Maria walked into the elevator at work. She went to press the button when her phone fell out of her hand. It bounced弹跳 on the floor and went straight down, that little opening开始 between the elevator and the floor. And she realized it wasn't just her phone. It was a phone wallet that had her driver's license, her credit信用贷款 card, her whole life. She went to the front desk to talk to Ray, the security安全 guard. Ray was really happy to see her.
Maria is one of the few people that actually实际上 stops and says hello to him each day. In fact, she's one of these people that knows your birthday and your favorite food and your last vacation. Not because she's weird怪异的. She just genuinely真正地 likes people and likes them to feel seen. She tells Ray what happened. And he said it's going to cost at least $500 to get her phone back. And he goes to get a quote引用 while she goes back to her desk.
20 minutes later, he calls her and he says, Maria, I was looking at the inspection检查 certificate证书 in the elevator. It's actually实际上 due for its annual inspection检查 next month. I'm going to go ahead and call that in today. And we'll be able to get your phone back and it won't cost you anything. The same day this happened, I read an article about the CEO of Charles Schwab, Walter Benninger. He's describing his straight A career at university going into his last exam expecting to ace it when the professor教授 gives one question.
What is the name of the person that cleans this room? And he failed the exam. He had seen her, but he had never met her before. Her name was Dottie, and he made a vow发誓 that day to always know the Dotties in his life. Because both Walter and Maria understand this power of helping people feel seen, especially as a leader. I used that story back when I worked at General Electric. I was responsible for shaping形成 culture and a business of 90,000 employees in 150 countries.
And I found that stories were such a great way to connect with people and have them think, what would I do in this situation? Would I have known, Dottie? Or who are the Dotties I need to know in my life? I found that no matter people's gender or their generation or their geography in the world, the stories resonated共鸣 and worked. But in my work with leaders, I've also found they tend趋向 to be allergic[医]过敏的 to telling stories.
They're not sure where to find them or they're not sure how to tell them, or they think they have to present提出 data资料 and that there's just not room to tell story. And that's where I want to focus today. Because storytelling说书 and data资料 is actually实际上 not this either or. It's an and(And)人名. They actually实际上 create this power ballad民歌 that connects you to information differently. To understand how, we have to first understand what happens neurologically when you're listening to a story and data资料.
So as you're in a lecture演讲 or you're in a meeting, two small parts of your brain are activated刺激. We're in a game-broken area. This is where you're processing加工 information and it's also why you tend趋向 to forget 50% of it right after you hear it. When you listen to a story, your entire brain starts to light点着 up. Each of your lobes圆形突出部（尤指耳垂） will light点着 up as your senses and your emotions情感 are engaged使从事于. As I talk about a phone falling and hitting the ground with a thud, your occipital and your temporal时间的 lobes圆形突出部（尤指耳垂） are lighting点着 up as though you were actually实际上 seeing that fall phone and hearing it hit with a thud.
There's this term, neural coupling, which says as the listener听者, your brain will light点着 up exactly as mine矿 as the storyteller说故事的人. It mirrors this activity as though you are actually实际上 experiencing经验 these things. Storytelling说书 gives you this artificial人工的 reality现实. If I talk to you about walking through the snow and with each step, the snow is crunching嘎扎嘎扎的咬嚼 under my shoes and big wet flakes小薄片 are falling on my cheeks, your brains are now lighting点着 up as though you are walking through the snow and experiencing经验 these things.
It's why you can sit in an action movie and not be moving, but your heart is racing as though you are the star on screen because this neural coupling has your brain lighting点着 up as though you are having that activity. As you listen to stories, you automatically自动地 gain获得 empathy同感 for the storyteller说故事的人. The more empathy you experience经验, the more oxytocin is released释放 in your brain. Oxytocin is the feel-good chemical化学制品, and the more oxytocin you have, the more trustworthy值得信赖的 you actually实际上 view看待 the speaker.
This is why storytelling is such a critical决定性的 skill for a leader because the very恰好的 act of telling a story makes people trust you more. As you begin to listen to data资料, some different things happen. There are some misconceptions误解 to understand. And the first is that data资料 doesn't change our behavior. Emotions情感 do. If data资料 changed our behavior, we would all sleep eight hours and exercise and floss daily and drink eight glasses of water, but that's not how we actually实际上 decide.
Neuroscientists have studied decision-making决定, and it starts in our amygdala. This is our Emotional EpiCenter, where we have the ability to experience经验 emotions情感, and it's here at a subconscious潜意识的 level where we begin to decide. We make choices to pursue继续 pleasure or to avoid risk风险, all before we become aware知道的 of it. At the point we become aware知道的, where it comes to the conscious意识到的 level, we start to apply rationalization and logic逻辑, which is why we think we're making these rationally-based理性地 decisions决定, not realizing that they were already decided in our subconscious.
Antonio Demasio is a neuroscientist that started to study patients that had damage损害 to their amygdala, fully functioning运行 in every way, except they could not experience经验 emotions情感. And as a result, they could not make decisions决定. Something as simple as, "Do I go this way or this way?" They were incapable不能的 of doing, because they could not experience经验 emotions情感. These were people that were wildly疯狂地 successful before they had the damage损害 to their amygdala, and now they couldn't complete any of their projects, and their careers took big hits击, all because they couldn't experience经验 emotions情感 where we decide.
