Daniel Goleman

Author of FOCUS: The Hidden Driver of Excellence

Effective leaders are effective storyteller

are

Good storytelling is a hallmark of effective leadership. Its a medium that

allows leaders to move others. It also lets others know who the leader is. How
the leader thinks and feels. I recently spoke with my colleague Howard
Gardner for my Leadership: A Master Class series. Howard talks about three
kinds of story telling approaches. One is the ordinary story. These are the
stories that everybody tells, in this sector, in this domain, in this company, in
this school. Then there are the leaders who bring a new twist to these same
old stories. Theres also the visionary leader who creates an entirely new
story, which makes me think of the role of story telling in innovation and
creativity.
Below is a recap of Howards thoughts on how and when leaders might use
storytelling techniques to motivate and inspire.

I would want to make a distinction between the role of stories in the actual
creative process and then the role of stories as it were, spreading the
creation to others. I'm absolutely certain that a very important part of any
new invention, whether its mechanical or literary or artistic, is a narrative
vehicle which helps people relate to that. It helps them understand the ways
in which it is complementary to, or consistent with or directly in clash with,
what you did before.
I think the most iconoclastic painting in the twentieth century is Picasso's Les
Demoiselles d'Avignon. It was so shocking at the time that he kept it under
wraps for a decade because almost nobody could handle it. I think the
narrative around the introduction of something new is imperative. When it
comes to the actual creative process itself, I think that would vary
enormously.
If you were working in a science lab and you pick up something that's askew
and you decide rather than ignoring it or throwing it away, you really dig into
it, I think you could talk about a narrative in a kind of metaphoric way.
Namely how we used to phrase this one way and now we frame it another.
Its an interesting idea to see how far you can push this story angle not just in

terms of public presentation and convincing, but actually in terms of creating

the new ideas themselves.
In terms of startups, lets look at Mark Zuckerberg. He probably got the
Facebook idea working in his dorm room. We all will think it happened the
way it happened in the movie, Social Network, and he didn't need anybody
else for that. Once he began to become an enterprise, then clearly he needed
to be able to attract people. He also needed to have direct and indirect
leadership qualities to effectively tell his story.
Direct leadership means you know this is the person who is trying to convince
you of something, and you look at what he says, how he says it and how they
behave. Direct leadership can't survive the hypocrisy test, because if you
push something very strongly in your narrative but every day you're undoing
it in your behavior, then you have Newt Gingrich, who is not very convincing
any more because what he calls for is so violated by his own life.
Indirect leadership is simply creating some kind of a symbolic product. It
could be a literary work or it could be a mathematical equation. It could even
be a computer program which itself is so heretical against the earlier
standard that people consciously or unconsciously say God! We better pay
attention to this. There are some inventions that you don't need to mobilize
anybody else. I mean if you prove Fermat's Last Theorem and you publish it,
the work is done, but if you're trying to start a corporation, you need the
venture capitalists and you need people who you can count on to give you
honest feedback.
Entrepreneurs need to be very effective story tellers, because basically its a
promise of a possibility that they're selling to people, and they're mobilizing
people around them. If anything, I think this has probably become too
important. Namely, if you're a great story teller, you have more success than
warranted, and if you're a lousy story teller you may never get to first base.
What I would then say, and I don't know a venture capitalist personally, to
what extent are they smart enough to basically filter out the charisma and
look at the idea per se?

A properly told story is a joy for both the audience and the storyteller. However, all too often
stories end up being painful for the audience and embarrassing for the teller. This needs to be
fixed. The first step towards correcting your errors is to realize that an awkward, poorly told, or
otherwise inappropriate story is unacceptable and better left untold. Such a story will merely
cause embarrassment to the teller, the audience, and all in the vicinity who have the misfortune
of hearing it. Read below to discover the secrets to telling stories -- the right way.

1. Think Before you Speak. Some things are better left unsaid. Before you embark on your
story, always take a moment to consider whether the story should be told at all. You
should consider whether your "story" is actually a story. You must ensure that it has a
plot-line, keeping in mind that any real story has a beginning, middle, and end. A story
should not consist of a simple set of facts such as "My aunt has a cat," or "Yesterday I
went to the grocery story." Instead, it should have characters, intrigue, and a well-defined
purpose.

2. Consider your Audience. The success of a story is dependent not just on

the storyteller, but also on the audience. It is important to remember that
the primary purpose of a story is to bring enjoyment to the audience. As
such, your story should not make any members of the audience
uncomfortable, confused, or embarrassed to know you. It is never ok to
tell a story to one member of the audience which is at the expense of
another member of the audience, nor is it the time to have a conversation
which goes:
3. And remember, certain stories are for certain people. Before you tell a
story, ask yourself "Will my audience give a sh*t?" If the answer is "no,"
then don't tell it. Do not tell an intimate or personal story to someone you
are not very close friends with. Do not bring up inside jokes or events with
people who were not part of them. Do not tell a story to your audience
when there are people nearby, such as parents, teachers, or small
children, who make the telling inappropriate and embarrassing to your
audience, and hopefully to you too. A golden rule: If you have to whisper
it, tell it later.

