The biggest mistake that you can make is to believe that you are working for somebody else. Job security is gone. The driving force of a career must come from the individual. Remember:
Earl Nightingale, American radio personality, speaker, and author
Jobs are owned by the company, you own your career!
In planning for the future, you may find it helpful to share your background, expertise, goals, and dreams. Storytelling will help you build important relationships through social networks and attract the right employers or employees, mentors, and investors. What is the story you want to tell others about yourself?
Much has been written about how to tell a good story. We’ll harness 6 key ideas to help you tell your unique story – and everyone has a story.
1. Audience
One of the most important considerations is your audience. Who are you trying to reach? How much do you know about them? What are their challenges, past, present, and future? Why should your story matter to them?
Getting the answers may take a bit of research. The more uncertain or wider our target audience profile is, the more diluted our message will be. Admittedly, sometimes this can’t be helped if we need to reach a wider audience.
If this sounds familiar, it’s a fundamental sales principle. The more we show that we know the world of your audience, the more likely they will listen to our story and accept our message.
Nobody cares how much you know,
Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States
until they know how much you care.
2. Message
It helps to have a simple, clear, consistent message. What are the 1-2 sentences that describe who you are? Your resume or LinkedIn profile may have many subthemes – career history, education, volunteer work, etc. – but we are trying to construct a single picture in the viewer’s mind of who you are, a picture consistent with who you say you are.
The opposite of clarity is confusion, and confusion leads to fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) – in this case, about your story. If your storytelling is complicated or unclear, it will raise questions. When a product marketer claims their miracle cure can solve everybody’s ills, most of us would be skeptical about how exactly it could do this. Similarly, you may need to develop a substory about your complicated career path.
3. Structure
A good story proceeds from introduction to conflict to resolution. There are other structures, but for most people, a timeline is familiar and easy to follow.
What about the idea of conflict? Conflict is something that can draw your audience in; people are intrigued by it and want to see how it plays out.
In your story, conflict could be represented by barriers to a personal goal that could not be overcome until later in life. Or, it could be how you managed to deal with a challenging work environment (keeping names and companies anonymous). Or perhaps mid-career obsolescence drove you to acquire additional training. Everyone has stories like these.
Or be inventive and create an enemy, like recent layoffs or worker shortages. Dramatic tension is compelling. In one case, for a company that had no real competition, a business consultant even created a fierce imaginary competitor. Although employees knew this competitor was fictional, they came up with many innovative ideas when they were told this competitor had somehow shaved its production times by 2 days.
4. Content
In populating your content, you could use the traditional 5 ‘W’s’ – Who, What, When, Where, and Why. Resumes list the first 4, but usually not the fifth. Consider adding ‘Why’ if you think it would help explain your career path. Why did you jump from one position at Company A to a lower position at Company B?
Of the 5 ‘W’s,’ the ‘Why’ question is the only one that demonstrates an ability to reflect, strategize, and move on. Incidentally, these are human skills that cannot easily be replaced by automation.
When sharing content (LinkedIn, resume, pitching an investor, or in a conversation), you will inevitably raise unspoken questions like ‘What did you do in the gap between (date) and (date)?’ or ‘What do you want from me?’ Try to identify these, and don’t forget to address them at some point.
Emotion makes stories memorable. If you want to be memorable, connecting with your audience’s emotions can help. How can you do that when your story doesn’t seem that emotional?
One way to develop emotional rapport is to disclose personal valleys or vulnerabilities. This can be tricky; the extent to which you bare your soul depends on the situation. If you start telling your whole life story at a casual party, you’ll probably find yourself alone. In a business setting, you may open up just a little, then gauge the response before going further.
Sharing a humbling experience, however, is usually well received. It will resonate with your audience, since most people have had that experience or know someone who has. Their emotions will mirror your emotions when you share that anecdote and the insights you gained, and you will gain rapport.
Finally, put an exclamation mark on your story with resolution or victory. Depending on the message, you could end by painting a vision of how you would bring success to your future employer or investor or how they would help you fulfill a meaningful social mission. Finish on a positive note.
5. Competitive Analysis
There are plenty of stories on the internet, not just yours. What stories capture your attention? Why?
This exercise can be useful, but it does require some self-awareness. When you come across an interesting story, look at its composition to understand what made the story worth your attention. The same can be done for online videos, podcasts, and other modalities. There are many good resources on storytelling in marketing and sales.
Then put yourself in the shoes of your target audience. Why would they pick certain stories? Do they prefer certain formats or channels, and are these suitable to your message?
6. Practice
This may mean revising and practicing your story over many cups of hot tea or coffee. Once you’ve crafted a near-final draft of your personal story, don’t be afraid to test it with trusted friends and family. Their feedback will be more objective.
Ideally, the next step would be to test different versions of your story with someone who resembles your intended audience. If you’re targeting recruiters, check your story out with a recruiter. If you’re trying to launch a Kickstarter project, run your story by a focus group of consumers.
These tips are by no means all-inclusive. Google lists 1.28 billion references on the larger topic of ‘self-development,’ but (only) 128 million references on ‘personal storytelling.’
Do you have your own ideas about how to tell a compelling personal story? Please subscribe to The Renewable Human and leave a comment. Thanks very much for visiting!
