In 1994, as a young 22-year-old second lieutenant, I was posted to an extremely remote area in northeastern India. My assignment with the Border Roads Organization involved building roads in the challenging mountainous terrain. Despite my lack of experience, I resolved not to reveal my nervousness and instead focused on observing and learning.
Fortunately, there was an old, wise, and experienced employee who became my mentor. Through careful observation and by asking questions, I started to learn the ropes of road construction. However, I soon noticed that several practices didn’t align with the established rules. When I sought guidance from my seasoned advisor, he confided that this had been the norm for a long time. He explained that no one had ever dared to challenge the status quo due to the fear of resistance from the local villagers.
I decided to step in and do the right thing. I made a few tough decisions and waited for the system to react.
One chilly morning at 7:30 am, I arrived at the work site near my base to find a large group of local villagers arriving in trucks. Soon, about 200 locals surrounded me, demanding that we halt our work and compensate them for some imaginary losses. The tension in the air was palpable.
In that critical moment, I relied on my instinct and divine intervention. I firmly and strongly commanded them to quiet down. The sudden silence allowed me to engage with the crowd. Instead of explaining our actions, I told them their method of coming together like this was intimidation and was unacceptable. I emphasized that there were better ways to resolve issues and assured them that I would collaborate with their leader to find a solution. However, I set a deadline: they had five minutes to disperse; otherwise, I would call in the local unit to manage the crowd. And then I paused.
The seconds that followed felt like an eternity. To my relief, one of the local elders began speaking to the villagers in their native language. Slowly, people started moving away, and their leader approached me to discuss the issues. I insisted that everyone leave the area and cease disrupting our work. Only then would I be willing to sit down and listen to their concerns.
When we finally sat down, we quickly agreed that the changes we had made were both necessary and lawful. The villagers had become accustomed to certain easy perks, and when those were discontinued, some bad influences had incited them to take this action. Their leader assured me that he would work with his people to ensure their cooperation.
From then on, whenever I passed through the village, the villagers would salute me and treat me with love and respect. A few months later when it was time for my next assignment, they gathered to garland me and bid me farewell….
The story above is true, yet surprisingly, it adheres to Joseph Campbell’s storytelling formula. In his book - “The Hero With a Thousand faces” - he asserts that almost all narratives follow this model. More on this later.
Why Stories matter
Words like ‘Stories’ and ‘Storytelling’ are commonly thrown around these days. They consistently rank high on Google Trends. It has become fashionable to incorporate them into our conversations. However, beyond mere trends, we all recognize the significance of good stories. In a world where people often feel bored and impatient, a well-crafted story can simplify complex ideas and make them easily understandable.
Stories creates powerful images in our brain and evoke emotions that makes the information memorable. We forget facts and figures because plain information does not trigger emotions. However, If you can illustrate complex concepts, such as how fire works, using relatable stories—like Richard Feynman does in this captivating video—you can convey intricate ideas effortlessly.
Storytelling is deeply ingrained in human nature. From ancient campfires to modern digital platforms, narratives have shaped our understanding of the world. They serve survival and promote social bonds. Our brains are wired to process stories, engaging both logic and emotion. So whether by the fire or through a blog post, remember that you’re part of a timeless tradition that transcends time.
The Campbell model
Every story has a hero who journey’s from an ordinary world to a special world. He gets inspired to do something big. He often gets some unexpected help from a wise person. He then takes a plunge into this special world and is met with resistance. He fights the negative forces and reaches the lowest point in his journey. Eventually he comes out of the crisis and wins.
the idea is beautifully explained in this video.
You can watch this TED talk by Andrew Stanton to learn more about the art of storytelling.
To sum up
Storytelling is a vital skill. Although we were never formally taught its fundamentals, by keeping a few key points in mind, we can cultivate this subtle art.
Our finite capacity to understand and retain information, can be significantly enhanced through storytelling. We may forget a short passage but can easily remember subtle details of a long story.
Best selling author Yuval Noah Hariri’s has the following to say for his extremely popular book - “Sapiens”.
“There is absolutely nothing there that is new. I did zero new research. . . . It was really reading the kind of common knowledge and just presenting it in a new way.”
Harari took existing knowledge and expressed it more clearly and effectively than anyone before him.
Good stories resonate with us deeply!