Karen Eber, Chief Storyteller and author, explores the power of storytelling to inspire action and connect cultures. They also talk about finding story ideas, influencing organizational culture, and captivating the audience with effective pauses and movement.
Storytelling is a powerful tool that can influence and inspire people by engaging the brain, creating empathy, and impacting decision-making.
To maintain trust and engagement, it is important to tell true stories that are relevant and meaningful to the audience.
Deep dives
The Power of Storytelling in Influencing and Inspiring People
Storytelling is a powerful communication tool that captivates hearts and minds, making it an effective way to influence and inspire people. Stories engage the brain, create empathy, and impact decision-making. They use more brain real estate compared to mere information, making them more memorable and impactful. Storytelling triggers the release of oxytocin, the bonding hormone, which enhances trust and connection. It also helps us make decisions emotionally and creates lasting connections to information. However, it is important to tell true stories to avoid manipulation and maintain trust with the audience.
Crafting Compelling Stories: Finding Ideas and Making Them Personal
Finding the right story to share can be challenging, but it can be made easier by building a list of potential story ideas in advance. Using prompts and constraints, such as professional experiences or personal adventures, can help generate a variety of story ideas. When formulating a compelling story, it is essential to consider the audience and what you want them to know, think, feel, or do after hearing the story. Making the story personal and relevant to the audience ensures its impact. Moreover, incorporating specific details, gestures, and movements enhances audience engagement and connection.
Delivery Techniques: Embracing Pause, Gestures, and Movement
Effective delivery is crucial for captivating the audience during storytelling. Embracing strategic pauses in the story allows the listener's brain to catch up, and it helps to underscore important points. Movement and gestures should be purposeful and reflect the content of the story. Specific movements can punctuate the story and make it more engaging. Experimenting with delivery techniques, including movement and gestures, can help enhance the storytelling experience and keep the audience connected.
Avoiding Manipulation and Maintaining Trust
Maintaining trust in storytelling is essential to prevent manipulation. Being clear about the intent behind the story and ensuring it aligns with the audience's needs and interests is crucial. Telling truthful stories that are relevant and meaningful helps build trust and engagement. If storytelling lacks sincerity or veers into manipulation, the audience will sense it, and trust can be lost. With the right intent and truthful storytelling, the audience remains engaged and receptive to the message being conveyed.
In this WorkWell podcast by Deloitte, Jen Fisher, editor-at-large for Thrive and Deloitte’s Human Sustainability Hub, sits down with Karen Eber, Chief Storyteller at Eber Leadership Group and author of The Perfect Story: How to Tell Stories that Inform, Influence, and Inspire. In a wide-ranging conversation, Jen and Karen talk about the art of storytelling as a tool that can help leaders inspire action and create a more connected culture. Karen offers guidance about what kind of stories to tell, the importance of being specific and authentic, and how to tell a great story.
Get the Snipd podcast app
Unlock the knowledge in podcasts with the podcast player of the future.
AI-powered podcast player
Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features
Discover highlights
Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode
Save any moment
Hear something you like? Tap your headphones to save it with AI-generated key takeaways
Share & Export
Send highlights to Twitter, WhatsApp or export them to Notion, Readwise & more
AI-powered podcast player
Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features
Discover highlights
Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode