President’s Update

Stories tell it all

We all know about the power of stories. Stories are what move us, make us feel alive, and inspire us.

They delight, enchant, touch, teach, recall, inspire, motivate, challenge. And maybe most important of all, stories help us understand.

According to author and consultant Bernadette Jiwa, the “success or failure of our ideas depends on us telling the right story.”

One of the realities we learn early in our Advancement careers is that we can only create the future we envisage by bringing others with us. And one of the keys for bringing others with us, to encourage them to share our vision, is storytelling.

At work, stories are how we change things. They help us imagine a future that does not yet exist.

Stories reinforce our beliefs about who we are and who it’s possible for us to become. They change how people think, feel and act.

When we’re promoting our school or university we usually prioritise getting attention and creating awareness. We forget about stories. Yet, it is not mass awareness that we need. We need trust. And it is stories that can help to build trust.

Internally, we instigate change by earning the trust of the right listeners and empowering them to act.

Our ideas succeed, our institutions advance, when we are trusted and believed by the right people. There is little trust without engaging stories we can believe in. Without trust there is no change and therefore no progress.

It is effective storytelling that can make the difference.

David Osborne
President
NSW/ACT Chapter Educate Plus