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Writer's pictureMarcy Williams

Storytelling: More Than Just Entertainment

By: An-Vu Phan - VCU Student

To Inspire

A story is made up of two halves. The first is a well fleshed out and compelling story. The second is passion, a component that makes a story so powerful and persuasive. Without passion, the speaker would be hard pressed in inspiring an audience. In an Harvard Business Review interview with Robert McKee, there are two ways to persuade people. The first is through conventional rhetoric where the audience can be persuaded by reason but not truly inspired. The second way combines the facts with emotion. By interweaving information with feeling, the audience will not only persuaded but also inspired to act.


To Motivate

In a workplace, a story can be the most powerful tool that a leader can have. It can reach out to people in ways that no other form of communication can. Storytelling can help employers motivate employees by forming a connection with them (Dooley, 2018). By personalizing a story that can relate to the target audience, a manager can motivate their subordinates to commit to any tasks.


To Instruct

Besides inspiring and motivating, a story can also be instructive as well. By definition, storytelling and instructing are two different verbs but contrary to that, these verbs share a connection. The connection is that both deliver a message. While simply instructing directly delivers the message, storytelling can indirectly deliver it in a more personable and relatable fashion. It can be a reason as to why one is instructed to do something (Baldoni, 2011). However, one thing to note is that while telling a story, it is important to stay true to your message. This is because it is very easy to go off on tangents which brings the risk of the message being lost to the audience. It is through being consistent with storytelling that the message can be conveyed.


All in all, it can be seen that storytelling can do more than just entertain. Though storytelling may seem like something that is just exclusive to leaders, it is an ability that can be used by anybody as long as the objective is to go further than just entertaining. The inspirational, motivating, and instructive stories that you tell will not only just leave an impression but also make an impact on people’s lives.


Baldoni, J. (2011, March 24). Using Stories to Persuade. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2011/03/using-stories-as-a-tool-of-per

Dooley, K. (2018, April 10). How to stories to captivate, convince and inspire customers. Retrieved fromhttp://www.customerexperienceinsight.com/how-to-use-stories-to-captivate-convince-and-inspire-customers/

Fryer, B. (2003, June). Storytelling That Move People. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2003/06/storytelling-that-moves-people

Schwabel, D. (2012, August 13). How to use Storytelling as a Leadership tool. Retrieved fromhttps://www.forbes.com/sites/danschawbel/2012/08/13/how-to-use-storytelling-as-a-leadership-tool/#dc43ff45e8e8

The power to persuade – The magic of Story. Retrieved from http://www.storytelling-in-business.com/keynotes-training/power-to-persuade/

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