Kendall Haven

When I presented a 2004 workshop at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, senior officials challenged me to prove that stories were a better way to communicate critical information to the public and to key decision makers. As a former research scientist, author, and master storyteller for almost 30 years, I welcomed the challenge to prove what I already knew to be true.

I interwove research from 16 different fields of science, and uncovered the first-ever scientific proof that story structure is evolutionarily hardwired into human brains. Evolutionary biologists proposed it, and developmental psychologists confirmed it: from birth human brains automatically make sense, understand, and remember through stories. Story structure is how we humans think!

STORY SMARTS

My research has identified the Eight Essential Elements that define effective story structure. As presented in my book, STORY PROOF: The Science Behind the Startling Power of Story that story structure is the single most effective and powerful delivery system to successfully plant your message into the mind and memory of your target audiences.

But “story” does not refer to the content, itself. Story is the structure, the framework onto which you hang the content you want to deliver, the way in which you organize, develop and present that key information. Master the structure of effective stories and you master the power of effective communication.

STORY SERVICES

I bring science to the world of story and story-science to the art of effective communications. I have cracked the story code that lies within human brains and that has unleashed a revolution in communications understanding that can guide your organization to successfully discover and develop the stories that widen and deepen the impact of your key messages.

The programs I provide for organizational clients include presentations, workshops, courses, and consulting services both for organizations as a whole and for key individuals within the organization. All organizational programs are customized to meet your specific needs, but center on three areas of story structural development:

• Story Secrets: Workshops, Mentorships, and Presentations to develop the skill and ability of your staff to develop and deliver effective story-based communications.

• Story Sleuthing: Consulting efforts to define, uncover, and develop your organizations essential stories that will powerfully and effectively convey your core messages.

• Story Strategy: Consulting programs to develop a corporate climate and culture of storytelling and the organizational structures to develop long-term organizational mastery of the effective use and potential of stories.