In one of last week’s blog posts, I discussed the important role storytelling plays in effective leadership (“Leadership and Storytelling”). I emphasized that stories provide the links that connect an organization’s employees to its history, its purpose, and its values. And that purposeful, well-told stories can stir the emotions of team members and make leaders more real.
At the end of the post I promised I’d recommend some resources that can help you develop and refine stories. The most important component of any meaningful story you share, of course, is its authenticity. I direct you to the following resources simply to help add polish to your stories.
Book Recommendations
Story Theater Method: Strategic Storytelling in Business, by Doug Stevenson. While the book focuses on crafting speeches, it provides excellent guidance for crafting stories for any purpose.
Managing by Storying Around: A New Method of Leadership, by David Armstrong, specifically addresses using stories as a leadership tool. The book shares many, many stories along with their application to the business world. Armstrong doesn’t intend the reader to actually use his stories, he provides them as examples of how effective stories are structured for business and, most importantly, how stories can make a point better than any other method.
Other Resources
“The Nine Steps of Story Structure” is a post from Doug Stevenson’s Story Theater blog. This brief post provides an outstanding blueprint for taking any story to a higher level. You can also navigate around the site for more of Doug’s resources.
“Business Storytelling” is an article from the Mind Tools Website. The article highlights the various types of stories and provides tips for effective storytelling.
I hope you find these resources to be helpful as you develop and share your stories!
