First a quote: ““People think that stories are shaped by people. In fact, it’s the other way around.” – Terry Pratchett,novelist
Hello and happy Monday.
While data, facts, analysis, bar charts, graphs, and PowerPoint presentations may substantiate a new change initiative or direction, logic alone rarely provides the inspiration necessary to fully engage people in a significant transformation.
Facts and figures may explain the rationale behind a major change, but data alone rarely influences how people feel—or even think about it. Logic, without an engaging story, seldom wins over the hearts and minds of those involved.
You may have read, in previous editions, my simplified definitions of management and leadership as functional processes. I propose that management , as a process, tends to focus on hands, backs, and behinds.
If I’m your manager, I might dictate where you sit and what you do with your hands and back while you’re at work. I may even measure your productivity using a variety of metrics.
Leadership , however, is about heads, hearts, and spirits—perhaps the most essential parts of what we bring to work every day as creative beings. These are attributes that cannot be managed; they must be freely given. People contribute their intellect, passion, and spirit not because they are told to, but because they want to—because they are inspired.
This is where a leader’s ability to tell stories becomes invaluable.
Stories constitute the single most powerful weapon in a leader’s arsenal.”
– Dr. Howard Gardner, Professor, Harvard University
We lead people from where they are—mentally and emotionally—not from where we are.
Let’s say you have been planning a reorganization of your function or department for weeks or even months. You’ve gathered intelligence, conducted S.W.O.T. analysis, considered both positive and negative scenarios, and finalized your plans. Now, you’re ready to launch.
You put together a PowerPoint presentation and articulate the plan, complete with compelling visuals and solid data to support your well-reasoned conclusions.
But the people you lead haven’t had the same time to process the facts, assess the situation, or understand the rationale behind the plan.
They haven’t viewed the situation through your experiences, nor have they had the benefit of your research, let alone the time to process and come to the same conclusions. It’s no surprise, then, that so many change initiatives are met with resistance and skepticism.
People will only buy into your vision of the future when their personal experiences and perspectives lead them to the same conclusions you’ve reached as a leader. And that doesn’t happen automatically.
This is where your abilities to offer compelling stories linking what people think, with what they feel, comes into play.
“Perhaps the most powerful role of stories today is to ignite and drive changes in management policy and practices.”
– Author Unknown, cited in a Booz Allen review
Learning to tell stories that connect the head with the heart is a powerful leadership skill—one that all leaders can develop and master.
And here’s the thing: we all have stories to tell !
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What stories can you use this week to help others see a brighter future?
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What stories will inspire success?
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What stories will people remember, repeat, and share?
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How can you link heads with hearts in more compelling ways?
Start collecting your own set of leadership stories, reinforce them with supporting facts, and begin bridging the gap between logic and emotion.
Do you want to see progress in your change initiatives and transitions? Do you want to experience increasing levels of leadership experience? This might be a good place to begin.
Use facts, analysis, and logic to connect with people’s heads; use stories to connect with their hearts. That is where passion and commitment to an idea is born, and where actions begin.
Other related articles:
Bonus Quotes Below.
How will you live and lead differently—or better—this week?
Have a great week!
Bryan Yager
“Expanding Your Capacity for Success”
*** Revised and updated. First published on August 19, 2019
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Bonus Quotes:
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“Humans are not ideally set up to understand logic; they are ideally set up to understand stories.” – Roger C. Schank
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“We are all storytellers. We all live in a network of stories. There isn’t a stronger connection between people than storytelling.” – Jimmy Neil Smith**,** Director of the International Storytelling Center
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“Inside each of us is a natural-born storyteller, waiting to be released.” – Robin Moore*, author*
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“No tribal Chief or Elder has ever handed out statistical reports, charts, graphs or lists of facts to explain where the group is headed or what it must do.” – Peg Neuhauser
