Storytelling : Why being called a Great Storyteller is not our goal..

Business Storytelling and where the focus should be

I give talks on Storytelling regularly and sometimes I am introduced as a Master Storyteller. I often grind my teeth when I hear that because if I am called a Master Storyteller, then I have actually failed as a Business Storyteller.

What am I going on about?

The idea here is that unlike in Performance Arts Storytelling where we are really trying to draw attention towards the performer and performance, in business storytelling the attention should be on the message not on the person telling it.

Paul Smith explains this wonderfully in his book Sell with a Story .

If you go to Storytelling Festival you watch Storytelling Professionals performing marvellously on the Stage. Almost certainly a good performance will get a compliment " Wow, what a great storyteller she was !"

But the same compliment in Business Setting doesn't work. If your audience are so engaged in your performance most likely they are not engaged in your message or the point you are trying to make.

In essence, even though it feels great to get compliments... perhaps not this one.

OurStorytelling Workshopsare not about making you a great performer but making you a great communicator whose messages lead to desired action.