By Alina Tugend – New York Times DEC. 12, 2014\u00a0<\/em>[Full Article]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n It\u2019s been called a strategic tool with \u201cirresistible power<\/a>\u201d by Harvard Business Review. And \u201cthe major business lesson of 2014<\/a>\u201d by Entrepreneur magazine<\/p>\n What exciting new 21st-century technology is this?<\/p>\n The age-old art of storytelling \u2014 something humans have done since they could first communicate. So why has it become this year\u2019s buzzword? And what is its new value?<\/p>\n In these days of tougher-than-ever job searches, competition for crowdfunding and start-ups looking to be the next Google or Facebook, it\u2019s not enough just to offer up the facts about you or your company to prospective employers or investors. Or even to your own workers.<\/p>\n You need to be compelling, unforgettable, funny and smart. Magnetic, even. You need to be able to answer the question that might be lingering in the minds of the people you\u2019re trying to persuade: What makes you so special?<\/p>\n You need to have a good story.<\/p>\n \u201cAs human beings, we know that stories work, but when we get in a business relationship, we forget this,\u201d said Keith Quesenberry, a lecturer at the\u00a0Center for Leadership Education at Johns Hopkins University.<\/a><\/p>\n Learning \u2014 or relearning \u2014 how to tell stories requires some skill. And consultants are lining up to teach it \u2014 sometimes for a hefty fee.<\/p>\n Although the power of storytelling to attract \u2014 and even manipulate \u2014 is well known, the reason for its appeal has been unclear. But it may have something to do with oxytocin, also called the love hormone.<\/p>\n Paul Zak<\/a>, a professor of economics, psychology and management at Claremont Graduate University, studies oxytocin, which is produced in the brain. Researchers\u00a0have found<\/a>\u00a0it to be plentiful in lactating women and released during orgasm. It is also thought\u00a0to bolster trust and empathy<\/a>.<\/p>\n To see the impact of storytelling on oxytocin, Professor Zak conducted a now well-known experiment. Participants had their blood drawn before and again after watching videos of character-driven stories. The result? When those watching the stories had an increase in oxytocin, they tended to help more \u2014 donating money to a charity associated with the story, for example.<\/p>\n But not every story is well told. Most of us know a compelling tale when we hear one, but \u201cit\u2019s difficult for people to articulate why they like what they like,\u201d Professor Zak said.<\/p>\n PowerPoints are the bane of storytellers, but here are a few bullet points to keep in mind when developing a good story:<\/p>\n \u25a0 Know who your audience is.<\/p>\n \u25a0 Have a beginning, middle and end. (That sounds obvious, but people often forget that.)<\/p>\n \u25a0 Use concrete details and personal experience.<\/p>\n \u25a0 Don\u2019t self-censor.<\/p>\n \u25a0 Don\u2019t try to memorize a story so it sounds rehearsed. It\u2019s not about perfection. It\u2019s about connecting.<\/p>\n It\u2019s that simple. And that complicated. You can have a multimillion-dollar movie that bombs and a brilliant five-act story in 30 seconds. After all, long before Twitter, Ernest Hemingway is said to have managed to tell a complete and heart-wrenching story in six words: \u201cFor sale: Baby shoes, never worn.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Storytelling Your Way to a Better Job or\u00a0a Stronger Start-Up By Alina Tugend – New York Times DEC. 12, 2014\u00a0[Full Article] It\u2019s been called a strategic tool with \u201cirresistible power\u201d by Harvard Business Review. And \u201cthe major business lesson of 2014\u201d by Entrepreneur magazine What exciting new 21st-century technology is this? The age-old art […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mckeestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mckeestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mckeestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mckeestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mckeestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mckeestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7669\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mckeestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mckeestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mckeestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}