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The Story Factor (2nd Revised Edition) (Paperback)
by Annette Simmons
| Category:
Running meetings & presentations, Presentation skills, Speaking skills |
| Market price: ¥ 198.00
MSL price:
¥ 178.00
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Pre-order item, lead time 3-7 weeks upon payment [ COD term does not apply to pre-order items ] |
MSL rating:
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| MSL Pointer Review:
An essential reading on the art of story-telling for leaders at all levels, this book shed light on how "truth well-told" can inspire, influence, and persuade. |
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Author: Annette Simmons
Publisher: Perseus Books Group
Pub. in: March, 2006
ISBN: 0465078079
Pages: 299
Measurements: 8 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
Origin of product: USA
Order code: BA01040
Other information: ISBN-13: 978-0465078073
Language: American English
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- Awards & Credential -
MSL's #1 recommendation for business communication, now this classic is in its second and revised edition. |
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- MSL Picks -
As Simmons explains in her Introduction, "This book [shares] what I have learned over the last eight years about story and about the power of story to persuade and influence. My personal story is to learn, share everything I have learned, and earn the right to learn more. You will find here [in The Story Factor] everything I know about using story to influence others."
How many books on the subject of leadership does Amazon now offer? I just checked. The current total is 16,159. Who were history's greatest leaders? (My own list includes Alexander, Jesus, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Mohandas Gandhi.) What do all of them share in common? Each was a great storyteller. Each used one or more of the six types of stories which Simmons brilliantly explains in her book:
Who I Am
Why I Am Here
The Vision
Teaching
Values-in-Action
I Know What You Are Thinking
To these six I presume to add I Know What You Care About. Point is, great leaders have a clear identity as well as a clear purpose and a compelling vision, use relevant information effectively to educate others and use a narrative effectively to anchor a necessary course of action within a human context because they thoroughly understand the given audience. As Simmons correctly asserts, persuasion must begin with trust and immediately fails without it. Hence the importance of credibility. Persuasion then requires that the "message" resonate with what is of greatest importance to the given audience. Hence the imperative need for relevance as when Roosevelt (during his "fireside chats") and Churchill (during his speeches in Parliament) told their listeners what they must understand, not necessarily what they wanted to hear.
Throughout her brilliant book, Simmons rigorously examines the basic components of effective storytelling. She explains what a story is and what it can do that facts alone cannot. She suggests how to tell "a good story," in process explaining the psychology of an effective story's influence. She offers excellent advice on how to influence the unwilling, the unconcerned, and the unmotivated. Simmons also devotes an entire chapter to "Storylistening as a Tool of Influence," then in the next chapter identifies a number of storyteller Dos and Don'ts. She concludes her book with insights which have their greatest value only if considered within the context created by the previous chapters.
For whom will this book be of greatest value? Certainly to those who must regularly communicate with others and currently lack the skills to do so effectively. Also to those who are required to make a major presentation of some kind such as when attempting to persuade a supervisor to approve a significant course of action or persuading a customer to make a major purchase. In fact, there are countless other situations in which the skills which Simmons explains and the tools which she provides can also give those who master them a decisive advantage.
Keep in mind, however, that "story" is but one of several factors in communication. Long ago, John Wiley Hill (founder of Hill & Knowlton) defined public relations worthy of the name as "truth well-told." Simmons leaves absolutely no doubt whatsoever about the importance of a truthful "message" communicated by a trusted "messenger." Credibility is absolutely essential and can only be earned by a combination of trust and expertise. What I also appreciate about Simmons' approach throughout this book is the conversational tone she establishes and then sustains. There is a refreshing absence of preaching. She is convinced (and I totally agree) that each person has her or his own "story" to tell. It remains for each person to select the most appropriate style was well as the most effective tools to tell that story well. Who are you? Why are you here? What do you REALLY care about? It remains for each reader to answer questions such as these and, obviously, the answers will vary significantly. Whatever the answers may be at any given time, Simmons urges that they be celebrated... and cherished.
Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check others such as Doug Lipman's Improving Your Storytelling (he wrote the Foreword to The Story Factor), Stephen Denning's The Leader's Guide to Storytelling, and Storytelling in Organizations co-authored by John Seely Brown, Denning, Katarina Groh, and Laurence Prusak.
(From quoting Robert Morris, USA)
Target readers:
Executives, managers, government and nonprofit leaders, entrepreneurs, team leaders and MBAs.
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- Better with -
Better with
The Leader's Guide to Storytelling: Mastering the Art and Discipline of Business Narrative
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Annette Simmons is founder of Group Process Consulting, specializing in helping organizations build more collaborative behaviors for bottom-line results. A popular speaker, community activist, and author of Territorial Games and A Safe Place for Dangerous Truths, she lives in Greensboro, North Carolina, USA.
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From Publisher
A modern classic, revised and expanded: How the age-old art of storytelling can transform the way we communicate - and the way we do business. The new material for this revised edition offers an expanded case study of storytelling in action that focuses on one of Simmons’s success stories. Over one hundred stories drawn from the front lines of business and government, as well as myths, fables, and parables from around the world, illustrate how story can be used to persuade, motivate, and inspire in ways that cold facts, bullet points, and directives can’t. These stories, combined with practical storytelling techniques show anyone how to become a more effective communicator. From "who I am" to "I-know-what-you’re thinking," Simmons identifies the six stories you need to know how to tell and demonstrates how they can be applied. This revised edition offers a guide to using storytelling in specific business circumstances, including corporate reorganizations, layoffs, and diversity issues.
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The Story Factor By Annette Simmons
Chapter 1. The Six Stories You Need to Know How to Tell
To be a person is to have a story to tell. Isak Dinesen Skip looked into the sea of suspicious stockholders and wondered what might convince them to follow his leadership. He was 35, looked 13 and was third generation rich. He could tell they assumed he would be an unholy disaster as a leader. He decided to tell them a story. "My first job was drawing the electrical engineering plans for a boat building company. The drawings had to be perfect because if the wires were not accurately placed before the fiberglass form was poured, a mistake might cost a million dollars, easy.
At 25, I already had two masters' degrees. I had been on boats all my life and frankly, I found drawing these plans a bit ...mindless. One morning I got a call at home from a $6/hour worker asking me "are you sure this is right?" I was incensed. Of course I was sure - "just pour the damn thing." When his supervisor called me an hour later and woke me up again and asked "are you sure this is right?" I had even less patience. "I said I was sure an hour ago and I'm still sure." "It was the phone call from the president of the company that finally got me out of bed and down to the site. If I had to hold these guys by the hand, so be it. I sought out the worker who had called me first. He sat looking at my plans with his head cocked to one side. With exaggerated patience I began to explain the drawing. But after a few words my voice got weaker and my head started to cock to the side as well. It seems that I had (being left-handed) transposed starboard and port so that the drawing was an exact mirror image of what it should have been. Thank God this $6/hour worker had caught my mistake before it was too late. The next day I found this box on my desk. The crew bought me a remedial pair of tennis shoes for future reference. Just in case I got mixed up again - a red left shoe for port, and a green right one for starboard. These shoes don't just help me remember port and starboard. They help me remember to listen even when I think I know what's going on." As he held up the shoebox with one red and one green shoe, there were smiles and smirks. The stockholders relaxed a bit. If this young upstart had already learned this lesson about arrogance, then he might have learned a few things about running companies, too.