Another data数据（datum的复数） misconception误解. Data资料 never speaks for itself. Our brains love to anticipate预期, and as we anticipate预期, we fill in the gaps间隙 on what we're seeing or hearing with our own knowledge and experience经验 and our own bias偏见, which means my understanding谅解 of data资料 is going to differ使…相异 from yours, and it's going to differ使…相异 from yours, because we're all going to have our own interpretation解释 if there isn't a way to guide给…导游 us through. Now, I'm not suggesting that data资料 is bad and stories good.
They both play a key role. And to understand how you have to see what makes a great story, it's going to answer three questions. The first is, "What is the context?" Meaning, "What's the setting安装? Who's involved包含? Why should I even care?" "What is the conflict争论? Where is that moment where everything changes?" "And what is the outcome结果?" "Where is it different? What is the takeaway?" A good story also has three attributes属性. The first being存在, it is going to build and release释放 tension张力.
So because our brains love to anticipate预期, a great story builds tension张力 by making you wonder, "Where is she going with this? What's happening next?" A good story keeps you, keeps your attention going, and it releases释放 it by sharing something unexpected想不到的, unexpected想不到的, and it does this over and over throughout the story. A great story also builds an idea. It helps you see something that you can no longer unsee, leaving you changed, because stories actually实际上 do leave you changed.
And a great story communicates value. Stanford has done research研究 on one of the best ways to shape形成 organizational组织的 culture, and it is storytelling because it's going to demonstrate证明 what you value评价 and encourage鼓励, or what you don't value评价 and what you discourage使泄气. As you start to write your power about LID, most people want to start with the data资料. They want to dig in because we often have piles of data资料, but there's a common mistake we make when we do that.
I was working with a CEO. She came to me to prepare for her annual company-wide meeting, and she had 45 slides of data资料 for a 45-minute presentation展示, a recipe for a boring, unmemorable talk. And this is what most people do. They come armed with all of this data资料, and they try to sort整理 their way through without a big picture, and then they lose their way. We actually实际上 put the data资料 aside在旁边 and they asked her, "What's the problem you're trying to solve? What do you want people to think and feel different, and what do you want people to do different at the end of this?" That is where you start with data资料 and storytelling说书.
You come up with this framework框架 to guide给…导游 the way through both the story and the data资料. In her case, she wants her company to be able to break into new markets, to remain competitive竞争的. She ended up telling a story about her daughter, who's a gymnast who's competing比赛 for a scholarship奖学金, and she had to learn new routines with increasing difficulty to be competitive竞争的. This is one of your choices. Do you tell a story about the data资料 itself, or do you tell a parallel平行的 story where you pull out points from the story to reinforce增援 the data资料?
As you begin this ballad, this melody悦耳的音调 and harmony调合 of data资料 and storytelling说书 come together in a way that will stay with you long after. Brianna was a college advisor顾问, and she was asked to present提出 to her university leadership领导 when she realized that a large population of their students with autism were not graduating授予…学位. She came to me because her leaders kept saying, "Present提出 the data资料, focus on the data资料." But she felt like university officials官员 already had the data资料.
She was trying to figure认为 out how to help them connect with it. So we worked together to help her tell the story about Michelle. Michelle was a straight A student in high school who had these dreams of going to university. Michelle was also a student with autism who was terrified恐吓 about how she would be able to navigate驾驶 the changes of university. Her worst fears came true in her first phone call with her advisor顾问 when he asked her questions like, "Where do you see yourself in five years, and what are your career aspirations渴望?" Questions that are hard for anybody, but for a person with autism to have to respond作答 to verbally用言辞地, paralyzing瘫痪.
She got off the phone, was ready to drop out until her parents sat down with her and helped her write an email to her advisor顾问. She told him that she was a student with autism, which was really hard for her to share because she felt like there was a stigma associated交往 just by sharing that. She told him that she preferred to communicate in writing. If he could send her questions in advance进展, she would be able to send replies back to him before they got on the phone to have a different conversation.
He followed her lead, and within a few weeks, they found all of these things they had in common, like a love for Japanese anime. After three semesters, Michelle is a straight A student thriving兴旺 in the university. At this point, Brianna starts to share some of the data资料 that less than 20 percent of the students with autism are graduating授予…学位, and it's not because they can't handle the coursework. It's because they can't figure认为 out how to navigate驾驶 the university that the very恰好的 thing an advisor顾问 is supposed to be able to help you do.
That over the course of a lifetime一生, the earning potential潜能 of someone with a college degree over a high school degree is a million dollars, which is a big amount, but for a person with autism that wants to be able to live independent独立的 from their family, it's life-changing. She closed with, "We say our whole passion激情 and purpose is to help people be their best, to help them be successful, but we're hardly giving our best service by applying this one-size-fits-all适合 approach靠近 and just letting people fall through the cracks. We can and we should do better. There are more Michelle's out there, and I know because Michelle is my daughter." And in that moment, the jaws颌 in the room, and someone even wiped擦 away tears, because she had done it, she had connected them to information differently.
She helped them see something they couldn't unsee. Could she have done that with data资料 alone? Maybe, but the thing is, they already had the data资料. They didn't have a reason not to overlook忽略 the data资料 this time. That is the power of storytelling说书 and data资料. They come together in this way to help build ideas, to help you see things you can't unsee, to help communicate what's valued评价, and to help tap into that emotional感情的 way that we all decide.
As you all move forward, shaping形成 the passion激情 and purpose of others as leaders, don't just use data资料, use stories, and don't wait for the perfect story. Take your stories and make it perfect. Thank you.