Earlier this year in the middle of the pandemic, I was preparing for a Zoom hearing before a judge on a complicated and arcane arbitration issue, trying to decide how to proceed. How can I get the judge to understand how the arbitration agreement, the arbitration tribunal’s rules, and the case law all fit together? Will the judge “get it” over the online Zoom forum? Then I remembered what I always tell my consulting clients: “If you want your audience to understand something, tell it to them in story.”

Stories allowed our ancestors to express their emotions and beliefs in a way that both entertained and offered explanations to life’s great mysteries. Despite rapid advances in our modern world, and even pandemics, that seem to increasingly isolate us, we are still social creatures that want to form connections, share our emotions, and feel a sense of belonging. In a world dominated by impersonal emails, messages, and online hearings, people underestimate the communicative power that a clear and well-developed story holds.

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