An Important
Communication Tip
The Power of Stories

An important communication tip I can give is to learn to tell stories.

Life was never meant to be a mathematical equation, but a journey to be lived, a story to be told. A journey filled with uncertainty, sometimes laughter, sometimes pain.

There are many things in our lives that we can never explain or find meaning in a framework or a mathematical equation.

Is there a framework to help you when your marriage is going through the rocks?
Is there an equation to help us solve world peace?

Life, for the large part, is more like a story than anything else. That’s why a lot of us; we love movies of courage, romance, heroism; our hearts light up when someone starts to share his life story.

Yet, when the class teacher starts sounding off theory A, B and C, we quickly lose our attention.

John Eldredge, a famous author, once wrote,” Stories are the language of the heart.”

And indeed, as a leader, you must learn to speak not to the mind, but to the heart. It is when you speak to the heart that you begin to truly inspire and bring out the best in each individual.

Read about stories of great men and women of history, and when the situation arises, start sharing these stories with your people. (I have created a section Leadership Stories specifically for this purpose)

Sure, it is possible when you believe; but how about sharing a story of how one man succeeded because he believed? How about sharing the story of Frodo in the Lord of the Rings; how he went through all the trials and troubles to finally save Middle Earth from the evil Sauron?

You can be sure that it’ll touch people much deeper than simply telling them,” You need to believe.”

Don’t speak to their heads, go for the heart!

And how about your own story? What trials and challenges have you been through in your life that you can share? What things in your life can you share to inspire?

John Eldredge also said that to know a person, you have to know his story. Besides just sharing your story, ask your people about their stories.

How did they get here in their lives?
What were some major turning points in their life?

Learn about people, who they are, what they’ve become by asking them about their life stories. You’ll be surprised; people have been through more than what you might imagine about them.

For myself, after asking a few friends about their life stories; I’ve learnt that everyone does have a great story to tell.

Use stories for your presentations, your speeches, your pep talks. You'll find that it achieves a much more tremendous effect to inspire your people.

Leadership With You provides you with resources that help you tell stories from biographies of great leaders, and stories from leadership themed movies as well.

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Being Present
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The Power of Stories
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