I’d love to hear what you think about this podcast. I share a story of an early experience of sexual harassment and the ways I’ve rewritten and replaced shame stories that left me frozen so I learned how to stay present and protected when it happened again. Today I genuinely feel like I can call out bad behavior without getting triggered so badly I fold like a cheap tent (or flip out). My friend Dr. Perry Mandanis is a psychiatrist, consultant, musician, artist, and brilliant therapist who shares true stories on his podcast that speak to the universal aspects of living a resilient life. You are going to love him as much as I do. He has SO many great stories to tell.
A “Good” Bad Girl – What Ameera is doing right!
Ameera Chowdhury tells a great story that reveals there is more to her than her good girl, unassuming appearance might indicate. [Read more…]
Episode #14 – Secrets from the MOTH!
Lea Thau was creative director of TheMoth.org for a decade (2001-2010), developing the format and process that has become one of the most popular storytelling organizations in the world. From the beginning, Lea favored the idea of sticking to true stories told in the first person – a critical decision that created what we know as “the Moth format.” If you haven’t subscribed to the Moth podcast do it now. You will become a better storyteller simply by listening to the craft, detail and structure embedded in these wonderful stories.
Lea now has her own show called Strangers on KCRW – a podcast I also highly recommend. [Read more…]
Episode #9 – Jane Praeger: The Role of Personal Stories at Work
Episode 009 Personal Storytelling in Business
Jane thinks there is definately a role for personal storytelling in business. The best application is when you can turn a case study into a case story by making it more personal…making it about the people. She teaches this with a NASA case story that you can request by contacting Jane on her website www.ovicinc.com.
Listen as she describes a Jetta car commercial as an example of the element of surprise in good storytelling technique.
Jane says the biggest obstacle convincing business people that stories work is the idea that taking the risk of sharing a piece of yourself will pay off instead of making you regret being vulnerable. The goal is to get comfortable with sharing something you might not be comfortable sharing. Revealing imperfection is a fast track to trust. No one is perfect so it isn’t as big of a risk as you might first assume.
We discuss various ways to pull a story out of others and ways to handle stage fright.
Jane says the best part about teaching business people how to use stories is when someone goes from “paper to people” and starts telling their stories without notes. She loves it when a client realized that not only is storytelling better, but it is easier as well.
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Feed link: http://archive.org/download/StoryfactorPodcast009/StoryfactorPodcast009.mp3
Episode #8 – Jane Praeger: Story and Suspense for Business Presentations
Using Personal Stories and Adding Suspense to your Storytelling
Jane Praeger’s thirteen years of documentary filmmaking helps her coach executives and improve their presentations. She says,
“I realized I could bring all I learned about narrative, theme, characters…to the business world… where it was missing.”
Initially Jane delivered media training. One day a client complained, “Everyone falls asleep when I speak.” He sent Jane a video but “he didn’t seem too bad.” Only after she read his speech did she understand the problem.
The content of his speech was painfully boring. He didn’t need presentation skills – he needed better content!
Rather than go into media training mode and film him speaking she spent the entire session helping this man rework his content, his thesis, and his point of view. Most importantly they added stories and made it suspenseful. She said they never got around to using the camera but told him “go try this out and call me in three weeks and we will do some camera work.” After he didn’t call she checked in. He told her “I don’t need media training anymore! Everyone is awake and I even get applause now!” Media training was targets delivery and performance but most of the time it is a content problem.
The best part for me is how Jane explains using suspense and surprise makes stories exciting. Here is a clip from the end of one of Jane’s documentaries. Heart stopping, suspenseful, and packs a punch. Have a look:
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episode directly. - iTunes Subscribe to The Story Factor Podcast directly in iTunes.
- RSS Add the podcast to your RSS reader, podcast player or
manually into iTunes.
Feed link: http://ia801002.us.archive.org/26/items/StoryFactorPodcast008/StoryFactorPodcast008.mp3
EASING A STORY INTO YOUR JOB INTERVIEW
Earn your turn!
Listen first. If there is dead silence offer your story as a little gift to get things rolling. Begin with an obvious link to their particular use for your story.
“I am particularly interested in…
- how you do X…because my interest in X started one time when
- your focus on X…because I had an experience that…
- saving us some time so I thought I’d share…
If your interviewer is already talking, listen carefully, for two reasons. One, when you give your attention first, they are more inclined to match it with a return gift of attention. Second, you can repeat back in their own language their exact words and link their words to your story bridging the conversation to your story.
Getting Away with it
Listen to a politician on TV or radio – no matter what question is asked the answer turns into the story they want to tell. You can do that too. Most questions are just probes to find out what you/your answer means to them personally. I think every interviewer has a future desire to hear “thanks” or “good job” for hiring well, as well as a present need to get the right person. If your story doesn’t address their desire or need, it won’t work.
People get irritated when you waste their time. If your story feels like a waste of time or a hard sell – they have every right to be irritated. So stop talking
Enhance “Yes or No” Questions
Avoid monosyllabic answers to “Yes or No” questions. If asked a direct question: “Have you worked overseas?” and your answer is “no” – for heaven’s sake add a story that tells a more complete and informative picture: “When I was growing up we lived in Germany and Japan. On my first day of school in Japan…” Or if you are asked, “Can you travel?” A yes answer can be coupled with, “One day last year, I had a flight…”
What about people who want me to cut to the chase?
If a picture is worth a thousand words a story can be worth an hour or two of interviewing. Remember you are there to save them time/money/frustration anyway. You may as well start doing that during your interview.
When you deal with someone who operates with a sense of urgency it is best to match their pace. They have the power and it is a big risk to force a slower pace or go deeper too soon. Your stories will have to be lean and punchy. However don’t edit to “just the facts.”
Edit to deliver an emotional impact with the least words. If the emotional impact is effective, they will ask for more of your story. For example: “I prefer to lead in a collaborative manner. But I can be directive in necessary …like the time my group’s budget was cut 30% and we had one day to decide how to deal with it. I had to push to get decisions.”
That two sentence “story” should invite a “tell me more” response.
I will be interested to hear your comments and particularly interested in responding to specific issues or questions.