The Power of a Story
Storytelling is an effective and powerful way of communicating ideas, writes Nicholas Ind, telling the story of the chocolate brand Tony’s Chocolonely.
KRISTIANIA TOOLBOX: Storytelling
The wrapper of Tony’s Chocolonely tells the story of how cocoa is produced by slaves.
Businesses need to do more than just define who they are and what they do. They also need to engage employees, customers and shareholders, by translating their purpose, values and actions into relevant narratives that enable people to express their identities.
Stories then are not simply functional but emotional instruments that create meaning and stimulate ideas by delivering logos (rational argument), pathos (emotional connection) and ethos (moral authority). What does this mean in practice?
Both start-ups (eg bbhugme) and well-established organizations (eg Rapha, Greenpeace, Telenor) create different sorts of narratives: foundational myths, values-based stories and everyday anecdotes. Some of these narratives will endure, but others, that fail to resonate, will disappear.
- Read also: Adidas’ Back to the Future Strategy
