the importance of … storytelling

Wednesday, November 2, 2022
posted by malcolm

Morena

We have previously discussed the importance of storytelling in a number of previous blogs (https://www.interpretationnz.co.nz/nzx-the-art-of-the-story/).

Stories are the key component of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs which focuses on human motivation. Maslow later went on to expand his thinking and added: Cognitive – people generally want to learn and know things about their world and their places in it. Aesthetic – interacting with beauty and creative form. Transcendence – the drive to look beyond the physical self in search of meaning.

The role, power and relevance of Maslow’s thinking is also backed by facts. Steve Ballantyne noted a few in his blog at https://www.brandiq.co.nz/why-stories-stick-2/.

We especially like the following: “Neuroscience has proven that stories are over 20 times more memorable than facts. That’s because more areas of the brain are actively engaged when we are processing a story vs facts and data.”

“When deeply engrossed in a great story, our brains release hormones (dopamine, oxytocin and cortisol) which can create empathy and emotional engagement and help with embedding memories.”

All too often, we encounter lousy storytelling—a list of facts and meaningless words held together by a fragile thread.

Disengagement with the storyteller and the experience follow very quickly. If your storytelling isn’t delivering talk to us about how we can shift your storytelling to new heights.

Ka kite

Malcolm

              Storytelling in action

 



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