With the increasing interest in the use of narrative communication as a strategy for influencing health behavior, there has been an effort to develop standardized protocols for creating engaging stories and to determine the successful components of an effective story. Continue Reading →
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Education and Training—Solutions That Often Don’t Fit the Problem
Education and training are the most common solutions when we run up against a performance discrepancy—a situation where we are trying to get people to perform according to a set of standards, expectations, or rules and they are failing to do so. Continue Reading →
My name is Fred, I’m a Type I diabetic
My name is Fred, and I am a Type I diabetic. It’s been about 4 hours since my last shot of insulin. (In a 12-step parody, this is where you’d say, “Welcome, Fred.”)
I’m a grizzled veteran of the diabetes wars, having developed Type I diabetes (formerly called “juvenile diabetes,”) when I was eight. Continue Reading →
Doctors telling patients to lose weight is not enough
Doctors are being asked to change their behavior toward their obese patients through guidelines developed by a group of medical organizations that include the American Heart Association, the American College of Cardiology and the Obesity Society. Continue Reading →
Brand Storytelling: Core Power for Business
“As I look back on my four decades in business, I see that persuading customers, employees, shareholders, media, and partners through telling to win (storytelling) has been my single biggest competitive advantage.” Continue Reading →
Stories Are The First Simulators
What by a beautiful moon this morning. The moon, I am inspired by how it was that we succeeded reaching it’s surface decades ago. Continue Reading →
Stories are Infectious
Tell me a story.
How often have you heard that? As a parent, no doubt you have – many times from your kids. Hello, I’m Dr. Gerard Gibbons founder of emotivestorytelling.com. There is always a tug on my heart when my little girl says daddy, tell me a story. And of course I love tell her stories. This is Emotive Storytelling. Continue Reading →
Emotive Storytelling and The Challenge of Change
What is change? Most agree that “change” is the only permanent aspect of the universe.
Scientists acknowledge that matter changes — matter is the elementary substance of life. Evolutionary biologists tell us that our survival as a species, has depended on genetic changes. Over the ages, humans have had to adapt to a constantly changing environment.
And on the individual level, from the moment we’re born and throughout life, our physical body is undergoing constant change. So, we seem to have no problem accepting change as a fact of life.
Or do we? When it comes to the nature of the mind and human behavior change – its a different story.
It’s hard to change that aspect of who we are. That’s the challenge of change. Many of us think it’s too impractical or demanding. And when we do change occasionally, it seems most often – it’s a response to events or at the urging of others.
The 20th Century Indian and World Philosopher Krishnamurti – said it this way: “We must see the importance and absolute necessity of change. Changing ourselves in relationships, in our activities and in the process of our thinking. We all desire to help the world, but we never begin with ourselves.”
Think about it. Trying to change society while leaving individuals who make up society “unchanged”, is not only unproductive, it’s naïve.
Krishnamurti goes on to say “We want to reform the world, but the fundamental change must first take place within ourselves.” This means “…a change in our orientation, in our outlook, in our values, in our contacts, in the manner of our behavior and in the way of our thinking.”
No place is this more important than in regard to behavior change.
“Stories are instruments of change.” That was said by American philosopher Kenneth Burke. I agree with him and Krishnamurti.
Stories are capable of driving change in us. We are moved by them and make sense of our world through them. They can initiate change in our families and relationships. They can change understanding in our patients, customers and clients.
Stories open the door to the possibility. They enable us to be receptive to different viewpoints, to the lessons of others and to the value of making changes in our behavior.
In fact, stories may be the most effective way into the mind that will get us to even consider changing at all.
Since change is a fact of life perhaps you should help it happen with a story. You may go a lot farther with whatever you are trying to change. Something to consider.
Behavior Change through Narrative Communication
Narrative Communication and Behavior Change through Emotive Storytelling
Inspired Listening
We’ve all faced a scenario like this: we sit through a meeting, presentation or conference, listen to catch what we can, take lots of notes, and then think to ourselves “Good—I got it” as the situation ends.
But did we really?
Did we understand what the speaker was trying to communicate?
Emotive Storytelling: The Me To We Factor
Let me tell you a story about what a guy named Peter Guber has learned about storytelling. Peter Guber is a successful film producer whose films have earned over 3 billion dollars and have captured 50 Academy Award nominations. He is also an owner of two major league sports franchises. So he’s got some cred. Continue Reading →