Businesspeople tend to associate storytelling with fiction.
Yet, the same elements that make a book such as “Moby Dick” a compelling read — good versus evil, care for the characters, humor, etc. — have a place in the business world. Whether it’s a potential customer evaluating your product or a journalist probing your latest news, communicating information in a more entertaining fashion increases your likeability quotient.
And customers, journalists, job candidates and even gadflies gravitate toward companies they like.
Unfortunately, this concept around storytelling is counterintuitive to many business executives, particularly those coming from engineering orientations where science rules the day. I’m not suggesting you need to lose an appendage to a large mammal before anyone will notice you but the ability to build some drama in business communications is a means to capture attention.
That’s the idea behind this blog: To look at the art of storytelling through a business prism.
No doubt, most blog postings will draw from the media world — defining media as any from journalists to an individual with a virtual soapbox since the words are right there in the public domain to scrutinize. But this blog will strive to tackle the bigger challenge of communicating to the outside world in a more entertaining fashion.
Comments
Melissa Burns
Welcome to the blogging world Lou, great to have you! I look forward to reading your posts as they are sure to be both insightful and entertaining.
Lou Hoffman
Melissa, thanks for dropping by the “neighborhood.” I know you’re an old hand at this with the Mobility PR blog at http://www.mobilitypr.com/blog. It’s somewhat daunting to think consist posting requires 70 – 100 original thoughts over the course of a year.
Mom
Well, I’m looking forward to the up to date Blog. I read this statement- today 9-16-08
“He who talks by the yard, and thinks by the inch; should be kicked by the foot.