4: What is your story?
Last post of the 2010s decade.
What is the story you tell about yourself? It’s been one month since my last post. I was busy and have been traveling for the past few weeks and kept pushing my writing time for later. Did I really had not times or was I finding more excuses? It’s the end of the year and as many of you, I usually take this moment to reflect on the life I am living and the stories that motivate me.
Why stories are important
Our world is dictated by the stories we believe in. Most people are kind to others because they believe in God or Karma. Little kids are told to be good to be rewarded by Santa Claus, and people are more afraid of nuclear reactors than coal plants even though nuclear reactors have caused way less death than the second.
We like to see ourselves as logical creatures when in reality our brains are wired to act more based on emotions than pure facts. It’s because we have been taught throughout schools and in our professional lives, to build strong, well-reasoned arguments with a lot of evidence. But nobody taught us to talk the way our brains really work — even though that’s what we need to do to actually get things done.
Our brain receives and experiences information through a two-system model. “System I” is fast, instinctive and emotional and “System II” slower, more deliberative, and more logical (1).
System II is the doubting one. When you are solving complex issues he is the one in charge. His main function is to analyze and find what can go wrong. Sometimes you can be confronted with a situation and even though you have all the informations in hand you will still think “I don’t know what, but something here is wrong”. This is system II trying to protect you.
System I is the child in you. He is responsible to do the simplest tasks, it is your autopilot mode. He is the one which makes you start another relationship even though statistically all your love experience has been dramatic. He has been taught that everyone can find his/her soulmate, and this belief is so impregnated in you that he is convincing you against all logic to try again.
To persuade someone, or yourself, you need to speak as much as you can to System I, the child, who want to believe you.
Great entrepreneurs are able to persuade people to believe in their vision and invest, emotionally or financially in it. To do so they take advantage of the two-system model.
How stories are used in startups
Understanding the power of stories is important for every business, but especially for startups founders.
I have friends outside of the tech industry who often ask me why there is always that much hype in our industry. Contrary to other professions, you have a lot of entrepreneurs who write and share their journey. This is not always for purely altruistic reasons.
Launching a new product requires to take a leap of faith. You’re asking people to believe in something which has never exactly existed before. You are adding a tweak to what our brain is already used to, and want people to follow you on this unknown path, which is kind of mad. You are directly triggering system II.
To be able to convince people that your ideas are not totally crazy, you have to be able to explain your vision in a constructive way. This is where the storytelling skills kick up.
Every story follows the exact same steps :
The world is a certain way: describe your problems
Something changes: describe what you’re doing to improve step 1
The world is now different: thanks to you, the situation is better
Here are a few examples of Africans startups founders who have used storytelling to either raised funds or create awareness around what they are building :
Do the work to make your narration a reality
Once you have efficiently shared your story, which means that you know where you want to go, why and you are able to sell it to rally a team around you, here comes the most difficult part. Act upon it.
It’s so easy to talk. I know something about it, telling good stories had always been easy for me. I am so good at it that I often end up drinking my own kool-aid.
In 2020, I want to act more. I am writing it here to make me accountable. Luckily for me, I have friends who know my stories. I was convincing enough for them to believe in my goals and believe in me. They are keeping me accountable. I am grateful for them and I will work harder to match my talks.
But in the meantime, tonight is the new year eve. Let's have fun and celebrate a new decade. Next week, we’ll go again.
I wish you a happy new year, guys.
See you soon.
Love,
Kiyani
(1) Master the Art of Influence — Persuasion as a Skill and Habit
(2) Recommend reading: thinking fast and slow by Daniel Kahneman