Your Leadership Story: Use Your Story to Energize, Inspire, and Motivate

Stories have power. They move people in a way that facts and figures can’t. Many leaders use stories as a tool, but leadership development expert Tim Tobin says most have no idea what tale their own leadership is telling. He shows how, by thinking of your career as a narrative—with a plot, characters, and an arc—you can increase your awareness of yourself as a leader and become more effective, insightful, and inspiring.

Using story as both a metaphor and a process for self-development, Tobin offers activities and questions that help you better understand your own leadership and how others perceive it. What is the plot of your leadership story—your overall goals and purpose? Who are the main characters and what roles do they play? How have the settings of your story influenced it? What are the conflicts that you need to resolve to move toward the ending you intend?

But you have to share your story to make it an effective leadership tool. Tobin gives detailed advice on framing your message, finding ways to communicate it, and understanding the role others play in furthering that message.

If you don’t tell your leadership story, other people will—and it may not be the story you want told. Taking control of your leadership story enables you to more consciously shape the impact you have in the world. You’ll be better equipped to make decisions, choose actions that tell the story you want to tell, make stronger connections to those you lead, and ensure that you become the kind of leader you want to be.

Timothy J. Tobin, EdD, SPHR, is the vice president of Global Learning and Leadership Development at Marriott International. While at Marriott, he has earned the 2012 Bersin & Associates award for Leadership Development Strategy Excellence, the 2012 Chief Learning Officer award for Innovative Practice, and the 2013 Bersin & Associates award for Enabling High-Impact Learning.