Karen Eber: How your brain responds to stories -- and why they're crucial for leaders | TED

How do the world's best leaders and visionaries earn trust? They don't just present data -- they also tell great stories. Leadership consultant Karen Eber demystifies what makes for effective storytelling and explains how anyone can harness it to create empathy and inspire action.

The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more. You're welcome to link to or embed these videos, forward them to others and share these ideas with people you know.

[carolynscott]

Had the opportunity to see her in person at a local library today. This video is amazing but the in person experience was even more so. I teach middle school and from the moment Karen first started speaking, I was taking in everything she said and imagining how it could apply to my classes and my ability to help better engage my students so that they can be more successful. You don’t have to want to be a writer to benefit from the ability to become a better storyteller.

[Piyussh]

Don't wait for a perfect story, take your story and make it perfect.

[Imbored]

This talk was more educational than all of my science classes combined of this week.
True power of storytelling skills

[jessijoy]

i love these meetings, i have 15 years, my language native r is spanish and is very exciting for my to understand interesting topics like this

[FoosballwithLinh]

still one of the best ted talks I've ever listened to

[annie]

Wow, I’m blown away. It’s so true, why leaders don’t tell stories and on Banking side, no one has time to share anything but data. Thank you for a great talk :)

[kinsmed]

A simple presentation. But it has the potential to be one of the most powerful.
I have a municipal interview tonight. Now I'm confident about ending with an anecdote.

[rhhiphb]

I like that she spent a fair portion of her speech clearing the misconception that decisions are made 'either rationally or emotionally'. In reality, our rationality merely fulfills the demands our emotions have already stated beyond our conscious awareness. This hierarchy is so deeply entrenched, you can even observe it when calculating cold math in your head: Solutions 'feel' right, they are satisfying, whereas mistakes are the opposite. Our unconscious emotion rewards or punishes us in each step of our conscious decision making or problem solving process; we are slaves to it yet allowed a soothing illusion of free will.

[kitoytek]

All my emotions suddenly burst out the moment she said Michelle is her daughter. That's a story teller.

[davidsovereign]

SO GOOD. And this is so important for me as a songwriter. Thank you for this.

[gbasandani]

Excellent coordination between sub conscious mind where emotions are stored and conscious mind which is rational by forming a story and make a convincing communication. Wonderful.
Love and Grace

[ayutari]

I listen to this and get inspired. Thank you so much

[jasonodell]

Great video. I found myself pausing and taking notes. Thank you

[ABhattacharya]

Amazing! What a brilliant presentation.

[saswatinayak]

A very good talk on, stories also communicate with the brain.

[amycarter]

You are an amazing story teller, I'm smarter just listening. thank you1

[ishamendhe]

YouTube always know what I want hear. I really need to hear this from long time ❤️

[oliviao]

Trust accomplishes 2 things. 1- taking advantage of a situation in which we provoke. 2- Coordinating behavior of logic within reason of a part of a larger caliber of self well being.

[andresencolombia]

I would never forget a company meeting that took place over 20 years ago. The new CEO wanted to reorganise the company and presented us with the story of an hypothetical company which introduced those changes. Few people did understand what it was all about but presented my resignation right after the meeting. The hypothetical company wanted to increase responsibilities with the same salary. In other words modern exploitation. The remarkable thing is that I still remember the details of the story and now I am aware of how powerful it can be to produce change at all levels.

[vaishnavaramjass]

Once upon a time I heard a story from TED and I got smarter