Communicate with Logic or with the Heart?

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My friend, Roger Jones, has taught me a lot about how to best manage a business.  Here are his thoughts on communicating in business.  They are very valuable insights:

"If you think about it, the majority of business is based on communicating using logic, the language of the 'mind'.  That's delivering information, facts and intellectual interpretation.  There is typically little emotion displayed when we communicate using logic and we tend to talk like TV news-readers (fairly flat and not that engaging).  Those who use this type of communication hope you will understand and accept their message in terms of the data, statistics and case studies they use to support their argument.

Not surprisingly, those who use 'mind' or logic based communication rarely have their messages accepted by their audience, whether in a meeting with their boss or team, or when delivering a conference presentation.  And as leaders they tend to have little personal presence and impact.

However, the story is quite different for those who communicate with the 'heart'.  Their messages are more easily accepted.  Those who use 'heart' communication are those who inspire people, have greater gravitas and effortlessly persuade.

These people deliberately communicate on an emotional level.  They dress their messages in the narrative, and bring light, colour and rhythm to their spoken word. 

They are the storytellers.

Storytellers have been known for centuries for their imagination and wisdom.

Storytelling brings knowledge to life.

Great storytellers are invariably great leaders.  Inspiring and motivating people with their narrative.

They win hearts and minds.

Importantly storytelling as a tool for change will enable you to capture your audience so they are clear about your intention.  Effective storytelling wins the trust of people you need to involve in making the changes that matter.

So a suggestion - you might want to think how you can start to move away from logic and use storytelling more in your day-to-day business interactions to win hearts and minds, and so inspire performance and enable change."