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The Story Factor: Inspiration,...
The Story Factor: Inspiration, Influence, and Persuasion Through the Art of Storytelling
by Robert Morris
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The Story Factor: Inspiration, Influence, and Persuasion Through the Art of Storytelling
Annette Simmons
Basic Books
Since the Garden of Eden, storytelling has been among the human race¹s favorite pastimes and most admirable achievements. The greatest stories range from those in the Old and New Testaments through Homer¹s epics, Aesop's fables, Greek tragedies, Shakespeare¹s plays, Romantic poetry, Russian novels, and countless other great works produced in the 20th century. Simmons' primary purpose in this volume is to explain various ³secrets² from "the art of storytelling² which will enable her reader to become more inspirational, influential, and persuasive when communicating with others. Although hers is not a manual on rhetoric, Simmons does succeed in demonstrating how exposition explains with information, how description makes vivid with compelling details, how narration explains a process or sequence, and how argumentation convinces with logic and/or evidence. Stories are not lectures or sermons but the most effective communicators are those who are consummate raconteurs. Every local chamber has a story to tell but it needs someone (ideally, everyone) within it to tell that story...and to tell it well. In this immensely informative as well as entertaining work, Simmons carefully examines six kinds of stories: Who I Am, Why I Am Here, The Vision, Teaching, Values-in-Action, and I Know What You Are Thinking. It would be a disservice to her as well as to those who have not as yet read her book to say any more about them. However, I do assert that no other single source is more successful when explaining not only why but HOW effective storytelling can (and almost always is) the decisive factor in communications whose objective is to inspire, influence, and persuade.
Concept Marketing Group, Inc.