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"Once upon a time …"

"That reminds me of a story …"

"This ain't no shit …"

When you hear those lines or any variant of them, your ears perk up and you start to pay attention. If you're in the audience when the speaker tells a story, the odds are that you'll remember the story even if you remember nothing else about the speech.

The fact is that for as long as we've been telling them, stories have been human beings' preferred way to retain and transmit information and values. That's why I perked up when I saw an excellent article by Sangeeth Varghese in Forbes titled, "The CEO As Storyteller In Chief." Here's the money quote.

"In the business world, many successful top executives are very good storytellers. They entice us with their stories all the time, telling us how they started their businesses, what they stand for and where they are going."

He didn't have to convince me. I learned about stories early.

When I was young my grandmother was alive. She lived in Philadelphia. My uncle Pat and his family lived there then. So did my uncle John. We lived in New York City, close enough to go by train to my grandmother's for Thanksgiving.

After dinner, the glasses would fill up, my uncle Pat's cigar would come out and the stories would start. My dad and my uncles were an all star team of storytellers.

My uncle John was an Irish cop. My uncle Pat would go on to be one of the first serious sales trainers. My dad was a pastor and one of the first to advocate the use of stories in preaching.

Not only would they tell great stories, they critiqued each other's stories. My uncle Pat might wave that cigar while he said, "You know, that would work better if you just paused a little before you mentioned the river."

That was great, but nothing like the weekly clinic I had at home. After the third service every Sunday we got together for our family dinner. It always began the same way.

Right after grace, my father would ask, "What did you think of my sermon today?" Then my mother would chime in. Every Sunday for forty years she said, "I think it was the best sermon your father ever preached."

Thus freed from the need for social nicety we would wade into the critique. Dad always had something specific that he tried. He would ask what we thought. We told him what we liked and why and what we thought could be different. My father took notes.

Before he lay down for his Sunday afternoon nap, dad would transfer the notes to his sermon draft. Years later, when I went through his papers, I would recognize a comment I or my mother or sister had made in a marginal note. I would feel especially good if the note was from my comment and my dad had followed it with an exclamation point.

From a distance of fifty years, it's clear that what I got was a speaking and storytelling master class. I learned about how to pick stories and techniques of telling stories.

You may not have had that advantage. The good news is that there are some great resources to help you master the art of storytelling for business and for pleasure.

The best book I've ever read on storytelling is Roy Underhill's Khrushchev's Shoe. Among other things you'll find out some things that Ron Popiel, TV's top pitchman, used to do to capture attention when he worked the county fairs and the Atlantic City boardwalk.

If you're looking for advice on the specific art of using a story to persuade, the best book is The Story Factor by Annette Simmons. It's a wonderful, practical guide.

If you want some insight into the whys as well as the nuts and bolts, the Heath brothers' classic, Made to Stick is a great choice. So is Tell Me a Story by Roger Schank. This is a book about artificial intelligence and how the author thinks it has to be modeled on human intelligence and understanding of stories.

Boss's Bottom Line

Stories are the most potent communications tool you have. Learn to select and tell them well.

Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.