Introduction

Richard Branson, Dopamine, and the Kalahari Bushmen



The art of storytelling can be used to drive change.

—Richard Branson

On a tiny speck of land in the British Virgin Islands, a group of ambitious entrepreneurs share their terrain with its year-round inhabitants: flamingos, a red-footed tortoise, and 35 Madagascar lemurs. “There are only 200 lemurs left in the world,” Sir Richard Branson explains as a lemur attempts to jump from one tree to another. “And if he doesn’t make it, they’ll only be 199,” Branson jokes.

While the rare species of animals are a gift to behold, the entrepreneurs are hoping for a financial gift from Branson, the island’s owner. The Virgin Group founder owns all 74 acres of this lush, tropical paradise called Necker Island. It’s his home and his hideaway. On this day it’s also the setting for the Extreme Tech Challenge, one of the most unusual pitch competitions the world has ever seen. The finalists—some of whom I coached to tell their product story more effectively—are here to sell Richard Branson on their ideas.

Bill Tai, a career venture capitalist and a sponsor of the pitch competition, has been investing in companies since 1991. Tai has seen several waves of technology in Silicon Valley and he believes that now, more than ever, the ability to communicate ideas simply and clearly and to tell compelling stories is critical to standing apart in the marketplace of ideas. Technologists and scientists no longer talk to just their peers. If they can’t explain the benefits of their products to consumers, their ideas won’t catch on. They must translate the language of bits and bytes into a story every consumer understands. Tai has found a kindred spirit in Richard Branson, who strongly believes in the art of storytelling to drive change. “Telling a story is one of the best ways we have of coming up with new ideas, and also of learning about each other and the world,”1 Branson says. Branson intuitively knows what neuroscientists are confirming in the lab—our brains are wired for story.

In order to understand Branson’s belief that storytelling can make a positive impact in the future, we must look to the past. One million years ago humans gained control of an element that was critical to the survival of our species. The element helps explain why some pitches fail miserably while others succeed at launching a brand. It explains why many ideas fail to gain traction, while others trigger global movements. It explains why many leaders fail to inspire their teams, while others persuade people to walk through walls. The element is fire.

Firelight and the Kalahari Bushmen

Anthropologists point to fire as the spark that ignited human evolution. It makes sense because once our ancestors got control of fire they could cook food, which radically increased the size of human brains. Fire also warded off predators at night, another positive if you wanted to live to see the sun rise. Until recently, however, few scientists studied one of the most profound benefits of fire—sparking our imagination through storytelling.

Firelight extended the day, providing more time for purposes other than hunting and gathering. As people shared their personal experiences around the fire, they learned to avoid danger, to hunt more effectively as a team, and to strengthen cultural traditions. Social anthropologists believe storytelling made up 80 percent of the fireside conversations of our ancient ancestors.

In Namibia’s Kalahari desert, a group of nomads known as the Bushmen still spend their days foraging for food such as melons, nuts, seeds, and antelope. They are hunter-gatherers by day and storytellers at night. When the sun sets on the Kalahari, the Bushmen light fires and tell stories just as their ancestors did thousands of years earlier. During the day the Bushmen’s conversations are focused on survival: hunting strategies, resource management, mediating disputes, etc. Only 6 percent of their conversations involve stories.2 By night it’s a different story, literally. As the embers of the fire extend the day, the Bushmen devote 81 percent of their conversations around the campfire to telling stories. Men and women tell stories, mostly about people the other villagers know and humorous or exciting adventures. For the Bushmen storytelling triggers the imagination, creates bonds between groups of people who don’t know each other, and conveys information about institutions that are critical to the Bushmen’s survival.

Not all communicators have the skill of storytelling, even in tribal societies. Among the Bushmen, as among TED speakers or business leaders, the best speakers leave the audience rolling with laughter, still with suspense, or inspired to seek their own adventures. Camp leaders were often good storytellers. And the best of the best—the most admired storytellers—use “multimodal communication” such as gestures, imitations, sound effects, and songs. The Kalahari storytellers learned that they had to deliver information, convey experiences, inspire, and entertain. If people aren’t entertained, they stop listening and go to sleep, not unlike what happens in millions of business presentations given every day. Humans evolved to perceive stories as entertaining because if they didn’t pay attention, they might be a lion’s lunch.

