What stories do you choose to tell?
What stories you tell and how you tell them shape your brand or voice.
Learners get an impression of who you are because of the stories you choose to tell. For instance, if you’re writing about coaching you tell lots of stories about winning and you choose to include metaphors about sports successes, then you give your learners the impression you’re competitive.
What?
If instead you’re writing about coaching and tell stories of overcoming adversity and you choose to include metaphors about caring for aging parents and raising your children, you’ll make an impression as a compassionate person.
So, what you choose to write about has a big impact on how you or your brand is perceived; it helps define your voice as a storyteller.
But your brand or voice is not just shaped by what you write about; it’s also shaped by how you tell your stories. What details do you choose to make your story more vivid? And which words do you use?
Example: Voice in storytelling
Below follows a story from an article “How to Manage Your Emotions Without Fighting Them” by Susan David and published In the Harvard Business Review: How to Manage Your Emotions Without Fighting Them (hbr.org)
Consider the example of Mikhail, who found himself in a perpetual cycle of stress because of the never-ending onslaught of tasks at work.
As he more precisely defined his emotions, he realised what he was feeling wasn’t just stress: he felt a more general dissatisfaction with his work, disappointment in some of his career choices, and anxiety about what the future held for him. Once Mikhail recognised and accepted these emotions, he was able to see what they were signaling to him: he had started to question whether he was on the right career path.
The tone of this story suits the Harvard Business Review. It feels rather academic because there’s not much detail. We don’t know what job Mikhail does. More importantly, we can’t picture him at work. We don’t know how his stress manifests itself.
If you’d ask me to write a story about Mikhail in a Modlette, I would write it differently. I’d make the story more specific, and I’d choose different words.
For instance:
It’s just after 8pm and Mikhail marks one more item on his to do list as completed.
‘Shall he go home?’ He wonders. Tomorrow will be stressful, and he hasn’t prepared for his 9 am meeting yet. ‘Bugger it’, he thinks. He doesn’t want to raid his colleague’s biscuit tin again. He wants a proper meal, and he wants to relax. The day has been long enough.
On his drive home, Mikhail considers his situation. Why does he feel so frustrated? Is it just stress? Or is there something else? Mikhail is proud he’s been promoted to Sales Manager, but if he’s honest with himself, he doesn’t really like managing people; it drains his energy. What he likes is the contact with Customers. Making sales makes him feel alive.
For the first time, Mikhail realises he might be on the wrong career path. Is it time for a change?
There are numerous ways to tell Mikhail’s story. If you’d write it, you’d write it differently. Which situation would you sketch of a stressed-out Mikhail?
Maybe you picture Mikhail working late at night preparing for interviews with new recruits. Or maybe you imagine him getting home and fighting with his wife as the stress from work spills over.