Book SummaryUnleash the Power of Storytelling, by Rob Biesenbach

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of Unleash the Power of Storytelling

Everybody knows what a story is. But few of us really understand why stories work or how they can make us better at communicating. In Unleash the Power of Storytelling, Rob Biesenbach breaks a story down into its fundamental pieces to explain how you can use storytelling to make your message more engaging and compelling.

Great storytelling requires a complex balance of content, mechanics, and delivery. But if you take the time to get it right, you can tell a story that captivates listeners, affects their emotions, and persuades them to act (whether you’re pitching an idea, interviewing for a job, selling a product, or trying to get people behind a social cause).

Biesenbach is a...

Unleash the Power of Storytelling Summary What Is a Story?

We encounter stories every day, but few of us stop to think about how we’d define a story. A story is a narrative that draws its power from its fundamental structure, its delivery, and its ability to affect listeners down to the neural level. In this section, we’ll look at the ingredients that Biesenbach identifies as key to a story’s power to move and persuade its audience.

What Are the Essential Elements of a Story?

Biesenbach defines a story as an account of a character who pursues a goal and encounters obstacles along the way. A narrative that lacks one of these fundamental elements (character, goal, and obstacle) isn’t a story and won’t affect listeners like a story can. Because we’re familiar with stories that include a character, a goal, and obstacles, we expect these elements in a story and feel disappointed when those expectations aren’t met.

The character’s efforts in the face of obstacles drive the story forward. A relatable character—one who shares values or circumstances with your audience—makes an abstract brand, mission, or message more concrete. Every story needs a character who embodies the message and makes it more human to listeners.

For...

Unleash the Power of Storytelling Summary Why (and How) Do Good Stories Affect Us?

When Biesenbach talks about the “power of storytelling,” he’s not just talking about a story’s capacity to engage or entertain. He’s also talking about how a story can change people’s minds, affect their emotions, and persuade them to act. Stories have this power because they affect us emotionally, physiologically, and intellectually.

In this section, we’ll look at the reasons that well-told stories affect our attention, perception, and emotions. We’ll also examine Biesenbach’s warning about how a story’s power to connect and engage us can be abused.

Nature Affects Our Perception of Stories, and Nurture Hones Our Attention to Them

Biesenbach contends that stories affect us powerfully for two reasons: stories are uniquely engaging to our brains’ processes of perception, and we’ve been socially trained to pay attention to stories. To explain how these two influences work, he explains them in terms of “nature” and “nurture” and shows how each can help you tell an engaging story.

The “nature” argument is that a good story captivates you because your brain’s processes of perception are uniquely responsive to stories. Biesenbach cites research that found that a...

Unleash the Power of Storytelling Summary How to Create and Tell a Great Story

After establishing what a good story is and why it’s so powerful, Biesenbach dedicates much of the book to explaining exactly how to create and tell stories. He explains that this is a process that anyone can learn.

In this section of the guide, we’ve divided Biesenbach’s strategies into two groups: strategies that can help you create a meaningful story and strategies that can help you deliver that story in an engaging manner.

Create a Story From Scratch

When you have a message to convey to an audience, it takes time to craft a story that’s perfectly suited for the job. Biesenbach outlines a process you can use to create a story that matches the audience you need to reach and the message you want to deliver.

Find Story Ideas

First, start cultivating a collection of stories that speak to your values and engage your areas of expertise. Coming up with a story in a pinch can feel difficult, so Biesenbach recommends noticing the stories that play out in your everyday life. It also helps to stay alert to stories in the books, journals, films, and other narratives you consume—you never know when you’ll run across a story that perfectly illustrates one of...

Unleash the Power of Storytelling Summary How to Craft Stories for Specific Situations

Telling a great story requires the same elements and calls on the same skills regardless of where you tell the story, and most of Biesenbach’s advice applies pretty much anywhere you’d find yourself in front of an audience. But in some situations, many of us could use more guidance. In this section of the guide, we’ll explain Biesenbach’s advice for using stories when you give presentations, explain the story of your company, tell your own story, or give a toast or eulogy.

A Presentation

Biesenbach thinks that stories have an important place in presentations, whether you’re pitching an idea, introducing a product, or giving a lecture. A story can capture your audience’s attention before they know who you are or what you represent and can persuade them to take the action you want them to take.

When you give a presentation, Biesenbach recommends that you should start with a story, end with a story, and tell more stories in between (interspersed with a variety of types of information that communicate your message). Begin your presentation with a story that speaks to a problem your audience cares about—a story that sets up and reinforces the message of the...

Shortform Exercise: Find the Message for Your Story

One of the biggest lessons of Unleash the Power of Storytelling is that a story provides you with a powerful way to convey a message. But before you can choose the right story, you’ll need to figure out the message you want to share.

Most of us are great at talking about ourselves. So to practice, think about the message you’d like listeners to come away with the next time you introduce yourself—a message about who you are or why you do what you do. Write that message down here.