Notes
Listening to reply
If I’m working out my answer while someone is still speaking, I’m preparing rather than listening, and a good story is what lowers that guard.
Storytelling is a form of hospitality.
At its best, it creates the conditions for someone to enter, stay, and feel something.
And right now, that feels especially important.
We live in a time when listening has become rare. Not just across politics or culture, but in everyday life. At work. In relationships. In conversation.
Most people are not listening to understand. They are listening to reply.
I learned a simple way to notice this in myself: if I am already thinking about my answer while the other person is still speaking, I am not really listening. I am preparing.
That distinction has stayed with me, because I think it points to something storytelling can do that very little else can.
A good story lowers defenses long enough for people to actually receive something. It creates stillness. And in that stillness, connection becomes possible.
For brands, that matters enormously.
The right story does more than communicate a message. It creates the conditions for recognition. It gives people a way in. It makes listening more possible.
That, to me, is what makes it one of the most powerful tools we have.