So what do “sticky ideas” have to do with “reluctant self-marketers”—a label I use with empathy and a great deal of insider knowledge? Chip Heath, a professor of organizational behaviour at Stanford and Dan Heath, a former researcher at Harvard and now a consultant, use “story” to convey the secrets of successful and memorable communication. The Heaths write (p. 16), “As we pored over hundreds of sticky ideas, we saw, over and over, the same six principles at work.” They go on to describe the six principles with fascinating research, stories, and examples. The principles are: simplicity, unexpectedness, concreteness, credibility, emotions, and stories. The acronym for their recipe is SUCCESs. Made to Stick is one of the most useful resources I’ve found—for those of us who are reluctant self-marketers as well as for the rest of you. You can visit the website for articles, interviews and Chip and Dan Heath’s blog.

Roger Carl Schank’s work originally focused on artificial intelligence (AI) and how computers could be programmed based on what we know about how human beings learn. Since then, he has shifted his focus from AI to human intelligence.

In the following quote from pages 84-85 of his book Tell Me a Story: Narrative and Intelligence (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1995), Shank says:

It is all well and good to say that understanding means telling good stories and to say that we respond to stories with stories, but this leaves out a key question: How do we find the stories that we wish to tell? And from this question there follows another question: How does one know that one has a story to tell? The answer to both these questions is one word: indexing. [Music to a librarian's ears!]

No matter how the story of Artificial Intelligence is told, no matter whose point of view is adopted about how the mind works or how a computer mind might work, the problem always reduces to search. A mind must be able to find what it needs to find, and it must know that it has found it. To tell a story, you must have labeled it properly, stored it away with a name that will allow it to be found, possibly many years later, when some process calls its name. If there is no way to find a story, it might as well not exist. If it cannot be found by reference to its content rather than by reference to a number or unrevealing name, for example, then it might as well not be there.

How often do you think of a story about an experience in your past in
response to a conversation or event today? Sometimes we remember things that we haven’t thought of for years. Shank’s comments highlight the importance of preparing in advance the stories that illustrate our strengths and expertise. Walking into a job interview or meeting with a potential client HOPING that you’ll hear something that will spark a memory of a perfect story is VERY optimistic … and probably not very effective. If your goal is to convey your best self, don’t rely on your indexing system! Stress has a way of wreaking havoc on human indexing systems.

So what’s the answer? Have a collection of your stories ready to draw upon! Spend time identifying your strengths, attributes, and expertise
well before you ever meet someone who might be interested. This is an exercise that will take more than an hour at a cafe. Ask your colleagues and friends for their opinions–as difficult as that might be. It’s human nature to play down our strengths and knowledge.

Once you have a list of strengths and expertise, develop a portfolio
(written to start, but you’ll need to be able to recall them at will) of
stories–experiences that illustrate your skills in action–not a
shopping list of events. These should be interesting stories that
communicate your emotion and enthusiasm as well as your strengths. They need not be long and might be only a few sentences long. My favourites are the stories that can be used to convey a range of different strenghts or positives. In fact, I’ve been told that my use of a particular story more than once in a job interview indicated an ability to perceive different aspects of a situation [yes, I got the job].

When you’re preparing for an interview or meeting, knowing as much as possible about what the interviewer or client wants is key to being
prepared with your best stories.

Good luck! Let me know how it goes.

Ancowitz offers nine excellent self-promotion tips for introverts and the first is:”You don’t need to brag to promote yourself. However, by preparing well for encounters in advance, you’ll have ready indisputable facts about your accomplishments and what you excel at and enjoy, plus you’ll feel comfortable stating them.”

Doesn’t that sound like the definition of a story? For those of us who feel uncomfortable conveying our strengths and achievements, there’s nothing like a story to capture the highlights. Stories are a delight for the listener and a painless way for the storyteller to communicate our interests and abilities.

Want a tip from this introvert though? Ancowitz is right. Preparing in advance is key. Don’t rely on your memory and dazzling communication skills to profile your strengths in stressful networking opportunities (which of course include the bus stop, the grocery store, workshops, and more formal networking events). Prepare by creating a “mental portfolio” of stories communicating your strengths and accomplishments that you can draw on when opportunity knocks.