Is Storytelling the Answer?
By Associate Professor of Communication, Rebecca Gill, Ph.D
There is no doubt that storytelling has become the latest tool deemed crucial to an entrepreneur’s toolkit. Articles emphasizing the value of storytelling are frequent in Forbes, Entrepreneur, INC., and countless blog posts across the Internet. This is perhaps because of the belief that, if done well, storytelling will secure resources, inspire customers, persuade investors, and help you to develop your brand overall.
But is there a “dark side” to storytelling that is being overlooked? A few commentators have already suggested that, unchecked, storytelling allows entrepreneurs and their companies to mislead clients and investors (for instance, Gottschall’s observation that the story created by Elizabeth Holmes and her company, Theranos, was a powerful factor in the company’s ability to gain support despite uncertainty around whether the technology actually worked).
In my Language, Storytelling, and Entrepreneurship course at Wake Forest this semester, we are exploring how stories are told in the entrepreneurial world, examining both the good and the bad. As a class, we read a series of business articles on storytelling and sought to understand how storytelling was usually pitched, and whether or not there were any potential downsides of the messages given to entrepreneurs. Our analysis surfaced both positives and negatives.
On one hand, storytelling was said to be a valuable tool in that it can create connection with others. This is important because it can enhance one’s brand and bring investors, customers, and other supporters on board, thus helping entrepreneurs solve a variety of problems. It was not seen as difficult to adopt best practices in storytelling, and we found plenty of advice for crafting stories, including needing to construct stories around familiar plot lines such as the “journey” or “discovery,” and with recognizable figures such as the “hero” or “villain.” Ultimately, knowing one’s audience is key in entrepreneurial storytelling, as you may need to shift the frame of your story depending on who is in the room (while still staying true to the core of the story).
On the other hand, our analysis left us concerned about the likelihood that entrepreneurs can fulfill this advice. Taken together, the advice presents contradictions such that an entrepreneur who tries to take on the advice may find herself at a loss. For instance, the advice tells us that entrepreneurs need to tell somewhat familiar stories that, at the same time, differentiates them from others. Moreover, they must build enough flexibility into the story so that the entrepreneur can pivot if and when the time comes. The advice also tells entrepreneurs that they should not include statistical or numerical data in their stories, but that their stories nonetheless need to present proof of the viability of their idea, which is often difficult to do without numerical evidence. Finally, the examples given of good storytellers that entrepreneurs should seek to emulate include the likes of civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr., author Ernest Hemingway, and Virgin’s Richard Branson—all larger-than-life and particularly gifted storytellers. We are left wondering if most entrepreneurs can even come close to developing the storytelling chops of these notable figures.
Regardless of the fact that storytelling is a valuable tool to create necessary connections, then, we would caution entrepreneurs about the dark side. Ultimately, the advice provides such an extensive list of “do’s” and “don’ts” that it’s difficult to get one’s head around. In the best case, the well-intentioned entrepreneur will find themselves navigating a complicated labyrinth of storytelling best practices. In the worst case, however, entrepreneurship as a meaningful way to create value and address pressing social issues is lost and instead, storytelling is wielded as a tool of manipulation.
All this is to caution students who are constructing and selling their entrepreneurial story to recognize that good storytelling takes time and care! Ask mentors or friends to listen to and (supportively) critique your pitch, and make sure that you have the evidence to support your claims. Finally, at the same that it is important to consider what your audience needs to hear, make sure to reflect on the values you want to bring to your venture!