Each month our Development Consultant Sally Ward recommends a resource to help you in your work. For January's theme 'Telling stories for Personal & Business Success', Sally takes a look at “Do – Story. How to tell your story so the world listens” by Bobette Buster – a must read if you want to learn more about how to help your members share their story.
"There are many books around that talk about the art of story-telling so when I was looking for a book to signpost to our members, the range of options was slightly overwhelming. Then I came across this book and realised it was coming at the subject from a slightly different angle, which was just what I was looking for.
The first thing I thought when I started to read this book was what a great name the author has. Bobette is a story consultant to major film studios including Pixar, Disney and Sony Animation. So, this woman knows a thing or two about story telling!
Do/Story is part of a series of books designed to help you learn a new skill and motivate you to practice it. The book is fairly short – about 120 pages – and really easy to read. Bobette breaks down the art of story telling into concise, interesting chapters which allow you to pick up the book and read a bit at a time or do the whole thing in one fell swoop. You don’t even have to read the chapters in order – each of them stands on their own. For example, chapters such as “The Gleaming Detail” explain how to create that “Aha” moment that will make your story unforgettable or “Hand over the Spark” where she talks about discovering the courage to become our best selves.
She also talks about the dangers of keeping your story to yourself “history has shown us that stories not told can become like an evil genie left in a bottle. When they are finally uncorked, their power to destroy is unleashed”. While that may sound overly dramatic, she’s really telling us that the amount of emotional energy it takes to cover up your story – or not tell it - can be damaging to your health and wellbeing. We are becoming much more comfortable with the concept of being authentic and sharing who we really are rather than trying to be something we’re not. Which is what our Purple Confidence toolkit is all about. Getting involved in running and being part of a network and engaging with allies and champions is a fantastic way to develop our disability confidence.
Many of the principles she shares in the book such as “bring yourself to the story – it’s as much about you as anything else” and “be vulnerable: dare to share the emotion of your story” will be familiar to those of you who have either attended a Purple Stories workshop or read the resource on our Member Zone. What I particularly like is there are anecdotal examples peppered throughout the book which everyone will be able to relate to as well as loads of exercises and practical tips to practice what you’ve learnt.
If you do find time to read it – and you like it - don’t forget to share the details of the book with your members
I know I’m going to refer back to it on a regular basis whenever I’m thinking about story telling. Hope you enjoy it."
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