Benefiting at work from Brain Based Insights

Over at Tom Asacker’s blog … From Fact Telling to Storytelling, I was reminded that “Facts don’t persuade, feelings do. And stories are the best way to get at those feelings.” Tom’s post reminded me of a true  story that would be fun to tell. It’s about a friends who is also very successful business man in the downtown Toronto area who paid off my student loan over lunch. I’d always known Geoff and his wife were generous, and I’d heard he appreciated what I was doing to bring business innovations through practices that are connected to new facts about the brain. But a check for $40,000? The unconditionally given gift shocked me ten years ago and still shocks me today....

Tom questions, “Why haven’t more business people embraced this powerful, persuasive form of communication?”  I suspect that we forget to tell the parts of our lives that made us who we are, and that we have not practiced the art of telling a story that might move others’ sense of humanity. Perhaps that’s the part of business we need most as it’s also the seat of ethics and generosity. How else could I tell you about Geoff’s love for people and for innovative ideas than to tell you his one statement when I protested this kind gesture. ‘It’s not a gift…” he said….” I am investing in your future at the MITA Brain Based Center because I believe in what you are doing.”

Do you agree with Tom’s statement that… “Storytelling is especially effective in today’s multimedia world, where information overload forces us to simplify.” Geoff and I are as different as day and night, and neither of us really understands many details about what exactly the other does from 9 to 5 daily.

Yet I agree with Tom,  “Stories are the quickest way to communicate. They instantly transmit complex ideas; they’re a kind of cognitive shorthand. Stories are the most memorable, because they are laced with emotion.”

"So, tell me a story, Tom suggests. He adds that “Belief is something we subjectively make for ourselves. Stories are the compelling evidence.” I decided that I would pay back Geoff the $40,000 as my business did well, and I would do so as a way to show that this was a wonderful story that helped to shape my life. He would only accept $20,000 back and he added that he’d done this kind of thing before and that I was the first to want to repay the funds. My motive was to show appreciation … but also to refill the funds that might help another start-up who Geoff sees as going somewhere in business.

One caution that Tom adds and I also agree, “Stop trying to change people’s minds with information or coercion. It doesn’t work. They feel manipulated. Instead, capture their imaginations with heartfelt stories so they can make their own meaning. And never - never! - stop telling those stories with conviction and passion.”  What happened to you that showed you a more hopeful side of humanity …. One we want to emulate in business? Would you be willing to tell us a story about that….