“Stories told by firelight put listeners on the same emotional wavelength, elicited understanding, trust, and sympathy, and built positive reputations for qualities like humor, congeniality, and innovation,”3 says University of Utah anthropology professor Polly Wiessner. “Through stories and discussions people collected experiences of others and accumulated knowledge of options that others had tried. Night talk was critical for transmitting the big picture.” Wiessner, who spent three months living with the Kalahari in northwest Botswana and recording their conversations, says that “appetites” for fire-lit settings remain with us to this day.

The public’s appetite for story is what makes some people very, very rich. More than 2,500 years ago a rhetorician named Gorgias learned that great storytellers can inspire audiences. He traveled around ancient Greece teaching rhetoric, specifically arguing that adding emotional stories in one’s speeches can “stop fear and banish grief and create joy and nurture piety.” Gorgias helped people craft stronger arguments, which won him many admirers. He became one of the wealthiest citizens of Greece on the strength of his storytelling. Telling great stories still makes people wealthy, especially entrepreneurs with an idea to sell.

The Tools Have Changed

Back on Necker Island, Richard Branson has a smile on his face as he listens to entrepreneurs leverage the power of story to make him laugh, make him think, and inspire him to invest in their idea. The stories give Branson a new way of looking at the world and ultimately spark his imagination that world-changing innovations are not only possible in his lifetime, but that Branson himself can play a role in their development. Branson so loves storytelling around a campfire that he commissioned a local artist to build a beautiful hand-carved metal sphere to hold a giant fireball.

The firelight talk might have started 400,000 years ago, but our brains are still wired for story today. Of course, the stakes have changed. Instead of hunting for food the entrepreneurs pitching Richard Branson are looking for cash. And the tools have changed, too. PowerPoint has replaced drawing pictures on a cave wall. But one thing hasn’t changed, and it’s our desire—a craving—to hear captivating stories. Those who have mastered the skill of storytelling can have an outsized influence over others. According to Princeton University neuroscientist Uri Hasson, a person who tells compelling stories can actually plant ideas, thoughts, and emotions into a listener’s brain. The art of storytelling is your most powerful weapon in the war of ideas.

On Necker, in the 10 minutes that each entrepreneur is given to articulate the vision behind their idea or product, they must grab Branson’s attention, convince him that the idea has the potential to positively impact the world, and inspire him to make a substantial financial commitment to the company. Most people who are given 10 minutes to pitch their idea mistakenly assume that potential investors want to hear all about the financials, the numbers, and the data. They are only partly right. These entrepreneurs are neglecting the core findings of neuroscience: Emotion trumps logic. You cannot reach a person’s head without first touching their heart and the path to the heart runs through the brain, starting with the amygdala.

The Amygdala: A Storyteller’s Best Friend

For many years medical researchers believed that people could only get addicted to drugs and alcohol. Then, neuroimaging technologies emerged that allowed researchers to see blood flow in the brain revealing that humans are also addicted to activities like sex, gambling, food, and shopping. Some activities hijack the brain just as powerful drugs do. Drugs like heroin produce an especially powerful surge of dopamine—one so intense that a single hit can hook a person for life. Scientists are finding that the very same reward centers in the brain are also involved in persuasion, motivation, and memory. These findings have profound implications for your success.

For example, researchers now know that a thought can elicit a “somatic state,” meaning the thought triggers the same regions of the brain that would be activated if you were actually experiencing the event in real life. Let’s say you win $20 million in a lottery. You’d be euphoric because your brain’s amygdala—an almond-shaped mass of nuclei in your frontal lobe—would release a rush of the neurotransmitter dopamine, the pleasure chemical. Now close your eyes and imagine yourself winning the lottery. Picture the sights, sounds, and feelings around the event. Who’s with you when you learn the news? What is their facial expression like? What are all of the things you can now do with the money? You might not realize it, but your mouth will gently curl up into a smile. You’re getting a small shot of dopamine that’s making you feel good because you are activating the same regions of your brain that would be triggered if you had actually won. That’s the power of the amygdala. A great story releases a rush of chemicals like cortisol, oxytocin, and dopamine.

