By Mohit Hira
I’d wager that everyone loves stories. And yet, not all of us are compelling storytellers. But does that mean you can’t create—or narrate— stories? That’s where Ravishankar Iyer’s 374 pages can help. Story Rules, which was “born over a cup of Irani chai and warm bun maska” in 2024, appears daunting at first glance. However, once you overcome trepidation, and get used to the structure of what appears to be an academic textbook but isn’t (by the author’s own set of disclaimers) this is likely to become your go-to companion for a range of stories. As one who has attended storytelling workshops, and has crafted a few, I found this book immensely useful.
From the written to the visual, from much-maligned data-heavy PowerPoint presentations to humorous hooks, Ravishankar Iyer lays out a plethora of navigational aids for a range of audiences. Indeed, he starts by emphasising the criticality of knowing your audience so well that you understand what can motivate them, and what could lead to rejection while pitching anything. Having spent years in advertising, I have seen how slipping up here can derail everything, regardless of how well prepared you are: indeed, it is tragic to see startup founders mass-mailing funding pitches to VCs without even trying to target or tailor-make their presentations.
Peppered with anecdotal examples, charts and references, it is tempting to try and devour the book in one sitting. That, I believe, would be a cardinal error. Story Rules is best consumed in chapters, with a pencil to annotate as you go along. Every chapter focuses on a singular aspect of a fundamental rule—there are only four broad rules, but the granularity with which the author has demystified these spreads them over 31 chapters (hence the book’s subtitle: 31 Timeless Storytelling Techniques to Win at Work) plus a bonus (you’ll have to pick up the book to discover this!).
To start with, as I’ve mentioned earlier, it’s all about knowing who you’re telling your story to—the audience. Once you’ve figured this, it’s time to choose your arsenal: what will grab attention, and make your story memorable. This can be done in many ways: the element of surprise, invoking curiosity (remember your child asking, “what happened then?”), the use of analogies to get listeners to relate to your story, and finally bringing the abstract alive with vivid examples. Openings and endings matter, always.
Then comes the why: why should your audience believe you, engage with you? Ravishankar Iyer quotes Maya Angelou, who many of us have leveraged time and again: “…people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” If you can get your audience to hang on to your every word, if you can get dry data to evoke an emotional response (and there’s a classic example of the front page of The New York Times from the Covid19 days) you’re likely to be in the home stretch of your goal. Two lovely abbreviations (WIIFY and WIIFU) bring these alive: What’s in it for you? and What’s in it for us? Finally, Ravishankar Iyer comes to the heart of the matter: trust. Integrity builds trust, enhances credibility, converts cynics into supporters, and lays the foundation for positive action.
From the late Dr Manmohan Singh to Steve Jobs, from Batman to Shah Rukh Khan, Nvidia to the Bhagvad Gita… the tiny tales embedded in the chapters are an ingenious way of demonstrating all that the author writes about: principles come alive, rules become relatable and the reader discovers an aha! moment that makes it easier to progress further along this book.
However, there are a couple of things I find myself disagreeing with.
One is the B2B versus B2C distinction the author makes upfront in his disclaimers. Having marketed for both sets of businesses, I can tell you that what connects the two is people: that is to say, people buy from people. You may be a large corporation listening to a pitch from a vendor, but eventually the decision-makers are human beings driven by the same basic emotions that Ravishankar Iyer dwells upon. And the other is an indexing issue: I may well be the only one who finds this a challenge but, given the number of extremely interesting and relevant stories within each chapter, I would have found a cataloguing under each of the four rules far more useful. But that’s me. Whether you’re a CEO driving change or an intern starting out on your career, stories will propel you ahead. And Story Rules may well be the fuel you need.
Mohit Hira is co-founder, Myriad Communications, and venture partner at YourNest Capital Advisors
Story Rules: 31 Timeless Storytelling Techniques to Win at Work
Ravishankar Iyer
Penguin Random House
Pp 400, Rs 699