Trust me people don't want more information. They are up to their eyeballs in information. They want faith - faith in you, your goals, your success, in the story you tell. It is faith that moves mountains, not facts. Facts do not give birth to faith. Faith needs a story to sustain it - a meaningful story that inspires belief in you and renews hope that your ideas, do indeed, offer what you promise. Genuine influence goes deeper than getting people to do what you want them to do. It means people pick up where you left off because they believe. Faith can overcome any obstacle, achieve any goal. Money, power, authority, political advantage, and brute force have all, at one time or another, been overcome by faith. Story is your path to creating faith. Telling a meaningful story means inspiring your listeners - co-workers, leaders, subordinates, family, or a bunch of strangers - to reach the same conclusions you have reached and decide for themselves to believe what you say and do what you want them to do. People value their own conclusions more highly than yours. They will only have faith in a story that has become real for them personally. Once people make your story, their story, you have tapped into the powerful force of faith. Future influence will require very little follow-up energy from you and may even expand as people recall and re-tell your story to others. Whether your story is told through your lifestyle or in words, the first criteria people require before they allow themselves be influenced by your story is, Can they trust you? The story above demonstrates that even a zillionaire can have trouble influencing others. If influence were simply a function of power or money, Skip would have it made. He has power and money. But there are times when being rich and powerful is actually a disadvantage. Is his story a form of manipulation? Possibly. If it were manipulation it would begin to unravel as soon as Skip stopped talking. When a manipulator isn't present to maintain his web of influence the web falls apart. Manipulation (getting people to believe a story that isn't quite true) demands constant energy to maintain the desired outcome and the ethics are bothersome. Frankly, manipulation is an inferior method of influence. There is a much more powerful source of influence available to anyone with experience as a human being - telling an authentically persuasive story. There are six types of stories that will serve you well in your efforts to influence others.
I. Who I Am Stories
II. Why I Am Here Stories
III. My Vision Story
IV. Teaching Stories
V. Values in Action Stories
VI. "I Know what you are Thinking" Stories
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Library Journal (MSL quote), USA
<2007-11-04 00:00>
In this highly readable book, business communications consultant and author Simmons (Territorial Games) pitches storytelling as the modus operandi for business success. Identifying six stories one must learn how to tell "Who Am I," "Why I Am Here," "The Vision," "Teaching," "Values in Action," and "I Know What You Are Thinking" Simmons illustrates how they can be applied under any circumstance. A successor to Dale Carnegie's classic How To Win Friends and Influence People, this work follows the format of a traditional textbook, mirroring a PowerPoint presentation with minimal text and maximum graphics, bullet-pointing, etc. Potentially useful as a communications text, this is a viable selection for public libraries looking to strengthen their business communications collection. |
Donald Mitchell (MSL quote), USA
<2007-11-04 00:00>
Having loved stories as a youngster (especially the Greek myths as related by my mother), I lost sight of the power of stories until I became a management consultant. I realized that the sales and education process both relied on simple, powerful stories rather than rational evidence. I again forgot about stories until I heard Howard Gardner talking about their primary significance for leaders. I then made a point to write all of my books by using as many complex, nuanced and persuasive stories as possible. Many people have praised me as a natural story teller, so I thought was done with the subject. Then, just last month, I heard Steve Denning talk about his experience in using stories to launch knowledge management at the World Bank. Oops! Here were new story ideas for me.
I ordered Denning's excellent book, The Leader's Guide to Storytelling . . . and decided to check out Amazon.com to see who else had written highly rated books on the subject. Annette Simmons' The Story Factor jumped out at me. When I examined both books, I realized that The Story Factor should be read first. It provides the overview that we all need on this subject as speakers and writers.
Ms. Simmons begins by describing six archetypal stories that we need to know how to tell: Who I Am; Why I Am Here; Vision; Teaching; Values-in-Action; and I Know What You're Thinking.
I was impressed to see these categories in print. As a consultant, I have been coaching leaders for over 30 years on how to fill in their repertoire of stories from categories that they usually ignore (especially, I Know What You're Thinking).
Having laid out that agenda, the rest of the chapters focus on "what" and "how to" elements:
What Is Story?
What Story Can Do that Facts Can't
How to Tell a Good Story
The Psychology of Story's Influence
Sound Bite or Epic?
Influencing the Unwilling, Unconcerned, or Unmotivated
Storylistening as a Tool of Influence
Storyteller Dos and Don'ts
The Life of a Storyteller
The book also contains a valuable bibliography that is worth the price of this volume.
Having read this book, I think I've finally gotten the point that I need to work on my stories... and not just every 15 years or so.