Thanks to neuroscience we’ve learned more about storytelling in the last 10 years than we’ve known since humans began painting pictures on cave walls. We now know which brain chemicals make us pay attention to a speaker (cortisol) and which make us feel empathy toward another person (oxytocin). We also know what triggers those neurochemicals. We know what stories work, why they work, and we can prove it scientifically.

Addiction to story isn’t a bad thing. If inspiring storytellers didn’t exist the world would be a far different place, and not for the better. For example, in a series of six speeches in 1940, British prime minister Winston Churchill succeeded in completely turning around public opinion in World War II. A nation that had resigned itself to appeasing Nazi Germany just 14 days earlier had decided to take up the sword and fight to the end after listening to Churchill’s powerful argument. Although Germany had conquered large parts of Western Europe, Churchill masterfully painted a picture of the British successfully defeating Hitler’s army. “What is our aim?” Churchill asked rhetorically. “Victory. Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival.” Through the storyteller’s gift, Churchill radically altered the destiny of an entire civilization. Interestingly, Churchill wasn’t born with the storyteller’s gift. Like mastering any art, he had to work on it. Churchill had stage fright early in his political career. So did Richard Branson, and the famous pastor Joel Osteen. Billionaires Barbara Corcoran and Warren Buffett had a fear of public speaking, too. Great storytellers look effortless because they put a lot of effort into being great.

History’s most inspiring leaders were storytellers: Jesus, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Ronald Reagan, Nelson Mandela, Henry Ford, and Steve Jobs. Many of today’s most inspiring entrepreneurs and leaders are also storytellers: Richard Branson, Bill Gates, Mark Burnett, and Sheryl Sandberg. Many of the storytellers featured in this book changed the course of history. Some are business heroes. Some inspired movements. Above all, they are all dream makers. They reach for the stars and inspire the rest of us to create our own moonshots. This book is about the visionaries and risk-takers who have mastered the art of telling stories and who inspire us to live better lives. Some make us laugh. Some make us think. Some make us change. Through artfully telling stories that inform and challenge, they build companies, drive the world forward, and make us feel like we, too, can achieve the impossible.

We’re All Storytellers

Storytelling is the fundamental building block of communication. In a world where people are bombarded by choices, the story is often the deciding factor in whom we decide to do business with. We’re all storytellers. We tell stories to sell our ideas. We tell stories to persuade investors to back a product. We tell stories to educate students. We tell stories to motivate teams. We tell stories to convince donors to write a check. We tell stories to encourage our children to reach their full potential. Learn to tell a story and your life and the lives of those you touch will be radically transformed.

The Storyteller’s Secret features more than 50 storytellers who have changed the world or impacted business thanks in large part to mastering the art and science of storytelling. Each storyteller falls into one of five categories intended to inspire you to think differently about your own narrative, and how you can build storytelling into your everyday communication:

• Storytellers Who Ignite Our Inner Fire

• Storytellers Who Educate

• Storytellers Who Simplify

• Storytellers Who Motivate

• Storytellers Who Launch Movements

Each chapter is divided into three sections. First you’ll learn about the storyteller’s own story. Most of the men and women profiled in this book were at one time common people who used storytelling to achieve uncommon results. The second section of each chapter examines the storyteller’s tools in more detail, why they work and how you can apply them. Finally, each chapter concludes with a short summary of the lesson learned—the storyteller’s secret.

Once you learn the storytellers’ secrets and why they work, you can apply the techniques to almost any type of communication: public speaking, PowerPoint presentations, blogs, e-mail, advertising and marketing, or simply pitching an idea over coffee at Starbucks. You will learn to frame an idea to inform, illuminate, and inspire.

In the next 10 years the ability to tell your story persuasively will be decisive—the single greatest skill—in helping you accomplish your dreams. Since the next decade marks the greatest promise civilization has ever known, the story you tell yourself and the story you share with others will unlock your potential and, quite possibly, change the world. Isn’t it time you shared yours?



Copyright © 2016 by Carmine Gallo