Storytelling for the corporate world

The Story Map: A Proven Storytelling System That Makes Your Audience Listen, Believe and Act

By Sandeep Nair

Published by Penguin

344 pages ₹499

 I had a wonderful history teacher at school (Vidya Mandir High School, Mylapore, Madras). It was always fun to get him to go outside syllabus and tell us a story. And he could tell a story like very few others I have met. R Srinivasan, or RS, as he was called, could keep a class of 30 students spellbound. I still remember a story he told us about a Roman slave who had a secret message tattooed on his head, which he protected on pain of death. His only statement to those who asked was, “Sir, shave my head”. No one took him seriously till he reached his intended destination, where the noble lord figured out the message and shaved his head to find out what was hidden below. As I searched for the origin of this story, I realised this may have just been one of RS’ own tales. 

 

The Story Map by Sandeep Nair took me on that nostalgia trip for many reasons and we will come to that in a bit. The book is riding the current boom on publications that teach us boring corporate types the benefits of telling a story. Most of these books borrow from the classic The Hero’s Journey by Joseph Campbell. In this case, the author has dived into numerous classics and more to tell a great story. 

The first part of the book sets the tone by presenting the three pillars of The Story Map: Soul, Body and Spirit. Soul answers three questions: Who is this story about? What do they want? What’s standing in their way. Body answers the questions: What shape will the story take? How do you create tension? How do you build connection? Spirit answers the final set of questions: Who are you talking to? What should they feel? Where and how are you telling it? 

The author explains that every story in the business context has to have a mission to fulfill. And there could be seven missions: Convince, lead, explain, connect, motivate, honour or repair. In a corporate setting, we are occasionally trying to convince someone, or we are trying to lead (our team, our associates) and so on. 

The book, or should I say the story, gathers momentum from Part II, where the author takes us into his concept of the “Soul”. He explains that there are nine dimensions that drive your character’s energy: Challenger, builder, bridge, innocent, transformer, guardian, seeker, guide and everyman (shades of the Jungian 12 archetypes). Each is explained wonderfully well with examples. 

Part III of the book looks at the Body of the story. We meet Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey here; but there are eight more structures that are presented: Problem-solution; before-after-bridge; three act structure; inverted pyramid; case study narrative; story spine; nested looks and petal structure. Each is illustrated with vivid examples. The next two chapters look at other aspects of the Body such as tension and movement tactics, and connection and resonance tactics. 

Part IV of the book is about the Spirit of the Story Map. Who is the audience and what do they care about? The next chapter presents 12 emotional drivers that include curiosity, urgency, surprise and so on. The section on Spirit ends with a chapter on context and medium: Importance of reading the room because the room always wins. 

There is also caution against spinning stories based on specious facts. Tell stories but don’t embellish it with lies, the author cautions. 

What is wonderful about the book is that it is full of little stories. Some are from Sandeep Nair’s own illustrious career across companies like Reckitt Benckiser, Procter & Gamble, and Tata Group. There are also so many stories drawn from business leaders, politicians, economists and more. Little illustrations or doodles add to the fun.   

This is a book that all young and not-so-young business leaders will find useful. They can take the learning from the book and apply it in their day to day life. And if one technique does not land well, you can go back and look for another. There are many good ideas in this little book waiting for you to dip into — be it a presentation to your internal team or to a potential investor or your board or to a large industry gathering, you can get them to say “yes” or cheer you loudly if you can present your case in a story format. Chances are that you will go back to this multiple times to become a better creator and teller of stories. 

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The reviewer is a best-selling authorof 12 books. His latest is the special tenth anniversary edition of Nawabs, Nudes, Noodles