Over 120 thousand people on LinkedIn carry ‘Story Teller’ in their title. Stories are great way to grab audience attention and to convey messages.
Starting in a garage and making it to a billionaire is such a familiar story. You have seen a not so great product/solution packaged in a great story. Fluffy insights can look shiny under the cover of an interesting story.
Stories can also create stereotypes, paint incorrect pictures. I have seen vocal and influential people creating and damaging reputation of people/teams/companies by making anecdotal references.
While storytellers have the responsibility to build the right stories, what is the responsibility on the audience? Those who are in positions to make decisions needs be conscious to go beyond the story while making conclusions.
Great that someone has grabbed your attention, now it is time to look for what is beneath the surface. Data, facts, trends and more qualitative views before you make up your mind.
What are you? Storyteller or story buster?