In this extract from 500 Activities for the Primary Classroom, Carol Read tells us
how to incorporate story-based lessons and drama activities into the Englishlanguage classroom.
Storytelling and drama share a number of features which make it natural to integrate them during
lessons. Both build on childrens innate capacity for fantasy and imaginative play, and even very
young children can differentiate between the conventions of a story or drama and real life. Through
stories and drama, children develop understanding of themselves and the world around them. The
distance afforded by characters and events which are not real also helps children to explore
significant issues which are relevant to their daily lives, in a way that is safe and enjoyable.
In storytelling and drama, the usual norms of time, place and identity are temporarily suspended as,
for example, in a story which spans a hundred years yet takes three minutes to tell, or a drama activity
which transforms the classroom into a jungle and all the children in it to hungry lions. Storytelling
and drama are above all shared, communal classroom events which engage childrens interest,
attention and imagination and develop their language skills in a holistic way. They also appeal to

children with different intelligences and learning styles and provide a framework for fostering social
skills and attitudes, such as active listening, collaborating, turn taking and respect for others, in a
positive way.

Learning through stories

Most children start school familiar with stories and narrative conventions in their own language and
quickly transfer this familiarity into a willingness to listen to and participate in stories in English. Stories
provide a natural, relevant and enjoyable context for exposure to language and an opportunity to
familiarize children with the sounds, rhythm and intonation of English. The discovery and construction
of meaning is supported through things such as visuals, mime, gesture, voice and characterization,
and children also develop learning strategies and thinking skills, such as predicting, hypothesizing,
guessing and inferring meaning. Stories help young children to develop concentration skills and also
aspects of emotional intelligence, such as empathy and relating to other people. Stories also provide
a springboard for a wide range of activities which develop language, thinking skills, positive attitudes
and citizenship, as well as appreciation of other cultures, or understanding of content from other areas
of the curriculum. As children increasingly develop their ability to understand, retell, act out and/or
create their own stories in English, this also has a positive effect on their motivation, confidence and
self-esteem.
There are various possible approaches to using stories in class. These range from occasional use of
stories to supplement a topic or structure-based course book, to using a story-based course book,
and possibly supplementing this with additional stories as well, to basing the whole language
programme and syllabus on a selection of stories which the children study over a period of time, e.g.
two or three stories per term.
Choosing stories
Stories can be selected from a range of sources, including graded readers, story websites on the
internet or picture books originally written for children whose first language is English. Whatever the
source, the most important thing is that the story you choose is suitable for the children it is intended
for. You need to check that the content is relevant, interesting, appealing and memorable and, if the
story is illustrated, that the visuals are clear and attractive and will support childrens understanding.
The language level of the story also needs to be appropriate and to fit in at least partially with your
syllabus. Other features, such as whether the discourse pattern of the story is repetitive, cumulative or
includes a rhythmic refrain (and therefore promotes participation, aids memory and practises a
particular language pattern) will also influence your choice. Over time, it is important to vary the kinds
of stories you use, including, for example, traditional stories or, with older children, spoof or modern
versions of these, fables or stories with a moral, myths, legends, funny stories, rhyming stories,
stories with flaps or pop-ups, biographical stories, stories which help children understand their own
feelings, stories from other cultures and stories which are linked to content from other areas of the
curriculum.
Telling stories
Before telling a story to children for the first time, it is usually advisable to practise how you are going
to do this, including for example, mime or actions you plan to use to convey meaning, the way you are
going to use your voice, e.g. for different characters or to create surprise or suspense, and the places
you are going to pause or ask questions to encourage the children to show their understanding or
predict whats going to happen next. When you tell the story, you need to make sure that everyone
can see and hear you and, if you are using a picture book, hold this up and show each illustration
slowly round the group. With younger children it is usually best if they can sit on the floor in a semicircle near you and you may also like to introduce the story with a rhyme to settle the children before
you begin (see 6.1). As you tell the story, it is a good idea to maintain frequent eye-contact with the
children, in order to help them stay focused and attentive. You also need to give them time to think,
look, comment, ask or respond to questions and, if appropriate, encourage them to join in with you as
you tell the story. At the end, it is important to invite a personal response, e.g. by asking children if
they like the story, or have had similar experiences or feelings to the characters in the story, and be

