Turns out that stories are drugs.
Telling powerful stories is one of the six things every great communicator does. Why? Because our brains recognize that timeless pattern and wants to know what happens next.
In her latest book, Rising Strong, Brené Brown talks about how brains look for narratives, or stories, to bring about clarity: “Our brains reward us with dopamine when we recognize and complete patterns. Stories are patterns. The brain recognizes the familiar beginning-middle-end structure of a story and rewards us for clearing up the ambiguity.”
Even though Brown is talking about stories we make up to explain someone’s behavior, as in “Ted must have snapped at me today because his QBR went badly this morning”, the neuroscience applies to the human appetite for narrative pattern in any setting.
We pay more attention to stories because our brains crave and are satisfied by narrative patterns – whether we’re at the movies, watching YouTube or in our All Hands Meeting. The neuroscience behind why and how humans are pattern-making machines is fascinating.
Great communicators give people what their brains want. They tell them stories! This is how you captivate your audience. In the next post – three formulas for creating great stories.
[This post appeared on LinkedIn on 3.17.16.]
