I am now back in Seattle and ‘getting my head straight’ again.

Travelling to some far-flung clients over the past three weeks has been fun (if exhausting!) and given me lots of opportunity to read.

I used my flying time to dive into Scott Adams’ excellent book, Win Bigly, in preparation for the February Clarity Hub MasterClass on using logic and emotion in storytelling and business communication.

I’d love to hear your experiences as I mull on this topic, and thought I’d share one insight today to share how my thinking is evolving.

Insight #1 – Story arcs are well suited to high-stakes communication but less so for day-to-day business communication.

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Please email me and let me know of your experience … particularly if you disagree!

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Story arcs, where the communicator takes their audience through a hero’s journey involving the ‘valley of death’ that then leads toward a prize at the end are powerful. (See illustration below). Novelists and movie makers use these, and I see many communication experts talking about using them in a corporate setting too, particularly for sales pitches. The idea is that they engage an audience’s emotions strongly, in a way that other communication might not.

They are, however, I think limited in their day-to-day business use because they require an audience to hold on to the end to get the ‘big idea’. They ask the audience to sit on the edge of their seat, using suspense to make the big reveal at the end ‘feel’ big.

This is, in my experience, risky as corporate audiences are short on time and patience. Decision-makers want to get the gist of what you are saying quickly so you can all discuss and decide. Team members want to know what you want them to do so they can get on with it.

So, I suggest saving story arcs for high-stakes situations where you are well supported by communication experts and structure your messaging elsewhere.

I’ll share other ideas for leveraging emotion in business communication during the coming weeks and in the February MasterClass too.

I hope that helps. More next week.

Kind regards,
Davina

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