Something happens when we tell stories. We understand one another. Stories are the glue of a tribe: they pass wisdom from generation, or from expert to expert; they celebrate experiences, mourn defeats, plot future triumphs. But something else happens: we synchronize. Lest you worry that it's getting too touchy-feely here, rest assured: stories have power - and if you harness it, you have one of the most effective covert persuasion techniques at the tip of your tongue.
Let's start with the science: a team of researchers from Princeton had a woman tell a story while undergoing an MRI. She did so, telling her tale in English and then again in Russian. Volunteers (English-speakers only) listened to the stories and had their own brains scanned.
As she told the story, the woman's insula (emotional region of the brain) lit up, as did her frontal cortex. When the volunteers heard the story in Russian: nothing. But when they heard it in English, the same areas of the brain activated. "By simply telling a story, the woman could plant ideas, thoughts and emotions into the listeners' brains."
And the more they understood, the more their brain activity mirrored that of the storyteller. We knew intuitively that stories connect us on a primal level; now it appears that they do so on a sophisticated neurological level as well.
Other studies have shown that it is far easier to change someone's beliefs through storytelling than through logic. In a conversation with HBR, world-renowned screenwriting lecturer and author Robert McKee says:
Trying to convince people with logic is tough for two reasons. One is they are arguing with you in their heads while you are making your argument. Second, if you do succeed in persuading them, you've done so only on an intellectual basis. That's not good enough, because people are not inspired to act by reason alone.
So, what does this mean for you? If you're not telling stories, you're missing out. And, if you're not telling them well, you're missing opportunity after opportunity to persuade people to buy your product, adopt your point of view, embrace your mission, or invest in your company. Can you afford that?
In Covert Persuasion: Psychological Tactics and Tricks to Win the Game, Kevin Hogan and James Speakman write that "most stories fail at persuasion because they lack focus and thus tend to be rambling and pointless." The point of your story is to make a point! Here are some tips to help you do just that:
Stories have incredible power; leverage it to persuade people and to meet your goals. What you cannot do with reason or logic, you can certainly do with emotion and connection.
A bonus tip from yours truly: Poet Lady Mary Wortley Montagu once said, "Life is too short for long stories." Get in, make your point, and get out! Don't make the mistake of rambling. And with that, I'm getting out.
