It goes without saying that I am a fan of any CEO that uses storytelling effectively. Illustrating my point this week is Alan Joyce, who regularly inserts a story into his letter from the CEO in the Qantas magazine.

Stories in Communications

In the latest edition, Alan Joyce wrote about how he spends a lot of time talking to passengers. His aim is to hear the ‘raw feedback’. That in itself is worth admiring.

But what I like about this piece was his very succinct use of stories to bring his message alive.

His message revolved around what he appreciates most. This is based on the stories he has been told about Qantas employees who have gone above and beyond.

Three succinct stories

Alan proceeds to illustrate this with the following three stories in one paragraph:

‘Like the cabin crew member who, without being asked, paid special attention to a passenger with a broken wrist, right down to opening a bag of pretzels before handing them to her. Or the two engineers in Alice Springs, who had finished for the night but headed back to the airport, just in case, as soon as they heard that one of our international flights was diverting there because of a sick passenger. And the off-duty airport manager who, after disembarking a flight, noticed that a fellow passenger, waiting for his luggage, appeared to be distressed. When he learned that the passenger had misplaced his laptop on board, he took him back to the aircraft to help locate it.’

This is a great example of how you can insert very succinct stories to demonstrate your point.

Find and share stories

What are you doing in your organisation to find and share the stories of your employees living the company values?

You may be interested in the white paper, The Evolution of Organisational Change. It explores the concept of using storytelling to drive cultural and organisational change.