The Power of Small Stories

3min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

When Ted Koppel and the executive producer of the show flew down to Honduras, they found a man digging in the rubble. The episode of the broadcast became the door; it was half an hour of who this man was where he was now. And the revelation for me was, oh, I think we all tend to look for stories that are huge and tell the entire thing. But when you tell a very highly specific story, counterintuitively, that makes it universal.

What is it about stories that make them such potent tools of influence and persuasion?

Annette Simmons would tell you that stories are largely about connection. When someone can see themselves in your story, that generates a sense of trust in the storyteller and the story they are telling.

As she writes in her bestselling book, The Story Factor, “Story is a pull strategy (rather than a push). If your story is good enough, people – of their own free will – come to the conclusion they can trust you and the message you bring.”

In this episode, we talk to Annette about her story, including her more than 30-year career listening to and telling stories, and helping others use them to effect change.

GUEST: Annette Simmons, Author, The Story Factor, Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins

BIO:
Annette Simmons is an author, keynote speaker, consultant, and founder of Group Process Consulting – a firm she founded to help others communicate better through stories. She started her career with a business degree from Louisiana University in the early 1980s and then headed off to Australia where she worked for 10 years in international business. Once back in the states, she earned a master’s degree in adult education and psychology and soon after launched her business to help others use storytelling as a communications tool. In addition to her consulting work, she is the author of four books, The Story Factor, Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins, A Safe Place for Dangerous Truth, and Territorial Games: Understanding and Ending Turf Wars at Work.

Check out our blog

Got an episode idea?