What to Read: The Perfect Story
Storytelling is an age-old way to share information and get and keep attention. In this issue of “What to Read,” we highlight insights from the book The Perfect Story by Karen Eber.
“Your best ideas will be discovered when you apply constraints within a specific context. Constraints aren’t limiting; they provide focus. The most dreaded question in a job interview is, “Tell me about yourself.” It’s so broad and vague—where do you start? If the question was, “Tell me what you liked about your last job” or “Describe a project you were proud of,” you would have plenty to share. The same thing happens in storytelling. If we don’t apply constraints, our brains don’t know which file to access to retrieve an idea. Our mind goes blank for what feels like an awkwardly long time. Ask a specific question, and the brain immediately becomes focused and can access memories and ideas.”
“The act of avoiding and withholding information they don’t want to share makes them gloss over details they should. The energy that should go to creating the story is spent protecting information. The resulting story is flatter and less engaging.”
“An HR team I worked with had a dashboard of data that was reviewed quarterly. They would tell the story of a few individuals within the data set to bring meaning to the data and then would zoom out to discuss the data at the company level. Their intent was clear: level set on the understanding of the data to support a thoughtful discussion. Had they only shared the stories of a few individuals and not fostered a broader discussion, their approach could have been seen as manipulative. By combining the stories and data at scale with discussions, they were able to have rich and nuanced conversations that wouldn’t have otherwise resulted.”
From The Perfect Story by Karen Eber
Summary
An excellent story on why storytelling is important and how to effectively tell stories. Karen Eber provides steps and real-world examples to help us elevate our storytelling and make meaningful connections. In this book, Karen explains the science of storytelling and teaches you:
- Leverage the Five Factory Settings of the Brain to hack the art of storytelling
- Build a toolkit of endless story ideas
- Define the audience for your story
- Apply a memorable story structure
- Engage senses and emotions
- Tell stories with data
- Avoid common storytelling mistakes
- Use your body to tell dynamics stories
- Ensure your story doesn’t manipulate
- Navigate and embrace the vulnerability of storytelling
Our Key Takeaways from The Perfect Story
Part One: Hacking the Art of Storytelling
The section goes into detail of why stories are important and helpful. Storytelling builds ideas and creates shared understanding and connection. Stories are memorable, create interaction and reinforce value. This section also explains the Five Factory Settings of the Brain: Engaging and Focusing the Brain, Minding the Gap of Assumptions, Processing and Categorizing Information, Creating Connection and Empathy, Seek Pleasure and Avoid Pain. Storytelling creates an artificial reality experience for our brains. The way we tell stories matter.
Part Two: The Context….Finding Ideas for Stories
In storytelling, you can’t create and edit at the same time. Story ideas emerge when you apply constraints. Create a toolkit of ideas. Stories start with the audience, not the idea. Define the desired outcomes for what you want your audience to know, feel, think, or do.
Part Three: The Conflict—Building The Story’s Structure
Stories without a structure are hard to follow. The four-part story structure model (Context, Conflict, Outcome, Takeaway) gives you the flexibility to build out your idea for any setting. The four-part story structure is a tool you can use five minutes before a meeting to anchor the major points of a story or communication you’re going to share. Using this structure makes it easier for the audience to follow and understand your story. The details give the story context, relatable characters, and unexpected events to help anchor understanding for the audience. Specific details are memorable. Don’t just tell us you’re eating ice cream. Describe the specific flavor and any toppings. Don’t cheat the audience of details by using connecting phrases like ‘eventually.’ Describe what happened to get to that point. Descriptions that engage the senses increase neural activity, keep your brain out of lazy mode, and immerse the audience in the story. Show the emotions of the characters without telling us. Don’t tell us the character is frustrated. Describe how they cut someone off in a conversation, refusing to have the same conversation again. The start of the story should capture attention whether with a hook, a question, a statement or by appealing to the curiosity of the audience. Ask yourself what you want your audience to know, think, do, or feel before potential interactions. This prepares you to tell stories in real-time. Data never speaks for itself. When you don’t walk someone through data, you risk different interpretations and misalignment. Simple data leads to rich conversations. Make the data easy to understand and act upon. Stories help create simple data.
Part Four: The Outcome—Telling A Great Story
Pause is a character in your story. Embrace it to build and release tension. Know your starting, ending, and transition sentences for a strong start and finish. There are a few clues that your story resonates: Audience members tell you stories in return, Conversations expand to different ideas, considerations, and thoughts. There is a big gap between telling a story and telling a great story that engages your audience. It’s not enough to tell a story. The way you tell it impacts the connection with the audience and the likelihood of achieving the desired outcome. Influence involves choice. Manipulation involves control. Information, choices, perceptions, and power are often distorted. As you prepare your stories, ask yourself, Who are you OK with disappointing? Your story isn’t intended for everyone. Free yourself by determining exactly who it’s for and who you are OK not connecting with. Stories may have been told before, but not by you. Your audience wants to hear your perspective.
Part Five: The Takeaway—Landing the Idea
The most valuable thing people can do is give us their attention. Great stories respect that attention by thoughtfully building an idea that informs, influences, or inspires the audience.
