Lead with a Story: Keep it Real; Stylistic Elements

Annie's Reading Room

Hi Everyone!

Sorry for the lapse in Annie’s Reading Room. As you probably know all too well, the semester got a little crazy there!

So to recap, the last post reviewed the importance of stories, how to envision success, and went over the basic structure of the story.

The next seven chapters fall under the heading of Create an Environment for Winning, with stories that specifically touch on:

●     Defining the culture

●     Establishing values

●     Encouraging collaboration and building relationships

●     Valuing diversity and inclusion

●     Setting policy without rules

Keep it Real; Stylistic Elements

And the final two chapters are about Keeping it Real and Stylistic Elements. Let’s break down those last two chapters.

Keep it Real

Concrete ideas are more memorable than abstract ones. Take your abstract idea and explain it with a concrete story about a single example. Storytelling is an inherently concrete activity.

For example, many consumer product goods companies have had success by turning a profile of their target customer into an actual person with a name and biography.

Avoid technical jargon your audience might not understand.

Make the facts, numbers or events relevant to your audience -- something they can relate to in their everyday lives.

Be brutally open and honest about difficult subjects. Avoid waffling or weasel words typical of corporate management speak today.

Stylistic elements

Great beginnings. Start your stories with one of the following three devices:

A surprise, a mystery or a challenge -- introduce a relatable character facing a difficult challenge.

Writing style. Write the way you speak:

●     Use short sentences (15 to 17 words)

●     Use small words (15 percent fewer words over two syllables)

●     Use active voice (15 percent or fewer passive voice sentences)

●     Get to the verb quickly (place the verb at at the beginning of the sentences)

●     Omit needless words. Most stories should be 250 to 750 words, or two to four minutes when told orally.

●     Find the automatic spell-check setting in your email and word-processing programs. Turn them on and leave them on.

●     Find the grammar checker in your word-processing software. Use it on every document before you publish it.

●     Set the grammar checker to automatically run the readability scores. In Microsoft Word, click on the pull-down menu Tools, then click on Spelling the Grammar tab, then the Options button. Check the boxes in front of both the “Check grammar with spelling” line and the “Show readability statistics” line.

●     Target a reading grade level of 8 to 10. If your document is higher that that, rewrite it and check it again.

Literary devices. Include dialogue, use real names of characters, repeat words or phrases, don’t announce or apologize in advance of the story -- just tell it.