Why Story Works From the beginning of our lives we are taught through stories. Faith is shared through stories. History starts with cavemen sharing stories through images scrawled on cave walls. We use story pictures to illustrate points. Teachers have students conduct experiments to experience facts as they apply to life—to create images to connect with the facts they learn. My son is home-schooled, and stories are the most powerful tool we have to help him understand concepts. He understands the facts of history because he has read the stories of the people who lived it. We even explain math to him in the form of a story. He has a hard time learning vocabulary words and definitions until I give him the context (story) of the word as it applies to life. Until I give him a story, they are just random words that don’t make sense because he has never seen an image of them in action. The story helps us learn and remember what the word means. The concept of using story to teach is nothing new. We just don’t often think of its importance in business as a tool of impact and influence. We think we don’t have time to tell stories—that our clients only care about the facts. Facts are important—very important—but story is the context within which we deliver our facts memorably. The first key to being able to use story to your advantage, is to understand why it works—that it is a tool. You need to know what the tool is for, before you can use it effectively. An old Yiddish parable has been passed around for years and quoted by many in different versions. It explains the power of story: TRUTH, naked and cold, had been turned away from every door in the village. Her nakedness frightened the people. When PARABLE found her she was huddled in a corner, shivering and hungry. Taking pity on her, PARABLE gathered her up and took her home. There, she dressed TRUTH in story, warmed her, and sent her out again. Clothed in story, TRUTH knocked
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