“People don’t want more information. They are up to their eyeballs in information. They want faith–faith in you, your goals, your success, in the story you tell.”
-Annette Simmons
“Stories make us more alive, more human, more courageous, more loving.”
-Madeleine L’Engle
“Tell me the facts and I’ll learn. Tell me the truth and I’ll believe. But tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever.”
-An old Native American proverb
“Over the years I have become convinced that we learn best–and change–from hearing stories that strike a chord within us…Those in leadership positions who fail to grasp or use the power of stories risk failure for their companies and for themselves.”
-John Kotter, Harvard Business School professor, author Leading Change
“The human species thinks in metaphors and learns through stories.”
-Mary Catherine Bateson, Anthropologist
“People are hungry for stories. It’s part of our very being. Storytelling is a form of history, of immortality too. It goes from one generation to another.”
-Studs Terkel
“We live in story like a fish lives in water. We swim through words and images siphoning story through our minds the way a fish siphons water through its gills. We cannot think without language, we cannot process experience without story.”
-Christina Baldwin, Author, StoryCatcher: Making Sense of our Lives Through the Power and Practice of Story
“Story gives people enough space to think for themselves. A story develops and grows in the mind of your listener. If it is a good story, you don’t have to keep it alive by yourself. It is automatically retold or replayed in the minds of your listeners.”
-Annette Simmons, Author, The Story Factor
“No matter what you do in your life, what you create, what career you have, whether you have a family or kids, or make a lot of money… your greatest creation is always going to be your life’s story.”
-Jonathan Harris, artist
“Storytelling is by far the most underrated skill in business.”
-Gary Vaynerchuck, Author, Crush It!
“I realized the importance of having a story today is what really separates companies. People don’t just wear our shoes, they tell our story.”
-Blake Mycoskie, CEO, Tom’s Shoes
“There is no greater burden than carrying an untold story.”
-Maya Angelou, Poet Laureate
“Storytelling is important. Part of human continuity.”
-Robert Redford, Actor
“After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.”
-Phillip Pullman
“Storytelling: the world’s second oldest profession.”
-Danny Harris
“Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories you tell.”
-Seth Godin, best-selling author, entrepreneur/speaker
“When you begin to talk in stories, your black-and-white words turn into color. Your drab requests turn into a mission. People find you to be more compelling. And once that happens, others will see that stories work, and they’ll start telling stories, too.”
-Annette Simmons, author/business consultant
“Storytelling is where we share what we’ve discovered; all of us have discovered a little secret about life.”
-Michael Cotter, storyteller
“And do you know what is the most-often missing ingredient in a sales message? It’s the sales message that doesn’t tell an interesting story. Storytelling . . . good storytelling . . . is a vital component of a marketing campaign.”
-From direct marketing guru Gary Halbert’s March newsletter
“Dogs sniff each other. Human beings tell stories. This is our native language.”
-Steve Denning, author, The Springboard
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