Why Storytelling Rocks?

"When you share inspiring success stories, a great personal brand is a gift from the Universe."

The Power of Storytelling

(Originally posted at dramitnagpal.com)

Recently I was asked to introduce myself at an event and I told, “As a child I was fond of storytelling and as a student, I was passionate about branding. And one fine day, I realised that storytelling is the most powerful branding tool, be it people, products or companies.” OMG, even while introducing myself, I was telling a story. Stories were probably always in my blood.

Though right from the beginning of my personal branding journey, I was doing storytelling (unconsciously, without realizing its power), of late I have become a consciously passionate storyteller.

Stories can be told in a single line and anecdote or can take the shape of a novel or even a series. Stories stay in our mind or memory and also help us attract more customers . And as Maya Angelou rightly says, “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” But remember twists and turns make stories all the more interesting.

It is very human to focus on self-interest (except when you do genuine social service), but what if we align our self-interest with the interest of society and balance both. Isn’t this what ‘Evolved’ companies and individuals should do?

If storytelling is used to inspire others and build our brand/reputation too in the process, it becomes a good example of enlightened self-interest. Both the storyteller and audience benefit in the process.

Stories are the most powerful way of building brands, be it personal, organisations or products. If you don’t know how storytelling fits into branding, check this ”Free E-book ”

Using Storytelling for Personal Branding

Storytelling is a powerful personal branding tool. You can share your own stories, how you helped a client and so on. Stories can take several forms. It can be a series of novels, biography/autobiography/novel, 1-2 pages stories or one paragraph and one liner stories. Here are some interesting stories I have written (Please keep in mind that I have written these stories over the past two years):-

Short Stories

How social media changed me as a person forever?

The best way of polishing our character is to interact with people. In a metro, people are tired of commuting to offices and they prefer to connect through phone and web rather than travelling long distances to meet others. In such a scenario, social media becomes a very useful tool for not only building and maintaining relationships but growing as a person. Read More

How I became one of the 100 most influential Indians online in just 1 year?

Once upon a time I was an average frustrated Indian with expectations (from life) much more than achievements. And then I was introduced to the magical world of digital. Read More

Using Anecdotes

Life is Strange……and truth stranger than fictionI was a clumsy child (probably a natural storyteller too) and was often injured as a result. When I would go my mother and she would ask “What happened to your tooth?”, I would start telling her the story. She would rather tell me, “Tell me the facts, don’t tell stories.”One day, I lost half of my front tooth and the dentist joked, “So here is the window to the world (to be brutally honest, it was rather a window for the world).Now when I got into the habit of telling plain facts to my mother (I still tell stories to others  , she rather says, “Don’t give me the dry facts.Tell me the whole story.”Life is strange, isn’t it?

One Liner Stories

This is a new format I am experimenting with. Here are some examples:-

Long back a trainee had asked me, ”Sir what are your weaknesses?”I said, ”Marketers don’t tell their weaknesses. It’s your job to find out.”

Once upon a time there was something called thinking Mind …….and then humanity evolved and developed intuitive Soul. #future

Every Life Has A Story 

Every life has a story and every story must be brought to life (when it is put in words, audio or video, the story comes to life.) A great life has two stages;

1) In the first stage, you write your success story (and you define your own success)2) In the second stage, you share you success story and inspire the world.On the stage of life, at which stage are you?

A Final Word

While the victorious stories of others inspire us, we can also motivate ourselves, by remembering to write our life story in a way that inspires others. Isn’t everyone struggling in some area of life? When the struggle becomes a victory, you become the hero and the struggle becomes a story. The struggle of today, will become a story of tomorrow.

So, how inspiring is going to be your story by end of 2013? Will you win over the villains and antagonists and emerge as the hero? Are you the scriptwriter or you have left it to the fate?

“Whenever I encounter a trial or a obstacle, I just regard it as another of life’s dramas and I face it head on. We are all the protagonists in the drama of our own lives so we may as well play our role as the hero to the fullest. Its especially important for the young people to have this attitude. If we react to everything that happens with surprise, panic, complaint and sadness, we can’t be a hero.We will just end up ruining the whole drama.”

Dr Daisaku Ikeda