Finding Our Stories

”For sale, Baby shoes, Never worn.” – Ernest Hemingway.

When I listen to a great story teller it can unlock something within me, almost as if it awakens my soul, and this can have a powerful impact on how I’m feeling. I’m not an emotional type, however the best narrators can bring a tear to my eyes- this is the power of story telling.

In our day to day lives I feel that it isn’t intelligence that will get you where you want to go. What can help, in work, relationships, and life, is the art of story telling.

Training ourselves in becoming a master of explaining complex ideas with a simple story can improve how we distribute and retain information, this skill can be used in our working life like meetings and also in conversations with friends and family that can help build connections and bring us closer to our loved ones.

Don Valentine was the founder of Sequoia Capital, a venture capital firm that were early stage investors in companies like Apple Computer, Atari, Cisco, and Google.

There is a quote from Don that has stuck with me –– ”The art of storytelling is incredibly important. Learning to tell a story is critically important because that’s how the money works. The money flows as a function of the story.”

What Don is getting at, is that in business and life it isn’t your intelligence or smarts, it’s your ability to tell the story that will help you in life. Combining stories with what you already know can help you pass your knowledge on to others in a way that is memorable and lasting, and as we all know humans love a good story.

For me, story telling is something I’m working at and I’m trying my best to learn and compound knowledge over time. Whether it’s practicing at work or in discussions with my partner, I try to fit the pieces together.

I’m taking small steps to improve my teaching skills by incorporating a story telling aspect and I’m confidant that over time this will have a benefit. Maybe it will help with my jokes (although they have to be funny to begin with).

”The story teller is the most powerful person in the world” –– Steve Jobs.

Thank you for reading.

J.H.Repetto