Q and A with a Story Guru: Suzanne Henry: Storytelling will Become the Norm for Both Nonprofit and Corporate Communications

See a photo of Suzanne, her bio, Part 1 of this Q&A, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.

Q&A with Suzanne Henry, Questions 9, 10, and 11:

Q: Watch Tyler Cowen’s TED Talk and react to what the speaker says are the problems with stories.

A: This was a very interesting TED Talk. He gets into the different nuances of different kinds of stories. But in the end, I still say the common thread is people are changed. I do agree that stories can be used to manipulate over enlighten. (Politicians are famous for this.) So, I think it’s inappropriate to change or leave out details around something that happened just to shoehorn a lesson to make a point.

Q: What future trends or directions to do foresee for story/storytelling/ narrative? What’s next for the discipline?

A: I think storytelling will become the norm for both nonprofit and corporate communications and it will cease to be a separate communication discipline. In other words, storytelling will simply be a best practice in achieving greater reach, visibility, and influence.

Q: If you could share just one piece of advice or wisdom about story/storytelling/ narrative with readers, what would it be?

A: My one piece of advice is to remember that you are seeking to tell a truth, not every detail that got you there. Being overly accurate can kill the power of a story, weighing it down with meaningless details and slowing things down so much people lose interest.