See a photo of Doug, his bio, Part 1 of this Q&A,Part 2, and Part 3.

Q&A with Doug Rice, Question 4:

Q: Watch the TED Talk by Tyler Cowen about the trouble with stories and react to what the speaker says are the problems with stories — especially as it relates to your mini eBook, An Introduction to Storytelling in the 21st Century: A Resource for Small Business Owners and Independent Professionals [Editor’s note: Visitors to the preceding link can get Doug’s ebook by subscribing to his newsletter.] The speaker would probably characterize the kind of storytelling you discuss in your ebook as manipulation. How would you counter that characterization?

A: I highly respect Tyler Cowen as an economist (my undergrad is in economics) and agree with much of what he has written. However, I find his arguments against storytelling to be perplexing. Storytelling is inescapable; it is hardwired into the way we think. Even if we think we are making rational decisions, those decisions are based stories we are telling ourselves. A judgment is merely a story about the facts that we’ve gathered.

To characterize storytelling as manipulative, though, would depend on the definition of manipulation. If any attempt at persuasion is considered manipulation, then I would have to agree that it is manipulative. But, given this definition, I also believe that it is impossible for human beings to communicate with one another at all without being manipulative. Everything we say to each other contains some element of “spin” in that we are expressing our judgments about what we are speaking. But there is nothing wrong with that. It’s just the way we are.

Literally, to manipulate is to alter an outcome. But I think that most of us understand it as lying or cheating in order to alter an outcome. Merely trying to persuade another is not something we typically view as manipulative. It’s tricking them that we frown upon. Tyler Cowen mentions companies that use slick advertising to trick us into buy things that aren’t what they’re cracked up to be. I do not condone this kind of storytelling.

At the same time, I don’t believe that this is the only kind of storytelling there is. I believe there are companies out there that take such pride in what they do that the advertising is merely descriptive of the value they have to offer. Do they want customers to buy the products? Absolutely! But, are they lying to get the sales? Absolutely not! Just as there is a distinction between fiction and non-fiction in the world of literature, storytelling for business can be either a lie or a truth. I think businesses can benefit greatly from a little more truth in their stories.