On the heels of Memorial Day, business folks are probably still talking about the gnarly waves at the Outer Banks or the perfectly grilled T-bone.

Apparently, telling a good vacation yarn can be good for business.

MainStreet.com, a spin-off from financial news site TheStreet.com, has a neat read about how to tell a good tale.

“Storytelling is also an essential business skill, says Chip Heath, co-author of Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die.

They're also a great way of building rapport, says Lea Thau, executive director of The Moth, a New York-based organization that promotes and teaches the craft of storytelling.

"Stories help us to find the connection between us as human beings. You give your audience an opportunity to enter into the story, where their hopes are going to rise and fall with yours -- if you're running a marathon, they're going to be drenched in sweat."

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book recommendation
written by Tripp Fenderson, May 30, 2008

If you're interested in reading more on the subject, I just finished reading "What's Your Story?: Storytelling to Move Markets, Audiences, People, and Brands" by Ryan Mathews and Watts Wacker.

My educational background is cultural anthropology and mythology, so I found it a bit "thin" in terms how they addressed the role of mythology in corporate storytelling -- but it's a great read nonetheless.

I'd recommend it for anyone brand managers, sales and marketing teams, and most certainly, entrepreneurs.

http://www.amazon.com/Whats-Your-Story-Storytelling-Audiences/dp/0132277425

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