Decoding Stories

"For sale: baby shoes, never worn." is a six-word story, popularly attributed to Ernest Hemingway, although the link to him is unlikely. It is an example of flash fiction.

I love Seth Godin - the Godfather of Marketing - but sometimes his daily blog posts can be a bit cryptic and random (sorry Seth!). So, I’d like to offer a modest and apologetic review of his post today, "Decoding Story" and to connect what I think he’s saying to what I’d like people to hear me saying as Frances Fogel - Story Strategist.

Both his blog post and my interpretation are brief, because sometimes the best stories are...

Seth’s post delves into the intricacies of storytelling and its powerful impact on communication. He emphasizes the importance of understanding the structure of stories to effectively convey messages and connect with audiences.

Godin suggests that a well-crafted story has the potential to engage, resonate, and leave a lasting impression.

In this post, he outlines key elements of storytelling, such as the hero's journey, conflict, and resolution. He highlights how stories can be used as a tool for influence and persuasion, not just in traditional narratives but also in everyday communication.

I want to give a shoutout at this juncture to my friends over at Pip Decks. Their brilliant card deck, Storyteller Tactics is a great place to start if you’d like to explore story arcs like the hero’s journey, conflict and resolution some more… Here’s 15% of those cards on me. I was honoured to have been recently asked to beta test their forthcoming add-on deck all about Story Archytypes. Watch this space!

Anyway… Here’s how all of this connected to what I do:

I work with Founders and Leaders of purposeful businesses to explore their own personal creativity, expression, and human experience and to use that to make more interesting the stories they tell their potential clients, team, customers and in their local community.

Creativity and Expression:

Both Seth and I deeply appreciate the role of storytelling as a means of creative expression. Storytelling goes beyond traditional forms and can manifest in various artistic endeavours - these make for enjoyable work for Founders and memorable Marketing, Employee experience, customer experience and community relationships. The story doesn’t just need to inform your visual identity.

Connecting with Audiences:

By understanding the art of storytelling, Founders and Leaders can create narratives that forge really meaningful connections with others and not just pay lip service through shiny brand strategies to doing good in the world.

And I’d love to help…