Let’s discuss the importance of storytelling.

Have you noticed how you are drawn to someone when they tell a good real-life story? You are all ears and smiles and can’t wait to hear more exciting experiences and stories from them.

Or how people around you are so attentive when you share a story about your own life? 

How about that time when you were skydiving in Hawaii on a beautiful sunny day. You are overlooking the vast green mountains and blue oceans and you got so lost in that moment, that you did not notice that you are about to crash on a great white shark right beneath you. Wow, how could you not have seen that? But luckily all went well and you just got a sprained ankle. 

Or at least that is a story that you tell when somebody asks you how you got a sprained ankle. 

What is more exciting? The great white shark story or the fact that you sprained your ankle going down the stairs. Boooooring!  

Stories have a way of transporting us away from our realities, and our mind opens up to new experiences and perceptions of other people and how they think and feel. 

But stories are not only important in our real life to make things more exciting and interesting. 

They are becoming more and more important in the way we run our business and the way we are engaging and connecting with our audience. How do they feel about us? Do they see us like an exciting great white shark, or as a boring ankle sprain? 

If we want to be a great white shark in our business, then we must understand what is the true power of storytelling and how we can attract, retain and engage our audience so they keep coming back and tell our amazing great white shark story to others. 

Do I still have your attention or am I like a boring ankle sprain? Well, stay with me here.

A great idea is to use a story template called “The hero’s journey”. The hero’s journey shows us that an ordinary person can overcome great obstacles and defeat their enemies or fears and it demonstrates that change is possible for everyone. 

One of the things that attract an audience when they come across a narrative of the hero’s journey is that they identify with the character and absorb the story as if they were the main character in that story. That is the power of storytelling.

The hero’s journey is a 12-step circular journey that consists of: 

1.The First Step In The Power Of Storytelling:Ordinary World

This is the first step of importance of storytelling. It is where the Hero’s exists before his present story begins, oblivious of the adventures to come. It’s his safe place. His everyday life where we learn crucial details about our Hero. it is his true nature, his capabilities, and outlook on life. This anchors the Hero as a human, just like you and me. It makes it easier for us to identify with him and hence later, empathize with his plight.

2.Call To Adventure

This is an important step to the power of storytelling.The Hero’s adventure begins when he receives a call to action. That could be a direct threat to his safety, his family or his way of life. Even to the peace of the community in which he lives. It may not be as dramatic as a gunshot, but simply a phone call or conversation but whatever the call is, and however it manifests itself, it ultimately disrupts the comfort of the Hero’s Ordinary World and presents a challenge or quest that must be undertaken.

3.The Third Step In The Power Of Storytelling: Refusal Of The Call

The thirs step in Storytelling is the refusal of call. Although the Hero may be eager to accept the quest, at this stage he will have fears that need overcoming. Second thoughts or even deep personal doubts as to whether or not he is up to the challenge. When this happens, the Hero will refuse the call and as a result, may suffer somehow. The problem he faces may seem too much to handle and the comfort of a home far more attractive than the perilous road ahead. This would also be our response and once again helps us bond further with the reluctant Hero.

4.The Fourth StepIn The Power Of Storytelling: Meeting The Mentor

At this crucial turning point where the Hero desperately needs guidance. This is where he meets a mentor figure who gives him something he needs. He could be given an object of great importance or insight into the dilemma he faces. It could even be wise advice, practical training, or even self-confidence. Whatever the mentor provides the Hero with it serves to dispel his doubts and fears and give him the strength and courage to begin his quest.

5.Crossing The Threshold

This is where Storytelling gets tricky. The Hero is now ready to act upon his call to adventure and truly begin his quest, whether it be physical, spiritual, or emotional. He may go willingly or he may be pushed.But either way, he finally crosses the threshold between the world he is familiar. With and that which he is not. It may be leaving home for the first time in his life or just doing something he has always been scared to do. However the threshold presents itself. It is this action which signifies the Hero’s commitment to his journey and whatever it may have in store for him.

6.Tests, Allies, Enemies

Now finally out of his comfort zone, the Hero is confronted with an ever more difficult series of challenges that test him in a variety of ways. Obstacles are thrown across his path; whether they be physical hurdles or people bent on thwarting his progress, the Hero must overcome each challenge he is presented with on the journey towards his ultimate goal.

