We were recently sent an article Caring Ceo’s of the Future that featured in the August 2010 edition of Management NZ by Brenda Ward.  It explores how the role of leader is changing and what skills the future leaders of tomorrow need.  The article suggests that amoungst other aspects ”tomorrow’s leaders will… ask only ‘powerful ‘ questions, tell lots of stories and make decisions in split seconds”.

The article states that future leaders will be “reflective, ethical, transparent, authentic and trusted advisor to their team” and that “storytelling is a big part of the new leadership style”.

This article re confirms the trend we have seen  over the last few years -  the rise of business storytelling and the recognition by companies that it is a key leadership skill that needs to be taught and practiced.  We have seen many leaders use business storytelling to achieve real business results.  One such example was of a client of ours called Michael.  Michael managed 20 branches and for 2 years none of his branches ever met their quality sales leads targets.   Michael had tried everything  – logic, reasoning and even attaching their bonus to the targets…nothing worked.  What he did know for sure was that everyone hated that part of their job.

This is the story Michael told…

“When I was a kid I hated brussels sprouts.  When they were dished up for dinner I would push them to the side, knowing full well I would have to eat cold brussels sprouts at the end of my meal because my mother would never let me leave the table without eating all my vegetables.  One day I decided to eat the brussels sprouts straight away and then sat back and enjoyed the rest of my meal.  Do you think we can treat our sales targets like brussels sprouts?  We can’t leave the table until we have eaten them.  Do you think we could eat them fast and early at the start of the week and sit back and enjoy the rest of our week?”

The following week, Michael experienced the best improvement ever for the number of quality sales leads generated. The term “brussels sprouts” also became short-hand within the team for meeting their weekly targets!  They would say “How many brussels sprouts have you eaten? I have had three already!”

So business storytelling is definitely a leadership skill. The biggest mistake leaders make is thinking that the storytelling they do in their personal lives can be transported, as is, into business.  The most common feedback we receive from leaders is that they were unaware of the skill that is involved in storytelling….”this is a lot harder than I thought” is common feedback from our clients.

To read the full CEO’s of the Future article click here

…and to read about what leaders have to say about business storytelling check out our Interview With  section.