Stories instead of Power Point
If you tell authentic stories in the right place at the right time, you can do without sophisticated PowerPoint presentations. Even the important "hard facts" can be easily packaged in stories and told effectively.
I brought back earrings as a souvenir from my stay in San Francisco in the summer of 1993. And the memory of Carol's opening speech. At the time, Carol was head of one of the world's largest software companies. She shot across the stage and explained her vision: her company would grow together with dealers, external developers, users, the press and many others to form a virtual family.
She spoke at length, but not boringly, and her language was so rich in images that I can no longer remember whether she used PowerPoint, slides or transparencies. So that was the way to talk about business! How did she do it? I later learned about the "inner canvas technique". This involves mentally dividing the story you want to tell into scenes and imagining one scene after the other as a picture. Now all you have to do is describe what you see in the picture - and you're done.
Storytelling in companies
The fact that I still remember what Carol told me 18 years later is probably because she packaged her message in a story: The story of the software company as a lonely hero who no longer wanted to be alone and therefore set out to find friends. In other words, a classic hero's journey. And we see: Storytelling was already having an impact in commercial enterprises before the term was on everyone's lips. And with lasting effect!If you combine the hero's journey and inner canvas technique correctly, storytelling can be used for more than just marketing. It works when it comes to introducing yourself or the company and gaining trust. It helps to motivate employees to make changes or to improve collaboration. And it allows you to gather and pass on experiences beyond numbers and data.
The inner canvas technique, the structure of the hero's journey and the basic tools to find good stories and tell them well can be learned. The effort involved is manageable, the results are impressive and the first step is very easy. And, yes of course, I still like wearing the earrings today.
