The Story Factor
– Annette Simmons

Annette Simmons is founder of Group Process Consulting, specializing in helping organizations build more collaborative behaviors for bottom-line results. A popular speaker, community activist, and author of Territorial Games and A Safe Place for Dangerous Truths, she lives in Greensboro, North Carolina. [From: Amazon.com]

The new material for this revised edition offers an expanded case study of storytelling in action that focuses on one of Simmons’s success stories. Over one hundred stories drawn from the front lines of business and government, as well as myths, fables, and parables from around the world, illustrate how story can be used to persuade, motivate, and inspire in ways that cold facts, bullet points, and directives can’t. These stories, combined with practical storytelling techniques show anyone how to become a more effective communicator. From “who I am” to “I-know-what-you’re thinking,” Simmons identifies the six stories you need to know how to tell and demonstrates how they can be applied. This revised edition offers a guide to using storytelling in specific business circumstances, including corporate reorganizations, layoffs, and diversity issues. [From: Books.google.com.ph]

What’s your story? Who are you? Where do you come from? When you seek to influence others you face these questions and more. Whether you’re proposing a risky new venture, trying to close a deal, or leading a charge against injustice, you have a story to tell. Tell your story well and you will create a shared experience with your listeners that can have profound and lasting results.

“The oldest tool of influence is also the most powerful—through the words, gestures, tone, and rhythm of story you can captivate an audience of skeptical, resistant, nay-sayers…”In The Story Factor, Annette Simmons reminds us that the oldest tool of influence is also the most powerful—through the words, gestures, tone, and rhythm of story you can captivate an audience of skeptical, resistant, nay-sayers and simultaneously construct a believable picture for your ideas and goals. In this hyper-competitive, techno-centric, and results-oriented environment it is easy to forget that all organizations are social systems and that work is personal—learning to tap into the personal element through story gives you a key to the social system. Alignment improves, problems get solved, group decisions are easier to make, and trust develops in ways and in places you might never thought possible.

Over one hundred stories drawn from the front lines of business and government, as well as myths, fables, and parables from around the world, illustrate how story can be used to persuade, motivate, and inspire in ways that cold facts, bullet points, and directives can’t. These stories, combined with practical storytelling techniques show anyone how to become a more effective communicator. From “who I am” to “I-know-what-you’re thinking,” Simmons identifies the six stories you need to know how to tell and demonstrates how they can be applied.

As master storyteller Doug Lipman notes in the foreword, Annette Simmons articulates “the emerging realization in the business community that thriving organizations need whole persons working for them – that anything less cheats both the individual and the firm.” Let The Story Factor be your inspiration for transforming your relationships with colleagues, bosses, employees, customers, and even adversaries so that each story you are living right now – work, personal, and community – becomes the kind of success story you will enjoy telling for years to come. [From: Annettesimmons.com]

Annette Simmons is thoroughly convincing in her assertion that the best way to influence and inspire others is to tell stories. Unfortunately, she is a bit heavy-handed on the ‘why’ of storytelling, which she explains in depth in every chapter, and a shade light regarding ‘how’ to accomplish her lofty goals. Simmons explains that telling people an engaging story is far more persuasive than reciting facts and figures, or showing a PowerPoint presentation. To illustrate her position, Simmons uses good stories and parables as examples. She describes the six categories of stories you can use to connect with and influence people, and she offers suggestions on how to become a prolific, entertaining storyteller. This is not a typical ‘how-to’ book with lists of things to do, but it is instructive and useful. We recommend it to anyone who is interested in the art of persuasion or who loves a good yarn. [From: Barnesandnoble.com]