Jane Boyd is a Partner in GeniusShared. She is also the CEO of 45 Conversations Media & Education Ltd, a Canadian education and training company based just outside of Vancouver Canada. She works with educators, business, community and government in the areas of early learning, work-life, community development and employee engagement.
Why do we tell stories?
In the olden days, stories were told around campfires to pass time and to pass on the history of our people. They were lessons wrapped in myth, meant to teach us about the ways of the world and principles that our ancestors before us once stood for. Today stories continue to be an influential medium especially through clever storytelling.
As children, we grew up listening to and eventually reading fairy tales, only to be told later by adults that these classic tales are not true. Real life is no fairy tale and that we should not believe in happily-ever-after. Neil Gaiman refutes this and has emphasized the importance of stories, even fairy tales, through this statement:
ÂFairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.Â
In his childrenÂs book, The Graveyard Book, Gaiman further reiterates the value of stories and how one story can change a personÂs life.
ÂWe who make stories know that we tell lies for a living. But they are good lies that say true things, and we owe it to our readers to build them as best we can. Because somewhere out there is someone who needs that story. Someone who will grow up with a different landscape, who without that story will be a different person. And who with that story may have hope, or wisdom, or kindness, or comfort. And that is why we write.Â
Another author, Stephen King, confirms the power of stories and how they can influence lives. Writing tales that resonate with readers goes beyond fame or wealth. In On Writing, King said:
ÂWriting isn’t about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end it’s about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life as well.Â
Stories allow us a brief respite from the daily pressures of life, an escape into a place where anything and everything is possible. Though these tales may revolve around fictional characters, they reflect the same struggles that we go through and inspire us to overcome these challenges just as they were able to. This is why I agree with GaimanÂs sentiment, that one story could change your life forever.
A story about a woman reconciling with a long lost father may seem ordinary to people, but to one person, it could be the catalyst that would launch him or her on a quest to find an estranged parent. That touching tale could spur you into action and hunt for that missing parent through Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn (this is more on the professional side though), a social database like Mylife.com or whatever means you could find. It could take you on a journey you never expected and discover the infinite possibilities you never considered before.
Stories are powerful things, portable magic that you can share so that others too can find the inspiration they need to defeat–both literary and real–dragons.
Following or Finding a Path 2
Leaders Choose the Stories They LiveAs we grow up, we hear stories about ourselves: how we learned to walk, how we learned to talk, how we behaved, how we treated our siblings and friends. The stories predate the ability of our brains to remember the events. So we rely on the people telling them.
In incremental ways that grow larger over time, the stories people tell and the stories we tell ourselves become the definition of the person we see in the mirror. And when we’re in doubt about who that is, we’ve learned to look outside — to the stories — to describe the person we are inside. … if we just listen, pay attention long enough, the people and the stories will tell us who we are and why we’re here.
How many stories in your head are told from someone else’s point of view?
How many stories in your head are told by a weaker, smaller, less experienced version of you?
How many stories in your head are untrue?
Leaders live up to their best truth.
Leaders choose which stories we live.
Leadership is taking responsibility for who we are now and who we will be. If we want to know our uniqueness and own it, we have to evaluate the stories we’ve been living and believing to decide what we know is true. We need to think deeply on the stories we’ve been telling about ourselves.
Leaders know their uniqueness and own it. We don’t need to invent a new tale. We need to recognize the true story of who we are as the leader we’ve decided to be.
Our cells are genetically programmed to do some things better than others. Our brain needs to pay attention to what our cells know. We can see the answers throughout our history and in our experience. Here’s how to do that …
Reflect on the stories you tell about yourself and decide which are those that truthfully represent the best value and values in you. Decide which stories truly define you and which ones can be left behind as now meaningless. Claim the true story that is your uniqueness, your skills and your abilities, your image, your traits, and your potential.
When you do that, you’ll take command of who you are now. That’s when you’ll begin to see your fit and purpose — how you individually meet a need or solve a problem in a way that no other person can. You’ll attract people who share those values. You’ll find it easier to talk about what you do, because you’ll know that your life stands a proof.
You’re the only one qualified to identify your true story — you are the person who has been living it every minute of it. Take the idea seriously. Listen to what you know about yourself.
What is the best true story you could tell about you?
Be irresistible.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
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