I recently came across yet another example of the generous world of storytelling.

Paul Furiga and John Durante of WordWrite Communications are offering a whitepaper, Tales Worth Telling: How the ageless power of stories delivers business success, which they introduce like this:

In the 21st century, the traditional cookie cutter approach to communication is dead. In a world inundated by competing information and messages, the audiences you want to reach are hungry for meaning, yet they struggle to find it. You can provide meaning by telling your story, if you tap the ageless power of storytelling.

I don’t know the authors, who employ a method called StoryCrafting, but they provide an interesting paper. They offer these critical characteristics of persuasive business communications rolled into a storytelling paradigm:

1. The story must have context and be told by fluent storytellers.

What the messenger says about a product, service or business must have depth and provide a coherent whole to enhance audience understanding. Those presenting the story must be fluent storytellers who acknowledge the power of clarifying to communications effectiveness and have great command of their topic.

2. The story must be authentic — rooted in a business’ competitive facts and its core business purpose.

Authenticity in telling business stories is everything because it:

A. Builds audience trust, which

B. Determines how receptive an audience is to the story content, which is

C. Largely determinant of communication success.

3. Measures of story effectiveness must be frequent and appropriately used.

For hard-core organizational-story practitioners and enthusiasts, much of the paper may read like preaching to the choir. But newbies and veterans should glean good insights from it.

I look forward to learning more about Furiga, Durante, and WordWrite Communications.