Explains how the way people tell stories about themselves influences how they are viewed by others in their business and personal lives and explains how to become an engaging story teller.

Telling a powerful story is one of the most important actions you can take in your business. Never before has storytelling been more needed. Even though we are more digitally connected than in any previous time in history, we are experiencing a pandemic of disconnection. Even though we have more virtual gatherings and communities, more people feel lonely and isolated than ever. While the world experiences multiple crises on a scale that has never been seen in -human -history - climate change, the global pandemic, leadership incompetence, -poverty, and social injustice - we need hope and meaning more than ever. And storytelling delivers just that. In this book you will discover that mastering storytelling is not confined to the lucky few. It is not dependent upon an innate skill set that you are either born with or not. It is not a cultural predisposition. It is not confined by racial or gender limitations. It is, in fact, achievable for all. It is a matter of -cultivating specific skills, awareness, and intention. The Story Advantage shows you how to: successfully navigate the dangerous waters of the modern era, create winning teams, and lead in a disruptive, unpredictable environment that requires innovation, creativity, and a different kind of presence thrive personally and professionally, creating phenomenal opportunities for yourself, your team, and your organization lead with the knowledge and confidence that nothing can unhinge, -unravel, or destroy your vision for a better world reap the benefits of knowing that you are creating a new world capture the most exciting ideas and innovations, create wealth and -sustainability, and drive social change The Story Advantage helps you discover your innate storyteller, understand the power of story, and discover your core story. You will begin to tell and live the stories that will impact and inspire your professional and personal life.

Story is the heart of language. Story moves us to love and hate and can motivate us to change the whole course of our lives. Story can lift us beyond our individual borders to imagine the realities of other people, times, and places. Storytelling — both oral tradition and written word — is the foundation of being human. In this powerful book, Christina Baldwin, one of the visionaries who started the personal writing movement, explores the vital necessity of re-creating a sacred common ground for each other's stories. Each chapter in Storycatcher is carried by a fascinating narrative — about people, family, or community — intertwined with practical instruction about the nature of story, how it works, and how we can practice it in our lives. Whether exploring the personal stories revealed in our private journals, the stories of family legacy, the underlying stories that drive our organizations, or the stories that define our personal identity, Christina's book encourages us all to become storycatchers — and shows us how new stories lay the framework for a new world.

A guide to developing storytelling skills; includes examples, techniques, and interviews with many storytellers.

This book explores how stretching stories through posthuman and autoethnographic perspectives can produce new stories that decolon(ial)ize traditional thinking and approaches to Early Childhood Education (ECE). It demonstrates how stories can provide a different way of knowing, and a way of knowing differently: a way of decolon(ial)izing current discourses of early childhood education within educational institutions. The book uses research and practice in ECE to act as a canvas, a context with which to explore how autoethnography can become other when viewed through a posthumanist lens. As a consequence the chapters and stories within allow for an interplay between the posthumanist and the autoethnographic, an interplay that allows for a very specific type of meaning to emerge; a meaning that traffics in numerous and disruptive possibilities rather than settled certainties. In so doing, authors rethink and perturb the notion of child-centered approaches to knowing, be(com)ing, and doing within the Early Childhood Education context.

Like Stephen Krashen's important work in The Power of Reading, Story Proof collects and analyzes the research that validates the importance of story, story reading, and storytelling to the brain development and education of children and adults. Accomplished researcher and storyteller Kendall Haven, establishes the need for understanding the research findings in neural psychology and brain development and the value of a common definition of story if one is to fully grasp the importance and necessity of story to the development of the human mind. To support his case, he reviews a wealth of research from storytellers, teachers, and others who have experienced the power of story firsthand. The author has collected anecdotal experiences from over 100 performing storytellers and from 1,800 story practitioners (mostly teachers) who have made extensive use of stories. He has read more than 150 qualitative and quantitative research studies that discuss the effectiveness of stories and/or storytelling for one or more specific applications (education, organizational management, knowledge management, medical and narrative therapy, etc.). Forty of these studies were literature reviews and comparative studies including analysis of over 1,000 studies and descriptive articles. He has also gathered research evidence from his own story performances for total audiences of over 4 million and from conducting story writing workshops with 200,000 students and 40,000 teachers.

