Steven James - The Art of the Tale: Engage Your Audience, Elevate Your Organization, and Share Your Message Through Storytelling

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Steven and Tom are worldclass crafters of stories and experts at communicating them. The principles they unpack in The Art of the Tale will enhance any company or individuals communication strategy and overall effectiveness.

TONY MARR, award-winning storyteller and business consultant

Communication. Connection. Culture. None of these work without storytelling. In this important book, Steven James and Tom Morrisey teach us how to tell superior stories in superior ways by mastering The Art of the Tale!

ROWAN GIBSON, bestselling author and award-winning keynote speaker

The Art of the Tale combines the power of storytelling with traditional public speaking in a way that current generations can relate to. Communication is not simply the transfer of information. It is influence. The Art of the Tale recognizes that. I have been teaching speech at the university level for more than thirty years. This is the most practical and exciting book on speaking and storytelling that I have seen.

K. BRUCE MONTGOMERY, PHD, professor of communications, business consultant, and storytelling instructor

Steven and Tom have created an easy-to-understand reference book with great visuals and useful tips. More importantly, they deeply understand that we are all storytellers and work best when we are also active listeners. The Art of the Tale is a powerful collaboration between arts, literature, and communication.

MARGOT LEITMAN, award-winning storyteller and author of Long Story Short: The Only Storytelling Guide Youll Ever Need

If you want to touch hearts and minds, form bonds with listeners, and build that elusive quality known as brand, a well-told story is the key, and this is the book that helps you find that key.

MEG CROFTON, president (retired) of Disney Parks Operations, USA and France

As a storyteller who has performed onstage for more than a decade and the author of my own book on storytelling, Ive read every book on the subject. Most are philosophical, esoteric, and leave the reader with some interesting thoughts and theories but no actual tools for telling great stories. The Art of the Tale is not one of these books. Chock-full of specific strategies and lots of practical examples, it is a book that can objectively make you a better storyteller page by page.

MATTHEW DICKS, author of Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life Through the Power of Storytelling

The Art of the Tale is a powerful guide reminding us to listen to experts when it comes to telling stories. Thankfully, we have experienced practitioners in Steven and Tom to lead us on the path. This cowritten and friendly text examines the practical and purposeful route to using storytelling in the boardroom and beyond. After teaching storytelling for years, I will be sure that this resource is close at hand for future lessons. This book demonstrates how a story needs to be built for our listeners out of curiosity and shares how we can pivot the tales as we create and tell them. Most of all, this is a powerful book that reminds us that serving the audience of the stories is the goal. The practical lessons are echoed by tips, testimonies, and even cautions that will steer us toward using storytelling to meet our successes.

KEVIN D. CORDI, PHD, author, podcaster, and national storytelling consultant

I have walked many paths: coach, consultant, speaker, entertainer, writer, mother. This book applies to each of them. I dont care what title you carry beside your name, The Art of the Tale will be a solid tool in your box. An enjoyable read with many stop, think, underline it moments.

KIM WEITKAMP, storyteller, author, and creator of ProfitableStory.com

2022 Steven James and Tom Morrisey

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published by HarperCollins Leadership, an imprint of HarperCollins Focus LLC.

Any internet addresses, phone numbers, or company or product information printed in this book are offered as a resource and are not intended in any way to be or to imply an endorsement by HarperCollins Leadership, nor does HarperCollins Leadership vouch for the existence, content, or services of these sites, phone numbers, companies, or products beyond the life of this book.

Book design by Aubrey Khan, Neuwirth & Associates, Inc.

ISBN 978-1-4002-3312-0 (eBook)

ISBN 978-1-4002-3311-3 (TP)

Epub Edition June 2022 9781400233120

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022936277

Printed in the United States of America

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To Safaia and Emmaya:

I look forward to sharing my stories with you,

and being a part of the stories youll carry on.

Steven

To Linda, my lifetime collaborator,

Carly, our magnum opus,

and every heart that has ever opened

to receive a story.

Tom

Were fortunate folks.

Over the years, Steven and I have gotten to meet and, in many cases, become closely acquainted with some of the most highly regarded people in the corporate and literary worlds. Weve heard about their accomplishments and their regrets, and weve detected a pattern: the writers valued their ability to craft stories and nearly all of the executives we interviewed and worked with wished that they were better communicators. And the one communication skill virtually every one of them wanted to become better at was storytelling.

Thats not surprising. The essence of leadership is communication, and the essence of charismathe charm that convinces stakeholders to follow a leaderis the bonding experience that can be achieved through the art of a well-told narrative.

Stories connect with people in deep and powerful ways that can inspire, motivate, and impact them forever. Despite this, many business executives dont see themselves as storytellersor they think that telling stories is for other people. In truth, all of us are storytellers in our own unique ways (as youll learn more about throughout this book).

Steven and I have been honored to spend decades of our lives filling that need and helping leaders and professional communicators add the gift of storytelling to their repertoire. For the last twenty-five years, weve taught presentation skills and storytelling techniques to thousands of speakers, teachers, writers, and executives around the world.

Does that mean this book is intended only for corporate leaders?

Not at all. Educators of all types, civic leaders, pastors, teachers, camp counselors, scoutmasters, parents, and middle managerswho may hope to someday become corporate leaderswill all profit from reading this book. Whether youre preparing a business pitch, a conference presentation, a high school history lesson, or a Sunday morning sermon, you can benefit by telling stories more succinctly and impactfully.

With the unique perspective of a speechwriter and a professional storyteller, this book will help you understand the dynamics of an effective presentation and give you tools to elevate your storytelling to a new level. My chapters will take a deep dive into the intricacies of giving speeches that transform audiences. Stevens chapters will focus more on the nuts and bolts of telling stories that truly connect with listeners.