Stories for Work

Chapter 2 Four types of stories you need in business

What stories do you need? Do you need different types of stories? How many of these stories do you need? How long will it take to find them? These are all common questions I am often asked.

Various authors have suggested the correct number of stories you need is between six and eight. Stephen Denning in The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling, for example, explores eight types of stories. So too does Valerie Khoo in Power Stories. In The Story Factor, Annette Simmons points out the six types of stories you need to tell in business, while in The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories, Christopher Booker outlines seven basic stories. (Though apparently Booker worked on this manuscript for 34 years, which is a long time for seven stories and my intention is to help you find stories faster than that.)

Outlining the four story types

The reality is that no right or wrong answer exists to questions about the number or types of stories you need in business. However, I like to keep things simple and efficient so in my experience I can say that you only need four types of stories in your business Story Wheel.

These are stories of:

1. triumph
2. tragedy
3. tension
4. transition.

All four types will include a mix of work and non-work-related stories.

Let’s look at each story type, and the different elements within them, in more detail.

The four types of stories are shown in the following illustration.

Triumph stories

These are stories of achievement ...