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Zachary Aldwin Milkshake in the Boardroom
I SUFFER from a life threatening condition that is so severe that it can totally incapacitate me from normal function, cause me to forgo meals and keep me up all night.

I have an incurable case of bibliophilia: a total fascination for books and great stories that they contain.

Armed with a book, coffee and a comfortable bed I can go for hours just turning the pages and blinking occasionally.

I love a good story. Chances are, even if you do not read as much as I do, that you love a good story too.

We are hardwired to love stories that bring about an emotional connection. Sadly we often leave them in books or on the television screen condemning fairy tales to a place of myth and fantasy.

We ignore the greatest chance we get every single day; the ability to tell stories through and with our business to create clients and leverage opportunities.

I remember watching a presentation of a potentially controversial new method of heath care and wellness being introduced to a large gathering of people.

The crowd was made up of different listeners ranging from the curious to the bored and outright skeptical.

One presentation hit home regardless of your background. One of the doctors stood up and shared the story of a 23-year-old man who was diagnosed with a heart condition.

The young man, in the prime of his life, was told that he would need heart surgery and would need to take heart medication for the rest of his life.

Someone introduced him to the system they were promoting and after a period of care he was whole and well, surgery free, and is still over a decade later.

Up till then it had been a nice enough positive story about healing and restoration. Then he uttered the words that got everyone’s attention.

Placing his hand on his chest, he said “That young man is me”.Instant applause, instant engagement, from that moment people were sold on the idea.

That personal touch did more to promote that conference than anything else done that day. So how do you do that?

How do you take your story and make it into something that matters? I am so glad you asked.

First up your story needs to be relevant to the audience you are talking to. In the case of the doctor, relating a story of a young 23-year-old with his life before him resonated with a crowd that could all remember being that age with the vitality and energy that goes with it.

It conjured a moment of nostalgia, an emotion. The story needs a moment of conflict, a problem that needs solving; the place where as the story teller there is a revelation moment. You want the sort of a moment which became your personal call to action.

“Rock bottom” stories work well here, although it can be any moment of revelation. It could be standing in a field as a teenager watching the crops wither due to no rain, seeing the despair on your father’s face his livelihood die in the field. It could be standing in a store, surrounded by empty shelves, unable to buy anything, eating oats three times a day because there is no meat available.

That moment on its own is not enough-with it needs to be the shift to the positive that accompanies it.

The two examples above are from my life and are rock bottom points; but they are meaningless unless I go a step further and attach a meaning to them.

Share the revelation, that turn around that propels you forward to create the product you have developed or the attitude that embodies your business.

It is that revelation, combined with an emotional story that fortifies the connection, which brings about the “Ah-ha” moment in the listener.

Finally the story needs telling. Before you hit the wider audience practice it. Practice on the reflection in the mirror, run it by safe family members, practice it on staff, test it on a client. Watch for the attentison of the listener, watch for behaviour afterwards. Then refine it, tweak it, work on it.

Once you can tell your story well you are ready for the next step-getting others to tell it.

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