Someone once made a comment about me, part admiringly, part sarcastically. He said, “Ravi can tell a great story.” The implied subtext in it was that the telling of stories is nice but just a form of a con. Not really honest in a truly ennobling way, but really good to marvel at or indulge your afternoon away.
I am calling that out as the greatest lie that could ever be
foisted upon humanity and this is why. The ability to tell impactful stories is
the single greatest determinant to success in any field. Let me explain.
Before you open your mouth to speak the first sentence of
your story or before you write the first line in a proposal, you have to know
how to connect with the person you want to tell it to. In every situation where
I have heard someone speak derisively about storytellers, when I look I
invariably find a person who is unable to perform that most basic of human
activities…. Connection.
The ability to connect begins before you speak and before
the first written word is read. In the case of a book, the work of connection
begins with the design of the cover. The choice of the title. How it is
formatted. What is the imagery of the front cover. How is the back cover
designed. How is the inside jacket designed….. All of this strives to establish
connection with the reader BEFORE the first line is read. In the case of
speaking, connection begins with the manner of your gait as you walk on the
stage or into a room. Your posture, the way you stand. How you hold your head.
How you lock the listener’s gaze.
Then you speak or you write and your words consolidate that
connection and draws the listener or reader into your world.
Why is connection important. The essence of human life is
the act of connection. A person who is skilled in connection has the single
greatest ability to succeed in any task they undertake. Storytelling is
essential to connecting. Great storytelling allows for great speaking and it
emerges out of connection, it creates connection and it subsides in connection.
Experience resides in feeling and feeling resides in
connection, and connection resides within storytelling. Storytelling therefore
becomes essential to the domain of being human. It is the essence of life itself.
To be called a great storyteller is to receive the greatest honor that can be
bestowed upon a person. It is a statement that here stands a person who can
connect and make you feel life itself.
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