20 Quotes on Why Leaders Share Stories

Recently, we shared how crucial it is that leaders share stories.  If you want to sell your product to customers, your plan to investors, your vision to your team or your ideas to the world, you must recognize and leverage the power of great storytelling.

 

Here are 20 quotes on storytelling to help motivate and inspire you as a leader:

“Stories constitute the single most powerful weapon in a leader’s arsenal.”  -Dr. Howard Gardner

“Words are how we think; stories are how we link.” -Christina Baldwin

“Everything’s a story – You are a story – I am a story.” -Frances Hodgson Burnett

“Great stories happen to those who can tell them.” -Ira Glass

“Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today.” -Robert McKee

 “People don’t want more information. They are up to their eyeballs in information. They want faith–faith in you, your goals, your success, in the story you tell.” -Annette Simmons

“Humans are not ideally set up to understand logic; they are ideally set up to understand stories.” -Roger C. Schank

“The role of the storyteller is to awaken the storyteller in others.” – Jack Zipes

“The human species thinks in metaphors and learns through stories.” -Mary Catherine Bateson

“People think that stories are shaped by people.  In fact, it’s the other way around …” -Terry Pratchett

“Tell me the facts and I’ll learn. Tell me the truth and I’ll believe. But tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever.” – Native American proverb

“Sometimes reality is too complex. Stories give it form.” -Jean Luc Godard

“Social engagement begins when we share our stories…Social change happens when we agree together to change the ending.” – Dave Beckwith

“The world is shaped by two things — stories told and the memories they leave behind.” -Vera Nazarian

“Think of story as a mnemonic device for complex ideas.” -Annette Simmons

“An effective CEO uses an emotional narrative about the company’s mission to attract investors and partners, to set lofty goals, and to inspire employees. Sometimes a well-crafted story can even transform a seemingly hopeless situation into an unexpected triumph.” -Peter Guber

“Stories tell us of what we already knew and forgot, and remind us of what we haven’t yet imagined.” – Anne L. Watson

“If I wanted to predict behavior, I could still predict it better with the stories told around the company than I could with any mission statement or five-year plan.” – Robert Shapiro

Stories are an integral part of our lives, not just as leaders.

“We tell some of the best stories to ourselves. Scientists have discovered that the memories we use to form our own life stories are boldly fictionalized. And social psychologists point out that when we meet a friend, our conversation mostly consists of an exchange of gossipy stories. We ask our friend ‘What’s up?’ or ‘What’s new?’ and we begin to narrate our lives to one another, trading tales back and forth over cups of coffee or bottles of beer, unconsciously shaping and embellishing to make the tales hum. And every night, we reconvene with our loved ones at the dinner table to share the small comedies and tragedies of our day.” -Jonathan Gottschall

“Those who do not have the power over the story that dominates their lives, the power to retell it, rethink it, deconstruct it, joke about it, and change it as times change, truly are powerless, because they cannot think new thoughts.” – Salman Rushdie

 

Need help telling your story in the digital space? Contact us today!

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