Position yourself as the hero
The best communicators I know use stories to get their message across, be it in the boardroom or at the bar.
Here’s a simple and very effective storytelling structure to use in any business setting or medium. I stole it from the Greeks.
Aristotle said “A whole story has a beginning, middle, and end.” Greek three act plays often followed a setup > conflict > resolution format, which in addition to creating and releasing tension (which makes people feel good), tapped into something deep within us: the desire to be, or be associated with, a hero.
Think of the three acts when you want to be memorable, get people thinking, or persuade with a story.
The next time you have to get a point across, before you start talking, reframe what you have to say as:
Problem > Solution (the hero) > Impact
Here’s a few examples:
Sales pitch: Here’s how we see your problem, here’s our solution, here’s how it will help you
Conference presentation: We were confronted with this challenge, here’s what worked, there’s the results
Meeting: It seems that if we’re going to solve this problem, we need a robust solution such as, which will have this desired outcome
Answering a question: Let me tell you the story of when we were asked to do that, we came up with this solution, and it worked (or didn’t) because...
Website About Us page: We saw this problem in the marketplace, and developed this solution, now everyone is happy. (Here’s an example).
You get the idea.
You can use it in the moment, in writing, in powerpoint presentations, on the phone.
It works because you can always position yourself as the hero, the solution provider, the problem solver. Just don’t make it all about you, make it about the problem, solution, impact.
I often place “we” or “our team” as the hero / solution provider.
You can train yourself to think this way on the fly, by preparing in advance.
Right now, before you go on with your day, think of the next time you will need to convince someone of an idea, make a presentation, or deal with skepticism. Go ahead right now and draft a simple three bullet outline to reframe what you want to say using the Problem > Solution (the hero) > Impact format.
Then commit to trying it out later today.
