What Is Authentic Storytelling?

This is the hot trend in external and internal corporate communications, according to many experts,

including Harvard Business Corporate Learning. A recent article said:

“Good stories do more than create a sense of connection.

They build familiarity and trust ...

Good stories can contain multiple meanings so they’re surprisingly economical

in conveying complex ideas in graspable ways.

And stories are more engaging than a dry recitation of data points

or a discussion of abstract ideas.

Take the example of a company meeting. ...

​

“At Company A, the leader presents the financial results for the quarter.

At Company B, the leader tells a rich story about what went into the ‘win’ that put the quarter over the top. Company A employees come away from the meeting knowing they made their numbers.

Company B employees learned about an effective strategy in which

sales, marketing, and product development came together to secure a major deal.

Employees now have new knowledge, new thinking, to draw on.

They’ve been influenced. They’ve learned.”

That’s an example for internal communications,

most of what we do is for external communications,

but the concept is the same.

What’s your authentic story? Why do you do what you do? Why did you start your business? Why are you better than your competition? Besides you, who else can we interview who will add to that story?