Like it or lump it, we are all storytellers

Next time you’re working with a client on a speech or presentation and they say they’re not comfortable telling stories, gently point out they’ve just started telling you one: the story of why they don’t tell stories. It's a potentially intriguing and revealing story that could offer valuable insights into what storytelling means to them and why they find it so damn hard. Honour and respect their struggle, but encourage them to tell you more.

We are all storytellers. Stories are how we make sense of ourselves and the world. True, some of us do it better - and take more pleasure in doing it - than others, but we all do it; life would be unimaginable (literally and metaphorically!) without stories. We can all learn to be better storytellers, but the first step is acknowledging and accepting the centrality of storytelling to human experience.