What do great leaders do when telling stories? How can you better understand your customer? Consider the mythological themes and hero's archetypes underpinning many of our personal narratives. This class looks at the root of stories, what stories we tell every day, and how we each adopt our own Hero's Journey throughout different places in our lives.
Where do stories come from? Why do we tell them?Tell me a bit about you – what are you questions about storytelling. Why did you come to this class?My goals are always that you’ll take something away, have actionable tools you can use, that you’ll think about what I’m sharing with you and that it delights you. We’re covering a lot of topics today, so take what you can and let me know what you use at the end.
My research started with a couple of simple questions. What are stories, and why do we tell them?Ask class: what are stories?
Why do we tell them?
In my previous class, which many of you have been to, I structure it through the what’s and the whys and the hows – how do we tell stories and how are they useful. Today I’m going to look at some deeper psychological roots and mythological roots behind stories and explore what we know about how we talk about who we are – and what we do.
I’ll start with this maybe very familiar image. The idea of the left brain and right brain separation is a story we like to tell and have told for a while. However, this idea about one side of the brain being strictly one thing and the other another is false. (This is a Mercedes Benz advertisement, if you’re not familiar).
Why am I starting with this image It has fascinating implications for stories and how our brains work. In an experiment written about by Jonathan Gottschall, they conducted studies in split brain patients – people whose connection between the left and right side had been severed or altered in some way. If you’re familiar with pscyhology, you know that the perception we receive on the right side gets processed in the left, and the left the right. SO, If you showed the person an image in just their right eye, they would comprehend it in the left. One side of the brain is responsible for analytics, the other language – although they talk to each other (though not necessarily in words). They found that when you showed someone an image on one side of the brain and the other – in this case, a chickenfoot and a picture of snow, and then even though they couldn’t say what they say – and didn’t have any verbal memory of having seen the image – they would consistently pick up images related to the picture they saw. And in the case of a chicken foot and picking up a chicken, if they saw the snowy house, they’d said, “it’s a farm …” and if they picked up the shovel, they’d say “because it’s to scoop up the poop.”The point of these examples is that in each instance, our brain is connecting and reasoning through stories and relationships—first by the shovel with the snow, and with the chicken and the foot—and also, that when asked to explain what happened or why they picked something, they point blank made up a story in between the two objects to make it make sense.We are bombarded with information and we use stories as a way to make sense of the world (regardless of whether or not they are true).
So why do we tell stories? When do you tell stories?
So why do we tell stories?
A story – an idea – is something that has to live. It means nothing unless you can give it to someone.
I’ll bore you with some technical definitions that are logical and make sense – but when you walk out of this room you’ll likely remember the story of the chicken coop and not this precise definition. A story is: An experience, reimagined. It has detail, it has feeling.
And they are particular to human communication.
The idea that I’m working with is that a story is what you take with you
We think we’re telling stories and we’re not. We’re just using frameworks that aren’t easy to remember.
So let’s dive into the various story types and uses I want to cover today – from the everyday, to the hero mentality, to ways we can apply this in leadership and persuasion.
Everyday stories are ways you tell stories, well, everyday Who are you? I’m sarah, I teach here and here, I work on …