ready to recast or extend their contributions in English as necessary. Above all, it is important to show
and share your own enjoyment of the story its catching!
Planning story-based lessons
As with other listening and reading activities, it can be helpful to plan story-based lessons following
the three stages of before, while and after. If you decide to use a story in an extended way over
several lessons, then this is likely to be a cyclical process which starts by creating interest, motivation
and attention in the story and predicting what it is about, followed by an initial telling of the story,
related activities and follow-up. The cycle can then be extended through a combination of retelling(s)
of the story in a variety of ways, interspersed with a series of appropriately selected activities that lead
children from an initial, global understanding of the story to using more and more of the language it
contains. In some cases, the storytelling cycle may lead to children producing their own versions of
the story or dramatizing some aspect of it in a role play.
With older children, as part of their understanding of storytelling, it is also important to develop their
awareness of how stories are constructed and to give them opportunities to create stories themselves.
As part of activities in the storytelling cycle, and in order to enrich and enhance childrens learning, it
is often appropriate to integrate storytelling with drama.

Learning through drama

Drama provides opportunities for multi-sensory, kinaesthetic responses to stories and engages
children in learning by doing at a number of different levels. At a basic level, through listening and
responding to storytelling and doing short, introductory drama activities, children use mime, sounds,
gestures and imitation to show their understanding and to make connections between language and
corporal expression. This helps young children associate actions, words and meanings and memorize
key language in a natural and enjoyable way. As children become familiar with the story, more
extended drama activities provide opportunities for recycling the language it contains through retelling
or acting out, either by the children themselves or by the children using puppets. In these activities,
the use of drama provides a focus and support for children to use (some) language from the story in
an independent way and also contributes to building up their confidence and self-esteem. At a more
sophisticated level, the use of drama techniques such as hot seating, role play or thought tunnel
provides opportunities for children to go beyond the story and explore the issues, problems or moral
dilemmas that it contains. This not only provides opportunities for children to use language they know
beyond the story script within a clearly defined framework but also encourages them to develop
critical and creative thinking skills and to work with others in a collaborative way.
In addition to classroom drama, it may sometimes be suitable to use a story the children have
specially enjoyed as the basis of a class play. The preparation of a class production for an audience of
parents and others is different from other classroom drama activities in this section, which put the
emphasis on using drama as part of a process of personalized learning. However, preparing and
performing a class play can also have enormous benefits for childrens language development,
confidence and self-esteem and prove extremely worthwhile and rewarding.
Managing drama activities
Drama activities with children can be risky in terms of classroom management and need to be
handled carefully and sensitively. It is usually advisable to introduce drama gradually, in activities
which are short and where you use techniques such as freeze or shaking maracas to control the
action. In addition to general points about classroom management, it is vital to show yourself willing to
participate in classroom drama and to model the kinds of responses you expect from the children.
Although it is important to give children encouraging feedback after doing a drama activity, it is best
not to look at them (too) directly during the activity, as this may unwittingly convey an impression that
you are judging them. This can be off-putting to some children, who will be drawn in naturally as long
as they do not feel under pressure. If you regularly use story-related drama activities with your

classes, over time you may be surprised at the increasingly confident and mature way in which
children respond.

Reflection time
As you use the storytelling and drama activities in this section with your classes, you may like to think
about the following questions and use your responses to evaluate how things went and plan possible
improvements for next time:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Interest: Did the story engage the childrens curiosity, interest and attention? Why? / Why not?
If so, how was this sustained?
Participation: Did the children participate actively? What factors encouraged or discouraged
this?
Creative thinking: How did the children respond to activities which invited a creative or
imaginative response? Did this affect the way they used language? If so, how?
Kinaesthetic learning: How did the children respond to activities involving mime and
movement? In what ways did such activities seem to help or detract from the childrens learning?
What were the reasons for this, do you think?
Collaboration: Did the children collaborate and work well together? What factors influenced
this?
Enjoyment: Did the children enjoy the story and related activities? Why? / Why not? What
effect did this have on their motivation, confidence and self-esteem?

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Choosing the right book may be the most difficult, and most important, part of teaching
literature. In a study of the increasing popularity of using literature in the second language
classroom, Radhika O'Sullivan (1991, Selecting Literature section, para. 1) observed that, "It
is all very well to point out the advantages of teaching literature but the key to success in
using literature in the ESL classroom depends primarily on the works selected." If the
selection is too easy, students will feel bored and you will have difficulty designing enough
activities. If the selection is too difficult, students will feel frustrated and you will be
overwhelmed. The following guidelines may help you narrow down the field of choices.
When evaluating potential books, look at:

The length and complexity of the story. Simple, short stories with repetitive language work
best for young EFL learners.
Does the book look overwhelming? Type that is too small, or too many words on a page, can
intimidate young students.

