I am usually allergic to buzzwords. When storytelling became a popular metaphor for public speaking, influence, and persuasion I began to feel a little grumpy. But I have been released temporarily from my distemper by an article in the New York Times called What Happened to Obama, by Drew Westen, a professor of psychology at Emory University and the author of “The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation.”
In this article, Mr. Westen points out that Obama was elected to the presidency and given control of both houses of Congress to do the will of the people, which was to restore the rule of fair play to the American economy, and abolish the golden rule, which stipulates that he who has the gold makes the rules.
Whether you agree with the majority of the American people is not the point of the Times article, or of this post. The point is that we humans are designed to absorb information through stories. We tell ourselves stories about the past (history), stories about what’s going on in the present moment (news and commentary), and stories about the future (setting a course for a more perfect union). And, according to Mr. Westen, Obama has failed so far to tell any of these stories that he was elected to tell.
Stories have heroes and villians, but due perhaps to his conciliatory disposition, our President does not like to name names and point out culpability. He prefers a balanced approach and compromise, even though he was elected to clean up Washington.
Arthur Miller, the great American playwright, pointed out that when we elect our presidents, we are electing an archetype, a great father who will provide and protect, a hero who will create safety for us, and lead us into fights against those who mean to do us harm. In essence, said Miller, we elect a metaphorical killer, someone who is brave enough to step onto a battlefield, whether that be in the halls of Congress, the mountains of Afghanistan, or the bully pulpit of Sunday morning TV, take out our enemies, and come back with their scalps. Obama got bin Laden, but he has not taken the heads of those he was elected to neultralize (metaphorically!).
The present seems to be swarming with intractable problems. The future is a frightening blankness fraught with a range of horrific possibilities. We need and want someone to tell us a story about how we got here, how we can get out of this mess, what the future can be and how we can shape it.
I urge you to read this article. It is relevant to any speaker who is trying to get an audience to do something.