If you’ve been lucky enough to share your story during a classroom visit facilitated by our Foundation, then you’ve heard of Peter Guber. As a refresher to our readers who have visited classrooms, and as an introduction to our readers who have not visited classrooms, here is a little background on Peter Guber so you can see why you should listen to what he has to say about sharing your story.
Peter is the CEO of Mandalay Entertainment Group, parent organization of Mandalay Baseball Properties that owns or provides consulting services to 7 minor league baseball teams in the Reds, Tigers, Rangers, Astros, Yankees, and White Sox organizations. He’s served as chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures, and produced several award-winning films including Gorillas in the Mist, Rain Man, and Batman. Peter is a media mogul who built a successful career using the art of storytelling. In his new book, Tell to Win, he offers advice on how to tell an inspirational story that moves your listeners to action.
Why should you be concerned about telling stories or inspiring others? Because as a team leader (remember in last month’s newsletter we talked about assuming a greater leadership role on your team), it’s part of a leader’s job to inspire and motivate himself, his teammates, and anyone else who is striving to actualize a dream or reach a goal. Want to know an easy and effective way of inspiring others? Tell them a purposeful story!
Stories have the power to move listeners to action. Peter realized the power of stories in his own life, and believes limitless inspirational power is waiting to be unleashed by storytelling. Storytelling is so easy that anyone can do it. You don’t need to memorize a script or prepare a speech. You simply tell the story of what you do to motivate or inspire yourself when your energy is running low or your goal seems so far away that it’s unattainable.
You’ve probably heard misconceptions people have about storytelling. Many people have the misconception they can’t tell stories. You may hear them say, “I could never do something like tell a story to someone, let alone a group of people. I’m not good at telling stories at all!” However, the fact of the matter is that you actually ARE telling stories all the time, but probably never realized it. Stories are nothing more than sharing with your coach, teammate, or friend something that happened to you on a given day, or when you’re talking about what you want to do down the road in your career, or listening to the aspirations shared with you by a fellow teammate.
You already know how to tell stories, just remember that while you’re telling a story, you have to leave some room open for your listeners to actively participate. As Peter says, you want them to ‘metabolize’ the story; you want them to take it in, digest it, and own it. And to make that happen you must engage them to the greatest extent possible.
Just like during your game, the audience doesn’t want to be passive spectators. They want to be active participants by cheering, clapping, and shouting. As you tell your story, do your best to emotionally engage your listeners so that you have a direct route to their hearts to successfully deliver your inspirational and motivational message. And be prepared and eager to hear the stories your audience wants to share with you.
So think of a story from your past when you felt inspired and motivated to move one step closer to success. For your listeners, the door to their success may be just around the corner, and all they need to move them closer is your story.
Tell it to them today!
Take Care,
Jerry Hairston, Jr. Lynn R. Miller, Ed.D.
Chairman of the Board & Co-Founder President & Co-Founder
Source: What’s Your Story? A good tale can engage and inspire your audience ( interview with Peter Guber) from Success Magazine, May 2011.
