Why Leadership = Storytelling

Why Leadership = Storytelling
Why Leadership = Storytelling

Parent Post

Bill Gurley

The great storytellers have an unfair competitive advantage. They are going to recruit better, they will be darlings in the press, they are going to raise money more easily and at higher prices…

One of the best

One of the best examples is Elon Musk and his keynote for Tesla Powerwall — the division of his company that sells batteries. He is a leader who achieves anything by telling a great, credible story. 

His stage presence is sub-par. He’s nervous and fidgety. But by the end of Musk’s talk, his audience cheers. 

Why leaders need to

Why leaders need to be vulnerable to be effective at storytelling?

Why do we like the characters we encounter in movies and TV shows? 

It boils down to two things: 

  • We see them struggle.
  • We see them care about others. 

By sharing relevant stories about their struggles and how they’ve helped others, leaders offer evidence that we can trust them to lead us to the Promised Land of which they speak.

Storytelling is a must-have

Storytelling is a must-have leadership skill.

Leadership is the art of inspiring others to make a story come true. Therefore, if you’re leading people, you’re telling them a story — by definition. 

Of course, your story might not be connecting as deeply as you’d like, and that’s why leaders benefit from becoming better storytellers.

Integrating storytelling into one’s

Integrating storytelling into one’s leadership style.

Storytelling isn’t a fashion accessory that leaders can decide to wear or not.

Leadership is storytelling, and leaders are storytellers. A lot goes into building an effective strategic narrative and aligning everyone around it.

Always start by asking these five questions:

  • Whose lives, primarily, are you out to change?
  • What’s at stake (for them) if you succeed or fail?
  • What does the Promised Land look like?
  • What are the obstacles to reaching the Promised Land, and how will you help overcome them?
  • What evidence can you offer that you can really make the story come true?

Leadership stories are different

Leadership stories are different from the stories we tell around the campfire or in movies.

The biggest difference is that “happily ever after” doesn’t happen often. The core leadership story is a pitch: ‘Come with me to the Promised Land. 

In strategic messaging and positioning engagements with CEOs and storytelling workshops for teams, start by familiarizing leaders with the structure of fairy tales and movies because that same structure underlies all narratives that connect on an emotional level — be they leadership stories or ghost stories.

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