Episode Details

Reflections from host Sarah Olivieri ...

There's a pattern I've seen over and over again when it comes to how leaders communicate…

They tend to share too much information and end up communicating too little.

More information typically leads to less communication.

And one skill to work on is to say less, but if you need to communicate something important, you can share more through the power of story.

Stories can build trust.

Stories can change behavior.

Stories get remembered.

Our brains are wired to hold information in the form of stories.

I recently had a conversation about the power of stories with leadership communication expert Robert Kennedy III, and it pushed me to think more deeply about how we, as nonprofit leaders, can use storytelling every single day to make our work easier and our results better.

Robert said something that stuck with me:

"Storytelling is important because it humanizes us. It humanizes every organization."

That word—humanizes—is everything.

When you humanize, you build trust.

Data matters too, but data should be part of the story, not in place of the story.

But our brains aren't wired for spreadsheets. They're wired for narrative.

When you share a story with context, characters, conflict, and conclusion, something powerful happens. The listener's brain begins filling in gaps. It creates images. It searches memory. It feels something.

And once someone feels something, trust becomes possible.

Trust is the real currency of communication and leadership.

Robert breaks strong stories into four elements:

• Context

• Characters

• Conflict

• Conclusion

When we lead with conclusions—"Here's the program," "Here's the new process," "Here's the solution"—we skip the human entry point.

And that's why people disengage.

Instead, strong leaders often start with the conflict.

• What problem are we facing?

• Why does it matter?

• Who is affected?

When people recognize themselves in the story, they lean in.

In my experience starting with the conflict makes introducing the context and characters easy.

The next thing to share is the process that was used to get to the conclusion. And once that is done, the conclusion is the last thing to share, and takes up the least amount of time.

So next time you need to communication a conclusion (a.k.a. A decision you have made) try this formulat:

Step 1: Share the conflict, context, and characters

Step 2: Share the process you used to figure out the conclusion. Include some wrong turns if you took them. For example: "we tried this and it didn't work so we pivoted" or "we considered x,y, and z, but decided they weren't the right approach for us".

Step 3: Share the conclusion

Robert outlined three core types of leadership stories, and I believe every nonprofit should intentionally develop all three.

1. The Personal Story

This is the story of you.

A moment of failure.

A turning point.

A hard-earned les