Are you old enough to remember the Vulcan Mind Meld from Star Trek? The moment where information, thoughts and memory were telepathically transferred from one being to another. Total fantasy, right?

Well, yes in the case of Vulcans and no in the case of transfer of information!

Dr Uri Hasson at Princeton University has made his life’s work to research the effect of storytelling on the brains of both the listeners and the speakers.

He placed a storyteller and listeners in an fMRI machine and scanned the brains during the telling. It shows that the same higher-order areas light up in both the speaker and the listener, they were metaphorically and literally on the same page.

Dr Paul J. Zak, also found that stories increase the release of the hormone Oxytocin – the love or bliss hormone that helps us feel connected to others.

So, as a business owner when we are talking to our clients and audiences we want to be able to help them feel connected to us and our offering. It is a vital step to engendering trust and developing the relationship.

Do you have a truthful, engaging story to help your clients get on the same page as you?

#storytelling#speakingatwork#neuroscience