Tamsen Webster explains why stories persuade in business. The key is the moment of truth: when a goal, a problem, and a truth converge. She shows how to engineer that moment using her Red Thread framework and strategic questioning.
Why do stories work? That's an important question to answer because we're told often to use more stories, to make things feel like stories, to use storytelling, to be better storytellers. There's even Chief Storytelling Officers at companies. But to really understand how to make stories work for you, we need to understand why they work at all. And that's what we're talking about this week on Find the Red Thread. I'm your host, Tamsen Webster, of TamsenWebster.com. Please, if you're a fan, like and subscribe. I've been really interested in this question for a long time because for over 20 years in my work as a brand and message strategist, I've been surrounded by stories, surrounded by people saying we need to use stories, we need to get better at storytelling, we need to be better storytellers. And yet, despite the fact that the form of stories has not changed in thousands of years and the advice has been around for at least 20 and probably much, much longer to use it in business, we don't seem to be getting much better at storytelling. Why is that? Well, because there's a form of stories, but there's also the function of stories. And today I'm not talking about the function to light up mirror neurons in your brain so that when you tell a story to me, the same parts of your brain that light up as you tell it light up in mine. That's very important, and that's part of the reason why stories work. But in order for that to work, we actually have to understand why the pieces of a story are there in a, in the first place, because we can match all the pieces of what a story is supposed to be and still miss the point of what the story is supposed to do. I mean, we've been in that situation, right? Maybe you've done it or you've heard somebody else do it. You, you fill in the blanks for what a story is supposed to be. It has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Maybe you've even followed each step of the hero's journey and it's not a great story. So why not? Like, what makes the difference? Well, if we look at really great stories, the stories that we remember, the stories that carry the lessons, that show us life at its best and its worst and that stick with us, then there's something that unites them about how they use the pieces of the story. And it comes in the form of something that every great story has, and it's called a number of things, but most often, or very often, it's called the moment of truth. Sometimes you hear it referred to as the climax or the, the point of no return, but it's the moment at which the hero of the story has to make a decision. Do they go forward with all the knowledge and information that they have collected in pursuit of what they want, or do they not? And the result of the story is whether or not it's a comedy, which is a happy ending, or a tragedy, a sad ending, is whether or not, A, they make that decision in their favor, or if they do say, yes, I'm going to to go forward, whether or not they get it. So this moment of truth is critical because unless a story creates a really powerful moment of truth, it's not going to work. Think of it this way: a lot of people have said that a story is an argument, and I would say yes, a story is an argument for an idea. It's an idea for what an answer to a question is. Stories Ask questions that require answers. A classic story, Rocky, asks the question, "Can anybody from any background succeed if they work hard enough?" And the answer to that story, well, in one level, he didn't succeed, not in the boxing ring, but in the levels of life, he did. So you see a story, great stories ask questions that require answers. Of the hero, of the main character, and of their audience. So that's what we need to do too. We need to build our messages. We need to build our stories so that they ask a question that requires an answer. So how do we do that? Well, ultimately it's about creating, engineering that moment of truth. So where does that moment of truth come from? Well, it comes from a conflict. That's why the conflict is part of there. And the conflict comes because there's something in the way of a goal. Ah, so we've got now a couple pieces that are necessary here. We've got a goal of the hero, of the audience, something that they're looking for. And then there's a conflict, there's a problem, there's something getting in the way. But the thing that creates the moment of truth is an additional realization. It's not just the presence of the scary monster, it's the presence of the scary monster in the context of what the hero was trying to accomplish. And something about what the hero believes or knows to be true, a truth. And in the moment that those three things come into play— a goal, a problem, a truth— that moment of truth arises. It's the moment where the hero now has to say, what am I going to do if I still want the thing that I want? And I believe this thing to be true in the situation I currently am in, what will I do now? That's the change. That's the question of the change. And if they go forward, what is the thing they're going to do from there? The action. So, whether or not you're trying to figure out, "Well, how do I tell a story?" Or "How do I create a message that feels like a story?" Or just simply, "How in a high-stakes conversation I create a moment of truth?" Those are the things we need to pull out. So you can do it in 2 ways. One is to follow the form. The Red Thread helps you set up, engineer that moment of truth. What's the goal of the audience? What's the problem of perspective that's getting in the way? What's the truth, the truth, the universal thing that makes inaction impossible? What's the change that you're asking them to make? And what are the steps that they're going to need to take in order to make it? The other thing you can do is simply ask questions. My friend Phil Jones is brilliant at this, about asking questions of an audience or a prospect so that they come to these own realization— their own realization themselves. He asks questions about what people want, what the outcomes will be. He asks questions about what the problems are that are getting in the way so they have their own realization. He asks questions that get them to realize that if they want certain things and they want to avoid certain problems, then If they are who they are, if they— all those things are true, in that moment of truth, they're going to make— more and more likely to make a decision in a particular direction. So your message, when it's great, is always like a story. Because when it's great, a story is a question that requires an answer. It asks a question that requires an answer. And it's because of that, that process of establishing the question and looking at what the answer is, that's why stories work. So if you want them to work for you, you just need to engineer that moment of truth and you'll get the yes that you're looking for. I'm Tamsen Webster of TamsenWebster.com. Thanks for listening or watching to this week's episode of Find the Red Thread. If you need help finding your own red thread, then reach out to me at tamsenwebster.com/contact. I look forward to hearing from you soon. Tamsen Webster.