THE POWER OF STORY is intended to give writers and storytellers a boost to their creativity by a thought-provoking look at the importance of story through history and how it might be used today to affect change in peoples hearts and minds. WE DO, AS a species, like our stories. It's in our DNA, I am convinced, to always give more than Joe Friday's "just the facts, Ma'am." We not only want to hear and tell what happened, but we also want to know the complete who, when, where, why, and how that goes along with the what... From the days of living in caves, man has presented a whole lot more than "just the facts" when talking about anything going on in the world. Even in those pictures painted in the dark, deep inside the caves of Europe and elsewhere, man was telling a story, for the artists did not only illustrate the hunt, they created a pictorial narration of what went on... The storyteller has been revered since long before we could read and write for just this reason. It was the storyteller, the bard, who kept traditions alive from one generation to the next. Their stories not only entertained; they educated. They gave us, as a people, a center and an identity. It was the storytellers, traveling from town square to village green, from stage to campfire, who told the stories that kept us connected-to one another, to our past, and to our future...And if you think the importance of story has been lost over the centuries, then you haven't attended a John Grisham book-signing event or waited in line at an opening of a new Star Wars movie...!

A straightforward guide to creating a great story that keeps your audience riveted. The art of telling stories has been around as long as humans. And in today’s noisy, techy, automated world, storytelling is not only prevalent?it’s vital. Whether you're interested in enlivening verbal communication, building your business brand, making presentations, sharing family wisdom, or performing on stage, Story Power shows you how to make use of a good story. Telling stories is the most effective verbal communication?if you know how to use it. Story Power provides techniques for creating and framing personal stories alongside effective tips for telling them in any setting. Plus, this book models stories with unique storytelling examples, exercises, and prompts, as well as storytelling techniques for delivery in a spontaneous, authentic style. Story Power is an engaging, lively guide to the art of telling stories from author and librarian Kate Farrell, a seasoned storyteller and founder of the Word Weaving Storytelling Project. In Story Power, more than twenty skillful contributors with a range of diverse voices share their secrets to creating, crafting, and telling tales. In this book discover: How to share your own coming-of-age stories and family folklore The importance of a personal branding story and storytelling marketing Seven Steps to Storytelling, along with helpful tools, organizers, and media options With a foreword by New York Times bestselling, award-winning author Susan Wittig Albert Praise for Story Power “You can read a lot of books that tell you how to tell a story. Unlike them, Story Power illustrates the art, with twenty-one diverse voices and fascinating tales that entertain as you learn how to create and craft personal stories of all types.” —Nina Amir, bestselling author of How to Blog a Book, The Author Training Manual, and Creative Visualization for Writers “Mining her own experiences, Farrell offers small narrative gems alongside craft tips, commentary, and writing samples from an impressive list of acclaimed writers. Learn travel writing from Lisa Alpine, for example, or keys to crafting adventure stories from Mary Mackey, or personal branding from Marissa Moss . . . . Engaging and accessible, Story Power will help you jump-start and sustain your writing practice.” —Mary Volmer, author of Reliance, Illinois

You're stuck in an endless, dull conversation. As the speaker drones on, your mind wanders, until you hear the words, "I remember once when I was.." Your ears perk up. You become engrossed. An anecdote unfolds, and suddenly, the speaker is alive and excited and you know just what he means. He has used the age-old technique of storytelling to powerfully get his point across, capturing your attention through a well-told narrative of personal experience that invited you to relate to his message on an intimate level. In The Power of Personal Storytelling, professional storyteller Jack Maguire explains how to mine your memories to communicate more effectively, enhance personal and professional relationships, and understand yourself better so that you can better understand others. Step by step, he illustrates how shaping and expressing true stories about our lives and those of the people we've known can:* connect us more vitally with others;* develop our creativity;* strengthen our humor, courage, and confidence; and* render our lives more memorable.Whether you're a teacher or a salesman, a minister or a parent, personal storytelling can help improve the key relationships in your life while investing your memories with more meaning.