Jens Tholstrup is Executive Chairman of Oxford Innovation Finance and Senior Adviser, PMB Capital. He is Chair of Governors of St Clare’s, Director of Advanced Oxford and a Visiting Fellow of Kellogg College, Oxford
We are often reminded that our brains are wired for stories. This makes storytelling the bedrock of successful communication. In this book, A Story is a Deal, Will Storr underscores this understanding but he goes much further in describing the elements of storytelling that make for particularly effective communication. He emphasises the importance of creating stories that the audience identifies with: “…identification is the persuaders most powerful tool”. Identification is about telling a story which the listeners can see something of themselves- which Storr describes as “…telling stories of people-like-us”.
He emphasises the importance of creating stories that the audience identifies with…
A Story is a Deal should be read by anyone who needs to persuade people- and in reality that is most of us. We need to persuade in order to sell, to manage, to invest, or to gain support. In my professional life, I work with early stage businesses looking to raise external capital. They are typically innovative technology businesses and often they have little more that an idea, a team and a plan. These companies are competing for investment from high net worth investors, and persuading such investors to invest (who are mostly seeing many other similar offerings) requires a compelling and engaging story. There is, however, a salutary lesson in Storr’s book, that a good story should also be an honest and accurate one; in the introduction we are reminded of the infamous case of how Elizabeth Holmes managed to raise over $1bn from investors for her blood testing technology business, Theranos, that turned out to be worth nothing.
It is also a book that will appeal to business leaders. At Storr tells us: “Great leaders are also great storytellers”. A key element in leadership is persuading colleagues to follow and to support the cause and values that their organization represents. Motivation involves identifying with colleagues, employees and customers, but also giving individual status. Storr points out that our need for individual status is innate. He emphasizes the relatively weak association between job satisfaction and pay; “cash alone is not enough to motivate most humans” – offering employees status makes them feel connected to the organization and this can provide a much more engaged and productive work-force.
The book provides a rich array of examples of effective (and in some cases ineffective) storytelling and communication. Storr shares examples from advertising, politics and business of stories or in some cases slogans or aphorisms that had real impact. He quotes the Brexiteer’s slogan ‘take back control’ as a significant factor in the Brexit campaign’s success (a reminder as in the case of Theranos, not all good stories have good outcomes).
There is, however, a salutary lesson in Storr’s book, that a good story should also be an honest and accurate one…
He reminds us that to be ‘maximally persuasive, it is best to obey the law of simplicity’ and that ‘being overly complex doesn’t make us sound smart, it makes us sound low status’, and ‘avoid jargon’. This is good advice but surprisingly often ignored or overlooked. And although simplicity is important, the language used should also be ‘concrete, specific and sensory’. Storr shares Bill Gates’ stated aim of putting ‘a computer on every desk in every home’ as an example of such use of language.
To echo the book’s strapline, I would urge anyone who needs to lead, motivate and persuade to read A Story is a Deal and put into practice many of the learnings that Storr provides in this practical and compelling book. But bear in the mind that authenticity and truth always trumps all other aspects of storytelling at least when you are trying to persuade investors to back your venture.
Featured Book: Will Storr,
Profile picture, Venturefest 2021, 25/11/2021, by Ed Nix
Featured Photo by Mostafa Saeed on Unsplash
