This week’s book learning is from ‘A Whole New Mind’ by Dan Pink.
Let’s examine two descriptions of the same thing.
‘The Queen died. The King died.”
“The Queen died. And the King died of a broken heart.”
The first line was fact. The second line was a story. It placed the facts in context, added emotion and made us connect to it by making it memorable.
In the early stages of the industrial age, it was all about facts and information. Left brained activity like analysis or programming that were ability to deal with facts were of maximum value. Over time, however, facts have become widely available and instantly accessible, and hence, have becomes less valuable.
Stories, on the other hand, encapsulate information, knowledge, context and emotion into one compact package.
When we speak to our clients, managers and colleagues, are we just relaying facts or doing enough to place facts into context via stories?
Dan Pink argues that as abundance becomes common in the world, the ability to bring meaning via stories is one that’s becoming increasingly important – at work and in our lives! The stories we tell about ourselves are probably most important because they are what bring meaning to our journeys..
Here’s to conveying vital information in great stories this week! :)
A Learning a Day 