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- Book LLC: Stories That Stick, by Kindra Hall
Book LLC: Stories That Stick, by Kindra Hall
"Stories don't just make us like each other; they make us *like* each other."
Lauren Coggins
June 20, 2023
The shift a story can make has a profound impact on business. It turns customers into converts. It transforms employees into evangelists. Executives into leaders. It changes the nature and impact of marketing, and perhaps most importantly, it can change how we see ourselves.
For months I’ve been inhaling book samples in an effort to pare down the list of things to actually read.
Stories That Stick was a good one to actually read, and I enjoyed its tactical approach to business and personal storytelling versus some books that apply more to literary pursuits.
Learned
Hall writes that, whether we’re communicating through a business or as individuals, we can’t bridge the gap between ourselves and our audience without three key things: attention, influence, and transformation.
Stories are the bridges that use all three to get the job done.
And it’s because they don’t rely on logic—they supersede our logical brains. Stories rely on emotion, which is more primal than logic. It reminds me of this quote, except in the inverse:
It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into.
Hall breaks down these 4 story types, and the most important details to include for each:
Founder Story
Purpose Story
Product Story
Customer Story
Kindle screenshot
Loved
This is an engaging read, even if it feels like I’ve read some of the information in other places.
I especially enjoyed the commentary about personal stories, and how we sometimes struggle to “find” our own stories because to us they don’t sound like stories—they just sound like life.
I think this is why I took so many stories for granted that I grew up with. They were just common topics when we’d visit my grandparents, for example.
I wish I’d asked so many more questions.
One more thing: Hall has a great tip for finding stories. Because they tend to attach themselves to nouns. So if you’re struggling to find a story, or to find the right story, start thinking about nouns: people, places, things.
Curious
Hall mentions a 2010 Emory University study that aimed to understand what made kids emotional healthy and happy. What the study learned was that the more kids knew about their own family history, the better their self-esteem.
I’ve put this in my own “curious” folder to remind me to go find it and learn more. One of the more interesting study ideas I’ve seen cited in recent reading.
🧠 and ❤️
Lauren
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