The Hero needs to find out who can be trusted and who can’t. He may earn allies and meet enemies who will, each in their own way, help prepare him for the greater ordeals yet to come. This is the stage where his skills and/or powers are tested and every obstacle that he faces helps us gain a deeper insight into his character and ultimately identify with him even more.

7.Approach To The Inmost Cave

The inmost cave may represent many things in the Hero’s story such as an actual location in which lies a terrible danger or an inner conflict that up until now the Hero has not had to face. As the Hero approaches the cave he must make final preparations before taking that final leap into the great unknown.

At the threshold to the inmost cave, the Hero may once again face some of the doubts and fears that first surfaced upon his call to adventure. He may need some time to reflect upon his journey and the treacherous road ahead to find the courage to continue. This brief respite helps the audience understand the magnitude of the ordeal that awaits the Hero and escalates the tension in anticipation of his ultimate test.

8.Ordeal

The Supreme Ordeal may be a dangerous physical test or a deep inner crisis. This is something the Hero must face to survive or for the world in which the Hero lives to continue to exist. Whether it be facing his greatest fear or most deadly foe, the Hero must draw upon all of his skills and his experiences gathered upon the path to the inmost cave to overcome his most difficult challenge.

Only through some form of “death” can the Hero be reborn. Where he can be experiencing a metaphorical resurrection that somehow grants him greater power or insight necessary to fulfill his destiny or reach his journey’s end. This is the high-point of the Hero’s story and where everything he holds dear is put on the line. If he fails, he will either die or life as he knows it will never be the same again.

9.Reward (Seizing The Sword)

This has a major impact to the power of storytelling. After defeating the enemy, surviving death, and finally overcoming his greatest personal challenge, the Hero is ultimately transformed into a new state, emerging from battle as a stronger person and often with a prize.

The Reward may come in many forms: an object of great importance or power, a secret, greater knowledge or insight, or even reconciliation with a loved one or ally. Whatever the treasure, which may well facilitate his return to the Ordinary World, the Hero must quickly put celebrations aside and prepare for the last leg of his journey.

10.The Road Back

This stage in the Hero’s journey represents a reverse echo of the Call to Adventure in which the Hero had to cross the first threshold. Now he must return home with his reward but this time the anticipation of danger is replaced with that of acclaim and perhaps vindication, absolution, or even exoneration.

But the Hero’s journey is not yet over and he may still need one last push back into the Ordinary World. The moment before the Hero finally commits to the last stage of his journey may be a moment in which he must choose between his own personal objective and that of a Higher Cause.

11.Resurrection

The second to last step in the importance of storytelling.This is the climax in which the Hero must have his final and most dangerous encounter with death. The final battle also represents something far greater than the Hero’s own existence with its outcome having far-reaching consequences to his Ordinary World and the lives of those he left behind.

If he fails, others will suffer and this not only places more weight upon his shoulders but in a movie, grips the audience so that they too feel part of the conflict and share the Hero’s hopes, fears, and trepidation. Ultimately the Hero will succeed, destroy his enemy, and emerge from battle cleansed and reborn.

12.The Last Step In The Power Of Storytelling: Return With The Elixir

This is the last step in the importance of storytelling.This is the final stage of the Hero’s journey in which he returns home to his Ordinary World a changed man. He will have grown as a person, learned many things, faced many terrible dangers and even death but now looks forward to the start of a new life. His return may bring fresh hope to those he left behind, a direct solution to their problems, or perhaps a new perspective for everyone to consider.

The final reward that he obtains may be literal or metaphoric. It could be a cause for celebration, self-realization, or an end to strife, but whatever it is it represents three things: change, success, and proof of his journey. The return home also signals the need for resolution for the story’s other key players. The Hero’s doubters will be ostracized, his enemies punished and his allies rewarded. Ultimately the Hero will return to where he started but things will never be the same again.

Now, do you believe the importance of storytelling?

Do you think that it is the most powerful tool to leverage your business idea?

People want someone to cheer for. Give them a brand hero. Use “The Power Of Storytelling”.

I would love to hear how you are going to add storytelling to your business.