3 Critical Reasons to Master Your Storytelling

1. 1. Information needs to be transformed into interest.Storytelling is critically important – now more than ever in this era of the technology-based information expressway. Taking into account the massive amount of information saturation so prevalent in the current day and age, learning the art of telling a good story is essential to being understood when it comes to getting your message across or separating yourself from the standard talk track.  No matter what position you hold in business, storytelling is essentially a practiced skill.  Be compelling and impactful in how your story begins, because it will gain or lose your audience – and how it ends will bring your audience back, eager and listening for more.

1. 1. How does your story relate to the person or situation?
      This will define how informative and effective you will be in getting your message across. Storytelling, backed with substantive evidence incorporated into the story, can be extremely powerful to the listener by combining a compelling narrative with real-life takeaways.

1. Creating compelling interest based on numbers and analytics can be the bridge to bringing credibility to the main points of your story.
   Stories can also lead to a permanent shift in someone’s perception of the fictional (versus nonfictional) components of your story.For example: Here’s a very compelling story about one of the nation’s top detectives in 1922. Why is this important?Being a detective is part of today’s world (and building a case) starts with knowing the best story that will relate to your audience. The following story is unique, extremely compelling, and builds what most people want in a discussion: truth, excitement, and strength.

This is article was written in the Detroit News over 50 years ago:

Edward H. Fox, Detroit’s top detective at the height of the hectic prohibition error, a central figure in one of the city’s most famous gun battles, is dead. Mr. Fox, who joined the Detroit police department in 1897 and retired in 1930, is remembered by veteran police mainly for his achievements as Chief of Detectives, a post he held from 1917 to 1929. During this period, perhaps the most crime ridden in the nation’s history, he helped hundreds of cases and was regarded by both the police and the underworld as one of the toughest detectives in the country.

Shoots it Out!

But his most celebrated encounter was on April 8, 1922 when he shot it out with four meet market bandits, despite multiple bullet wounds in his neck and chest. Mr. Fox had been shopping in the market with his wife, Elle, and their young daughter, Maragret, when the holdup men entered the store and attempted to rob the market. Despite the immediate danger to his own life, the Chief of Detectives pulled out his gun and the shooting began.

Although directly hit twice with bullets from the robbers’ guns, Mr. Fox kept shooting. When the bandits fled, he followed them outside, staggered into his car and chased them for two blocks before they escaped. The officer recovered and the bandits were captured later. Under Mr. Fox, Detroit detective bureau became known as one of the best in the nation.

What saved his life?

An awards badge was given to Mr. Fox at a lunch banquet earlier in the day before the firefight. One of the bandit’s bullets struck the badge in the firefight, shattering it as it rested in a vest pocket and reduced the impact.

This is a story about my great grandfather – a story my mother shared with me as a kid – that has stayed with me over the years and helped me to build my own resilience and strength.

Compelling? Yes! So whatever story you have in your life (and in business) that you’re trying to utilize to connect with your audience, back it up with evidence. This will allow you to bridge it over to your actions, because you will achieve almost anything when you believe in it. This builds the resilience and courage to accomplish gaining wealth, power, and true happiness. This is what you call The Power of Breaking Fear.

– Tim S. Marshall, Author of “The Power of Breaking Fear”

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