Storytelling
How to Put the Story of Your Business into Words
Keith has been involved in social
media since first becoming a member
of the early business networking site
Ecademy in 1999.
Now with 13,500+ connections on
LinkedIn, 5,000+ followers on Twitter,
2,000+ friends on Facebook, Keith
also runs the largest charity-related
group on LinkedInCharity UKwith
31,000+ members, and has a popular
blog on Huffington Post UK.
Keith teaches and mentors business
people on how to make the most of
social media in business by telling their
story, or the story of their business.
Keith has worked in many business
sectors over the years and strongly
believes far too many business people
are unable to concisely tell their story,
or that of their business.
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Abstract: This article considers storytelling and how
important it is to you and your business. It provides
some guidance on how you can tell a compelling story
about you and your business.
Keywords: 60 second pitch, connect, elevator pitch, engage, my
business, networking, profile, promote, social media, storytell-
ing, Your story
Storytelling: How to put the story of your
business into words
I guess from the outset I need to make clear what I mean
by storytelling in the business environment. Simply put,
it is telling your backstory, or that of your business,
together with your goals, dreams, and aspirations. It is
not a work of fiction, fantasy, or untruth. It should be
firmly grounded in reality.
Wikipedia states
Storytelling is the social and cultural activity of shar-
ing stories, often with improvisation, theatrics, or embel-
lishment. Stories or narratives have been shared in every
culture as a means of entertainment, education, cultural
preservation and instilling moral values.
This description, of course, includes fiction, the mak-
ing up of stories. But I am focusing here on telling the
truth throughout, the true story of how you got where
you are. The true story of what you want to achieve in
life and in business.
I guess storytelling has existed for as long as mankind
has. It would have been used to tell stories of hunting
trips, family events, community matters and beyond.
There came a time when travelling storytellers would
travel the land telling stories of things that had hap-
pened elsewherea sort of oral newspaper. Of course,
fiction would have crept in very early on with hunting
tales of the one that got away!
We have relied on stories over the ages to keep us in-
formed, to make us aware of dangers, and to feed our
imaginations and desires to seek out new experiences.
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 Storytelling
Stories spark emotions. We each have
an intuitive, emotional side as well as a
deliberate, rational side to our character
partially explained by left brain/right brain
thinking. Unfortunately, too often in busi-
ness we only try and connect with people
on a rational level. This this is not enough to
change how people behave. I have covered
emotions in business in my article entitled
Businessmen Dont Cry, or Do They?
People may well fully understand what
it is you want them to do, but if they arent
emotionally engaged theyre just not going
to play ball! Storytelling provides a way of
inspiring others in a way that appeals to
both sides of our character.
If you cant properly convey a story then
your products or services are not going to
appeal to your audience.
People use stories to make sense of
things. Everyone has a story in their head
about what their life and work means for
them. This story is the result of countless
interactions and experiences over many
years. It becomes the viewer through
which we interpret the world around us.
Business owners and senior executives
with a shared strategic story can engage
others in the wider context of the jour-
ney the business is on. A story provides a
framework to understand the business and
any changes and action required. A story
has a core message, but be aware, it can be
interpreted in different ways, depending
on the viewpoint of the person reading or
hearing the story.
People learn from stories. Stories are
a terrific way of learning from others, and
can help shape cultures within business.
Stories allow people space to discover the
implicit meaning of whats being said.
They enable them to learn, discover, and
take ownership of what they may need to
do for themselves as part of the story.
Stories allow the recipient to assign their
own meaning, values, and aspirations.
They help them understand both what has
gone before and, more importantly, where
they fit within the overall picture.
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Stories can be incorporated into all your
forms of communication. The content of
your blogs, e-books, whitepapers, and even
your About us page on your website.
The value of storytelling can also be
transferred to other departments to grow
your businessfor example training your
sales team to tell the story of your busi-
ness, its products, or services, using your
story to captivate the audience
Where to Begin?
You are probably thinking to yourself:
I dont know how to tell stories.
I dont have a story to tell.
Why would anyone want to know about
me or my business?
Where do I begin?
You have two stories you can tell. One
is your story. You the person. The other
is the story of your business. Well focus
first on telling your story. You are, after all,
the one person in the world you know the
most about! No-one knows you better than
you.
Starting out for the first time telling your
story can seem daunting and confusing.
Where to start? What is important? What
will people want to hear? But its not like
something you can get totally wrong. If
you are telling your story and you miss a
bit out, only you know! Your audience is
oblivious to it! You will tell a different story
to different audiences as some stuff will be
more relevant to one audience and not to
another. Get a few stories outlined for use
in different situations.
So, lets start with a simple assignment
called My Story that I use with all my
Launchpad clients (Launchpad is my pro-
gram to help people that are unemployed
or facing redundancy to get their lives back
on track. See separate BEP article.)
My Story
This, on the face of it, seems a very sim-
ple concept, but it requires you to dig a
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 Storytelling
little more deeply into who you are, what
youve done, and what you want from the
future. The essence of the exercise is to
uncover what you are passionate about
and provide some focus for your future.
Generally, I set this as homework and
ask individuals to present to me at our
next meeting. If you want to engage with
me then you can always email me your
response: keith.grinsted@gmail.com
Who I Am
This is not my name is Keith... but rather
who you are as a person, what drives you,
what skills and abilities you have. What do
you have to offer to the world? You need
to dig deep on this. We seldom really think
about who we are, and the person we have
become. This is a very important process as
it will guide you in the way you think about
your future aims and desires. Its all about
what type of person you are. You may need
to spend a little time on this if you have not
stopped to think about it before. If youve
ever experienced or read about Cognitive
Behavioural Therapy (CBT) then youve
probably already done some of this to work
out who you are today. While it is focused
on reducing the perceived importance of
negative thoughts, it is also a great process
to help you understand who you are and
what you have to offer the world.
CBT is based on the concept that your
thoughts, feelings, physical sensations
and actions are interconnected, andthat
negative thoughts and feelings can trap
you in avicious cycle.
CBTaims tohelp you deal withover-
whelming problems in a more positive
way by breaking themdown into smaller
parts. Youre shown how to change
these negative patterns to improve the
way you feel.
Unlike someother talking treatments,
CBT deals with your current problems,
rather than focusing on issues from
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your past. It looks for practical ways
to improve your state of mind on a
daily basis.
(www.nhs.uk)
Im not suggesting you need CBT but
merely pointing out there are processes
out there to help you dig deep and uncover
the true you.
Where I Come From
Once again, this is not simply I was born
in Billericay, Essex. . . (yes, Im an origi-
nal Essex boy!) but rather how you got to
where you are today. What life experiences
youve gone through. What path have
you trod to get to where you are today.
This takes in what you have done both in
work and in your social and leisure world.
Include everything to begin with and then
eliminate those that are not so critical in
defining who you are as a person.
This can go back to your childhood. How
did childhood affect your life? Did you
have a great family life? Great holidays?
What was school, college, university life
like. For example, I realize by todays stan-
dards that I was bullied most of the time I
was at school, but in those days, you just
got on with it! It nevertheless must have
had some impact on me.
How has your career influenced who
you are today? Ive been made redundant
seven times. Do I see that as a negative?
No, instead, I boast that I have knowledge
and experience ranging across more busi-
ness and industry sectors than most other
people!
The secret here is to be honest with
yourself.
A Significant Achievement
I love this one! It really stumps some
people. If you have lived an average life
doing average stuff and dont feel youve
had much of an impact on the world, this
can seem a challenge. But, believe me, it is
not as difficult as you think. The stuff you
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