Give this book to those you love... and keep a copy for yourself! |
D. B. Lipman (MSL quote), USA
<2007-11-04 00:00>
This book does what any book about applied storytelling should do: it describes how to apply storytelling without compromising storytelling's artistic heart.
Annette offers the book as a way to achieve "inspiration, influence and persuasion." By the end of the book, the reader learns that the "secret" of influence is, in fact, what has drawn so many fans to the art of storytelling: stories persuade because they lead us to the common ground of mutual respect - not by giving one party a secret weapon with which to manipulate the other. In Annette's words:
"Story doesn't grab power. Story creates power.... As a storyteller you borrow a story's power to connect people to what is important and to help them make sense of their world." (Page 29).
"The Story Factor" is my favorite "storytelling in business" book. To be sure, I had the pleasure of writing the forward to it. I did so in part because Annette has been my student in storytelling as well as my mentor in my own work with businesses. But I would never write a forward to any book in which I did not believe as deeply as I believe in my own books. I receive no payment from sales of "The Story Factor."
Here are some particular things I liked about "The Story Factor":
1. The description of the "Six Stories You Need to Know How to Tell" is worth the price of the book. People want the answers to certain questions before they'll give you a chance to persuade them of anything. These six stories achieve some of your essential interpersonal goals right away, and lay the groundwork for you to achieve the others.
2. In the chapter called "What Stories Do That Facts Can't," Annette shows how your stories can de-escalate conflict, side-step traps laid for you, avoid the "because I said so" kind of arguments, broaden a discussion by grounding it in a wider reality, etc.
3. One of Annette's chapters takes up one of my least favorite questions: "How do I tell a good story?" Why do I dread being asked that question? Because it seems to pre-suppose that there is a recipe for telling stories that works in all situations. In her characteristic Aikido-like way, however, Annette directs her readers to follow solid, easy-to-use advice that doesn't lock them into a limited formula. She briefly and convincingly outlines nine key points to keep in mind - that will nearly guarantee good telling.
4. Annette's tone hits that "sweet spot" between the hype of so many pop business books, on the one hand, and the dense, soggy prose that deadens so many academic-type books on communication, business strategies, etc., on the other. She speaks to her reader with conversational ease - but without "selling" or oversimplifying.
5. Annette's book is filled with memorable, well-told stories. Some are brief enough to throw into a conversation; others could be the keystone of a speech. The story about the red and green shoes is now part of my permanent mental landscape, as are the burning piano and the silent door-to-door salesman. With few exceptions, Annette integrates the stories into her chapters, rather than separating them into self-contained boxes. She never says why; I'll bet, though, that it's because she believes that stories persuade best when they aren't self-consciously introduced as "stories," but when they flow out of your very being, your attitude toward your listeners, and your commitment to your message.
If you care at all about using storytelling in an organization, for persuasion, or to get across a personal message, you'd be foolish to pass up this book. Beginners in the use of story will be well guided; experts will find great new stories to tell as well as a clear, systematic exposition of how story works in practice - and, underlying it all, a refreshing, inspiring perspective about how humans actually persuade each other. This book is not only about influence; it has already become highly influential. Miss it at you own risk! |
Rolf Dobelli (MSL quote), Switzerland
<2007-11-05 00:00>
Annette Simmons is thoroughly convincing in her assertion that the best way to influence and inspire others is to tell stories. Unfortunately, she is a bit heavy-handed on the "why" of storytelling, which she explains in depth in every chapter, and a shade light regarding "how" to accomplish her lofty goals. Simmons explains that telling people an engaging story is far more persuasive than reciting facts and figures, or showing a PowerPoint presentation. To illustrate her position, Simmons uses good stories and parables as examples. She describes the six categories of stories you can use to connect with and influence people, and she offers suggestions on how to become a prolific, entertaining storyteller. This is not a typical "how-to" book with lists of things to do, but it is instructive and useful. We recommend it to anyone who is interested in the art of persuasion or who loves a good yarn. |
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