How these brilliant stories reveal the missing link between data: emotions
At its best, storytelling like this can influence not just our feelings but our actions too
WHAT YOU SHOULD SEE
The corporate world can learn a lot from documentary storytelling, especially that of Ken Burns.
The best historical documentary films don’t just tell us about what happened. They set their chosen story in the context of what is happening today so that we might be reminded not to make the same mistakes as previous generations. We learn, are influenced and change our behaviours. That’s the real power of storytelling.
Businesses and their leaders who want to tell their stories should emulate some of the techniques of documentary-makers especially, in my opinion, Mr Burns. The way he chronicles a period or moment in time – the pioneers of the Wild West, the American Civil War, Country Music, Vietnam or Muhammad Ali – enables experiences, emotions and implications to make the facts seem more real.
The pieces of data which he ties together are made more powerful through our empathetic responses. Their revelations are akin to therapy – in a good way! ‘Emotional archaeology’, as he calls it.
His latest is not just about the darkest period in living memory, it’s also about what’s happening today. It’s about us and our choices, as much as our ancestors and theirs.
The US and The Holocaust explores the world’s – especially America’s - schizophrenic attitude towards immigration. ‘Yes, we want to help people in trouble but, well, not everyone and definitely not that lot.’ As Jews first had their assets and rights stripped, then were imprisoned and murdered, the world looked on incredulously, stroked its collective chin and – let’s be honest – did as little as it could for immigrants, for as long as it could.
America, especially. The nationalist fears of a country built on mass immigration were stoked by right-wing politicians and doused only by a wary Franklin Roosevelt and his driven, compassionate wife Eleanor.
The stories are of people, not politicians. Dates mean less than recollections, insights are drawn not from political decision-making but from real experiences. And gradually we start to question ourselves and the attitudes we have to displaced peoples trying to find a home, to protect their families and to stay alive. To wonder if we are destined to repeat the mistakes of the past.
I recognise that it’s all far more complicated than that. But as a piece of storytelling, there are few things more captivating to watch right now than this series of films. And for all those in the business of business storytelling - who want to influence behaviours - it’s a perfect example of why people matter much more than data.
WHAT YOU SHOULD READ
One of the BBC’s greatest assets is its long-term foreign correspondents, who embed themselves in the culture of their new homes so as to bring understanding to their reporting. Too often, in brand storytelling especially, we forget the power of that word - understanding. Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, stationed in Japan for the past decade, is one of the best. In this farewell piece, he brilliantly blends his love for the country with his fears for its future. Like the best journalists, he doesn’t just see what’s happening, he has an acute understanding of what it means:
‘Yes, I worry about the future. And Japan's future will have lessons for the rest of us. In the age of artificial intelligence, fewer workers could drive innovation; Japan's aged farmers may be replaced by intelligent robots. Large parts of the country could return to the wild. Will Japan gradually fade into irrelevance, or re-invent itself? My head tells me that to prosper anew Japan must embrace change. But my heart aches at the thought of it losing the things that make it so special.’
WHAT YOU SHOULD BUY
I’ve been buried deep in incredibly dry and complex material about why business has the answers that government doesn’t – as my client passionately insists, the latter need to get out of the way and let the former work on its solutions. Thankfully, I found a brilliant story to get my head around instead. The Big Myth is a valuable analysis and sometimes critique of free market economics and the narrative tussle between the two sides. The story that emerges from the book by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway is both obvious and inspiring – if only the two could find some humility by working together, we’d all be better off.
And there go the flying pigs…