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Archives of Business Research – Vol. 9, No. 9

Publication Date: September 25, 2021

DOI:10.14738/abr.99.10823. York, J. M. (2021). Compelling Stories and Storytelling: An Time-Honored Approach from Civilization's Historical Roots: Practical

Frameworks, Tips, and Examples for Entrepreneurs and New Ventures. Archives of Business Research, 9(9). 31-42.

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

Compelling Stories and Storytelling: A Time-Honored Approach

from Civilization’s Historical Roots: Practical Frameworks, Tips,

and Examples for Entrepreneurs and New Ventures

John M. York, PharmD, MBA

Institute of Global Entrepreneur and Rady School of Management

at the University of California, San Diego (San Diego, CA)

Orfalea College of Business at

California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (San Luis Obispo, CA)

Cranfield School of Management (Cranfield, UK)

Rutgers Institute for Pharmaceutical Industry

Fellowships-Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers

The State University of New Jersey (New Brunswick, NJ)

ORCHID ID: 0000-0002-3973-9043

ABSTRACT

Stories and storytelling date back to humankind’s earliest times. Stories have

served as a primary avenue for sharing knowledge, history, culture, and

information across civilizations. They present an essential mechanism for

promoting new ideas and persuading points of view. Successful TED (technology,

entertainment, design) talks highlight how critical stories are in opening a

presentation, engaging the audience, and taking participants on the storyteller’s

journey. This approach is essential for business executives and entrepreneurs to

engage stakeholders (e.g., customers, partners, and investors). This discussion

delves into understanding the value and structure of compelling stories and

storytelling related to the business, institutional, and entrepreneurial settings. It

highlights the importance of the story as an opening and using other setup

approaches such as SCQR (situation, complication, question, and recommendation).

This article provides insights into Freytag’s three-act play structure and the role of

the hero or heroine (hero(ine)) along with the Minto pyramid structure for making

compelling arguments. It offers practical tips for applying storytelling techniques

to help stories and storytelling resonate. Throughout this piece offers relevant

examples to illustrate the why, how, and what. The discussion closes by connecting

storytelling to organizational learning concepts. These include Crossan’s “feed- forward”/”feedback” dynamic across the 4Is (intuit, interpret, integrate,

institutionalize) framework for embedding knowledge and Roger’s diffusion of

innovation theory. Both areas embrace the importance of shared language and

symbols that stories offer to allow ideas, knowledge, and innovation to transcend

and embed within an institution, ecosystem, or a broader universe of participants

and stakeholders.

Keywords: Business Communications, Diffusion of Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Feed- Forward, Freytag’s Pyramid, Frameworks, I-CORPS, Minto Pyramid Principle, NSF, Story

(Stories), Storytelling, Story Arc, TED Talks

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Archives of Business Research (ABR) Vol. 9, Issue 9, September-2021

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

INTRODUCTION

Let us start with a question- which do you remember more? Is it a dense presentation with facts

and figures that argues for support of a particular technology or phenomena? Or is an engaging

narrative of a hero (heroine) experiencing a painful challenge and a journey that leads to a need,

and ultimately the solution? Like most individuals, it is probably the latter, the story, rather

than the former.

Persuasion is essential to all business or institutional activities, whether with customers,

partners, investors, managers, or employees. It is a significant part of a chief executive’s or

founder’s job to make their stakeholders care and to motivate them to action. Within

entrepreneurship, storytelling has emerged as a powerful tool for new ventures to share their

motivation, inspiration, personal journey, and value story. Such efforts move beyond the

traditional formulaic approaches that many “business pitches” engage. It goes beyond the

“company speak” and dry PowerPoint slide presentations, which stakeholders routinely greet

with cynism (McKee and Fryer, 2003). More importantly, stories empower the speaker to go

beyond technology, facts, and figures and truly connect with one’s audience. They get the

audience to care about the hero(ine), the journey, the challenges, and the mission to accomplish.

What is it about stories and storytelling that compels us as individuals to engage and

remember? Storytelling has been part of humanity for ages, going back to the earliest tribes

and civilizations. Anthropologically, storytelling has existed at our core as humans. Beyond its

entertainment value, storytelling has served as a primary avenue for sharing knowledge,

history, culture, and information. Each of our families and society has implanted stories from

the earliest stages of our lives. These may emerge as an evening parable over dinner, a great

book, a movie, or a play (McKee and Fryer, 2003). According to McKee and Fryer (2003),

individuals want to work through stories, and that cognitive psychology emphasizes how the

mind understands and processes information. They are how individuals remember things. They

can serve as heuristics or mental shortcuts and help individuals (and groups) form mental

models to share knowledge. Consider one of the most effective business communicators, the

late Steve Jobs. He was so effective that he did not rely on facts, figures, bullet points, and heavy

charts (in contrast to Bill Gates). He was a masterful storyteller who captured the imagination

of his Apple team and customers to create a passionate following.

Multiple questions emerge about storytelling. Why are stories so important? What makes for a

great story and the storyteller? How can entrepreneurs and those from science and technology

tell more compelling stories? Such questions set the backdrop for this piece. Accordingly, this

discussion delves into understanding the value and structure of compelling stories and

storytelling. It offers practical tips for applying storytelling techniques in entrepreneurship and

ending with several relevant examples.

LET US START WITH WHY?

Simon Sinek (2009) provides an excellent basis for understanding the foundation for an

organization and its efforts. It revolves around starting with why (Figure 1). Specific to

storytelling, Carmine Gallo, the author of “Talk like TED: the nine public speaking secrets of the

world’s top minds,’ emphasizes that the why is the essence of storytelling. He highlights that

the starting point of why underlies the storyteller’s secret for business, news, and successful

TED (technology, entertainment, design) talks (Gallo, 2014).

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York, J. M. (2021). Compelling Stories and Storytelling: An Time-Honored Approach from Civilization's Historical Roots: Practical Frameworks, Tips, and

Examples for Entrepreneurs and New Ventures. Archives of Business Research, 9(9). 31-42.

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/abr.99.10823

Figure 1. Sinek’s Start with Why? Defines Motivation and the Basis for a Story

(Adapted Sinek, 2009)

So why a story? First, a story captivates an audience. It brings people together, makes the

audience feel part of the presentation. The story creates a structure that relates shared meaning

and symbolism. From a psychological as the sociological vantage, it allows shared

communication. The second consideration is that the audience retains limited information. Let

us face it. It is much easier to remember the story than statistics. Indeed, 63% of people

remember stories, whereas only 5% remember the statistics (Dykes, 2016). Perhaps it is

because we as individuals share mental maps, shortcuts, or heuristics. A compelling story (and

storyteller) can embed one’s message within these mental frameworks. Such narratives (and

narrations) resonate and, ultimately, embed, leading to learning, knowledge, and memory.

Returning to the TED Talks, according to McMahon (2014), it is no wonder that audience

surveys find that those presentations involving stories end up as the most effective option, cited

by 30% (Figure 2). Following stories are a video graphic, a brief statement, intriguing structure,

humor, rhetorical question, provocative statement, and shocking surprise. That is correct.

Sorry, Bill Gates, but opening up a jar of mosquitoes might get a little attention to capture the

audience. However, his stories of individuals in the developing world struggling with the

challenges of mosquito-borne diseases draw us in for the need to invest in his foundation’s

work to provide netting and other support. Nothing beats a story, according to TED.

Figure 2. Top TED Talk Presentation Starts with One of These “Hook” Elements

(McMahon, 2014)