories
III. My Vision Story
IV.
Teaching Stories
V. Values in Action Stories
VI. "I Know what you are Thinking" Stories
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
