Business and brand storytelling is all around us. To be honest, some of the stuff I’ve read is simply companies trying to reinvent themselves as ‘content specialists', strategists, native marketing leaders and the like. There are, however,  some great insights and resources, however, Peter Guber, Stephen Deening, Shaun Callahan, Jeff Gomez and Paul Greenberg for starters.

The one thing missing across much of the discussion around storyteller is the capability to write a good story.

As a writer of business stories – some as short as 350 words other as long as 60,000 words, of course I am focused on the art and act of writing for business. It seems to me that many companies in the content/story business have missed THE key element of their business. Storytellers.

By storytellers I mean those people who can pull together the diverse, complex and uncertain world that we all live in, across nations, world financial and political events and trends, and distil all this into a clear, relevant and meaningful piece of writing. And, I say writing not content quite deliberately.

Today we’re overloaded with content. We swipe-it away constantly with a flick of our finger. We make instantaneous decisions about what we want to take time to read. We usually read ‘content’ from people we know or have connected to. If it’s not what we thought it was, we move on.

I’m an old-school writer. I write what I am interested in and passionate about. For me it’s business history, family businesses and the Australian-Arab business connection. I’ve been involved in these three areas for over 30 years. I know my stuff and I know how to research, interview and write business stories.  I understand that in an increasingly complex world businesses reach for stories to deal with complexity.

The immediate past CEO of Deloitte Australia, Giam Swiegers articulated the power of business storytelling in a presentation he gave in November 2010 on the Power of story telling. 

The former Governor General of Australia, Dame Quentin Bryce also talked about the power of (good) storytelling during her Boyer Lecture on the struggle by women against abuse and inequality. In her speech she reinforced the importance of storytelling as a leadership skill by telling her audience of the priority given to it in the University of Sydney Business School Global Executive MBA program

Storytelling is the new black. 

Having a story to tell is one thing. Actually writing it in a way that’s interesting, relevant and will engage the audience you want to reach is another issue all together.

To quote Peter Guber. ‘People – you and me – don't buy a brand, a look, a trend or an idea. We buy into the way it makes us feel. A good story connects with the viewer/reader and changes how they feel.’

I help companies and people tell their story. I don’t just write down what they tell me, I help them define what their story actually is, why they want to tell it, who they want to connect with and how to write it so that it will engage people.

So, if you need some help, call or email me: Jaqui@globalstories.com.au