Karen Eber is the author of the new book The Perfect Story: How To Tell Stories That Inform, Influence, and Inspire. She is the CEO and Chief Storyteller of the Eber Leadership Group.
Q: You begin The Perfect Story by describing a story about your eyes. Can you say more about that, and about what it told you about the power of storytelling?
A: I have different colored eyes. I love them, but other people often don’t have the same response. After getting grilled incessantly about them, I told a story that they turned different colors after I ate crayons.
The first time I told the story, it created an energy shift. I went from feeling like I was on display as a sideshow at a circus to creating a moment of laughter and connection.
Stories can build rapport even in the most unnatural of settings. And at their core, they help us connect and learn more about one another.
Q: What do you see as the elements of a good story?
A: Great stories have characters, conflict, connection, and structure.
We can understand the characters and why they make the choices they do…even if we don’t agree.
There is a conflict that has to be resolved – either between characters, events, or with a character and their own values.
Connection is created as our senses and emotions are engaged. We can feel like we are in the story beside the characters, sharing their experiences.
Putting all of that into a solid structure makes it not only easy for the storyteller to share but also for the audience to follow along.
Q: What role does storytelling play in the world of business?
A: It’s so critical in helping share ideas, expand thinking, persuade, and even motivate. Stories bring meaning to data. They introduce perspective. Teams learn from stories.
They are a more dynamic way to communicate and are an underutilized tool – from the C-suite down to the average employee. They will reinforce what is encouraged or discouraged on a team and help employees grow.
Q: What do you hope readers take away from the book?
A: Storytelling is a skill you can and should learn. In The Perfect Story, I want people to learn more about what is happening in their brains when they listen to stories. And more importantly, what to do with that in your stories.
I use science to teach people how to hack the art of storytelling. If you’re new to storytelling, I teach you how to follow the steps and work the process.
It is a comprehensive guide to building a toolkit of ideas, tailoring them for your audience, building a story structure that is engaging and immersive, telling stories with data, using your body when telling stories, avoiding manipulating and navigating the vulnerability.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: Launching this book into the world and expanding my team that delivers storytelling workshops for companies.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: At the end of each chapter, there is something I love. Interview vignettes are included to share the experiences of people who tell stories in vastly different settings.
Some of them include an executive producer at The Moth, a co-founder of Sundance Institute, and a former Pixar creative director. These interviews include what each person might share if you sat next to them at a dinner party.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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