The level of vocabulary. How much of it will be review for your students? If students know
less than 75% - 80% of the vocabulary, they may lose confidence in their ability to
understand the story.
Illustrations should be interesting and should help students understand both the vocabulary
and the story.
Finally, select a book that you think you will enjoy. It will be difficult to convince students to
be enthusiastic about a story you don't like.
A selection of recommended titles is provided in the Appendix.

Lesson Plans
Choosing the Right Books in the Classroom

Related Content
Choosing the Right Books: Going to the Library
Choosing the Right Books for Your Child
Quiz: Choosing the Right Books
As educators, you already understand that books can serve multiple purposes, such as
educating children, serving as an entertainment tool, and helping children build selfconfidence. Books can foster healthy brain development, build closeness with caregivers,
and prevent early aggressive behaviors, which are all known protective factors for risky
behaviors, such as substance abuse later on in life.

Books can also help children deal with many emotional and social problems they may be
struggling with. Books can introduce difficult topics to help children understand they are not
alone in their fears or concerns. Books also provide an opportunity to discover what is
bothering a young child in a nonthreatening way, relieve stress, and promote good mental
health. Research conducted by Sesame Workshop revealed the following:

it is rarely acknowledged how young kids really experience stressful situations, or even
what a stressful situation might be. For young kids, it can be anything from losing a favorite
object to moving to changing a childcare provider. (See Resources: You Can Ask Helps
Children Cope With Difficult Times.)

Using books to help children cope with specific issues, such as bullying, peer pressure, or
new school transitions, can allow you to better understand and relate to your students
feelings. You can use books to give your students a chance to meet characters who may be
facing and dealing with similar issues. Starting a discussion about the characters in the book
is a great way to let students to share their feelings more openly and explore consequences
of behaviors in a safe environment, which will help you and your students relate better to one
another.

Suggested Guidelines for Making Book Choices

How do you make careful book selections for your classroom? There is more than one
criterion to use when making a book selection. Choose books:

That discuss subjects your students enjoy.

That enhance, amplify, or help explain an experience (such as a planned trip to the zoo).
That build self-confidence, thereby helping to create prereading and reading confidence.
That your students choose for themselves.
That are age appropriate. Books should not be too difficult or too easy and must be of an
appropriate length. Books that have words that are too difficult or too long, or that have
sentences that are too complicated, can make the child lose interest.
Putting It Into Practice
The activity below is designed to help you engage your students in an exercise that will allow
them to share feelings about their favorite books.

Purpose: To help children discover the wide variety of experiences and information available
in books and develop a lifelong love of reading.

For All Students

Materials:

Chart paper and markers

Construction paper, markers, and craft materials
Preparation:

Ask each child to bring in a favorite book or think of a favorite story to share with the class.
Or gather well-read books from your classroom or school library. Include a folktale, a
rhyming book, a book of shapes or colors, fables or books about a specific issue, a funny
story, and a book with no words.

Procedure:

Gather students in a circle. First, ask them when they like to read books or have books read
to them. (Answers will vary, but may include before nap time, at bedtime, or all the time.)
Then have them tell you what they like about their favorite books or stories. (Answers will
vary, but may include the pictures, rhymes, its funny, I know all the words, etc.) Encourage
each child to do a show and tell to share a favorite part of the story and/or a favorite
picture.
As students share, list these favorite books on chart paper. How many of the children are
familiar with all of these titles? Are any of these books in the school library?
Next, ask the students to name other books they know. As they do so, write these in
categories on the chart paper, for example, funny, nonsense, rhyming, animal stories, and
folktales. Lead a discussion about what the children may have learned from books. (Answers
will vary.) What more would they like to learn about?
Distribute construction paper and craft items, and have each student create a book cover
that describes a favorite book, including the characters, the main idea of the story, and/or the
setting of the story. Display these on a bulletin board in your classroom library or in the
school library.
For Older Students

Materials:

Paper, markers, crayons, and glue

One last stop before exiting our imaginary museum the final checklist item involves an
examination of the text font. Letter size and type, especially for younger children, should be

large and simple. Smaller, unconventional lettering distracts inexperienced readers and
interferes with comprehension. Do the spacing and placement of the words make the
passages easy to read? Can a young reader effortlessly follow the text along each page?
Publishers such as Scholastic, Sundance, and Newbridge have begun to recognize the
importance of providing beginning readers with series of short, simple informational books
that are easy to read independently. One such series, Scholastic Time to Discover, includes
titles such as Ants, Bees, and Butterflies (Berger & Berger, 2002) in which the font is large,
consistent in placement and spacing, and easy to read.

According to Wright (2002), using storybooks are the most appropriate content for young
learner language teaching programs in that stories are motivating to young learners and are
appropriate to their cognitive level. Stories serve as an authentic contextual framework
through which children are introduced to vocabulary and language structures and through
stories children develop literacy skills which help them later in reading and writing.