I have been a storyteller for many years. More years than I want to remember. In that time, I have learned that there is no way to be a storyteller unless you are a storylistener. And that is the finer art of the two. You have to listen to a lot of stories to tell one.
Until a few years ago, these were two separate acts. No more. Social media puts the two experiences together into a flowing conversation. While I have told hundreds of stories in dozens of ways, I have come to value storylistening more than storytelling.
For far too long, traditional branding told stories. We pushed out our story and we stuck to it. Now the story is pushing back. Our stories intertwine with others’ stories into a real-time, living, breathing and often, uncontrolled conversation that makes a lot of clients nervous.
That is understandable. They controlled the vertical and the horizontal for decades. The Web changed that. Social media ripped off the doors. So grab a beer and sit down and get into a conversation with your customers and your own people. You may even get into one with yourself.
Storytelling is no longer more valued than storylistening. They are equal. That is how conversations work around a dinner table and in a forum or discussion group. Perhaps the old school way of telling a story is fading into more clipped exchanges, but the results are more rewarding.
And like it or not, things are not going backwards. Ask any publisher. Books will soon be very different structures. So will songs and movies and commercials. We will still tell stories and people will still listen to the good ones. The difference is, now, the customer is part of that story.
Let’s start listening. It’s amazing what you can hear. It’s more than amazing; it’s your future. Mine too.
