Quotes on corporate storytelling

What writers & others say about stories

“We’re supposed to be tellers of tales as well as purveyors of facts. When we don’t live up to that responsibility, we don’t get read.”

— William Blundell, author, The Art and Craft of Feature Writing

“Dogs sniff each other. Human beings tell stories. This is our native language.”

— Steve Denning, author, The Springboard

“We tell ourselves stories in order to live.”

— Joan Didion, author, in The White Album

“Narrative is writing rather than just reporting. A reporter gathers information and regurgitates it — sometimes projectile-vomits it — into the computer. A writer arranges the information in a way that draws pictures, evokes tears, holds the reader’s attention. A good writer does this … like telling a story over a cup of coffee at the kitchen table.”

— Suzy Fleming, features editor, Florida Today

“Narrative is a simple thing, at bottom: chronology with meaning.”

— Jon Franklin, Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer

“Well, if storytelling is important, then your narrative ability … is important too.”

— Howard Gardner, American psychologist

“Most journalism trades in stories so dull and familiar that it makes the world smaller and stupider than it really is.”

— Ira Glass, host, This American Life

“Sometimes reality is too complex. Stories give it form.”

— Jean Luc Godard, film director, screenwriter and film critic

“Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories you tell.”

— Seth Godin, best-selling author, entrepreneur and speaker

“Stories are what make us human. Opposable thumbs? Other animals have those. Ability to use tools? Ditto. Even language is not exclusive to human beings.”

— Andrew Hinton, information architect, The Understanding Group

“Scratch the surface in a typical boardroom and we’re all just cavemen with briefcases, hungry for a wise person to tell us stories.”

— Alan Kay, former Hewlett-Packard executive and co-founder of Xerox PARC

“The stories we tell literally make the world. If you want to change the world, you need to change your story. This truth applies both to individuals and institutions.”

— Michael Margolis, CEO, Get Storied

“Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world.”

— Robert McKee, theologian

“Sprinkle relevant anecdotes through your stories like chocolate treats to entice the reader to keep reading. We have to work hard if we are to hook readers and keep them.”

— Daryl Moen, professor at the University of Missouri School of Journalism

“Tell me the facts and I’ll learn. Tell me the truth and I’ll believe. But tell me a story, and it will live in heart forever.”

— Native American proverb

“All stories teach, whether the storyteller intends them to or not. They teach the world we create. They teach the morality we live by. They teach it much more effectively than moral precepts and instructions.”

— Philip Pullman, English novelist

“The lesson of preindustrial societies is storytelling. All our employees should be storytellers.”

— Anita Roddick, founder & CEO, The Body Shop

“There’s always room for a story that can transport people to another place.”

— J.K. Rowling, author, Harry Potter series

“Narrative is the poetry that connects the numbers, the music to go with the math.”

— Casey Seiler, entertainment editor, Albany Times Union

“I like a good story well told. That’s the reason I’m sometimes forced to tell them myself.”

— Mark Twain, American writer and wit

“Explanatory talk and statistics appeal to the intellect, but people aren’t inspired by reason alone. Compelling stories convey loads of information while also appealing to our emotions, ensuring that we not only listen, but get engaged and inspired.”

— Sangeeth Varghese, founder of LeadCap and author of Decide to Lead

“Many top executives, trained at conventional business schools, eschew storytelling and stick to a tight-jacketed professional approach. They lay out their vision, goals and results using data points, graphs, Excel sheets and PowerPoint slides. They transform the boardroom into a bored room.”

— Sangeeth Varghese, founder, LeadCap and author of Decide to Lead

“Great leaders — religious, political or business — realize [the power of stories] and are good storytellers. Jesus spoke in parables. Krishna and Rama came to life through the stories they told. The Torah …  is not a boring list of rules but a set of moral lessons and commandments intertwined with a wealth of life stories.”

— Sangeeth Varghese, founder of LeadCap and author of Decide to Lead

Need more inspiration? Read more quotes about storytelling