Story-telling and stories: highly under-rated and highly-valued

I have started getting conscious; over the last 4 years especially.

And that's because from November 2017 onwards, people would tell me that they've figured me out in terms of how I design and deliver my sessions.

They tell me that apart from the immersive experiences and activities I take them through and the movies and books I talk about; there will be a plethora of stories that I share.

Not that I never shared stories in my 21 years of training and facilitation journey. Of course, over the last decade and half I have started telling stories in an interactive way than keeping it a one way delivery most of the time.

They would also ask me the secret of remembering so many stories (some of them going back to 40 years) and as to how do I come up with stories that are least expected or known, just at the right place and time.

But for me, the difficult thing to figure out was why wouldn't anybody use stories as naturally as they came to me and as naturally as I used to integrate them in my designs and sessions.

What's this big deal about story telling? Isn't it the most natural thing for us human beings to do?

Don't we all remember the amazing experiences we go through in our lives?

Haven't almost all of us read comics and story books as children and heard some amazing, interesting and memorable stories from our grandparents, parents, friends, neighbours, teachers, colleagues, bosses, customers and even vendors?

Haven't we all reflected on our experiences and derived the appropriate lessons?

Don't we all have our stories? Aren't we all waking, walking, expressive stories by themselves?

And as I have come to experience, doesn't every soul have a story and isn't there a soul in every interesting story?

While the answer to the above questions maybe a yes, the next question is different.

Isn't the science behind the effectiveness of stories really simple and apparent?

Apparently not; as I began to understand over the last few years.

And that's why there is an increasing value for people like Ameen Haque, Mr. Indranil Chakraborty, Mr. Prakash Iyer and others who are all great story tellers and story-telling coaches.

I conclude with gratitude to Mr. Shiv Shivakumar who shares a very interesting story and insight about engaging with the millennial/ younger generation at work in this interaction with Mr. Indranil Chakraborty (IC) - the author of Stories at Work.

Thank you Ganesh Srinivasan Sir for being the reason that I came across this video.

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