Inspiring Employees with Stories: [+ 3 Examples]

Why tell stories in business? Relatable stories can inspire your employees to overcome hurdles in both business and life. Share a story about the importance of having allies at work. Listen to a leader tell their story about coming back after a failure. Business storytelling is a way to address everyday challenges. And the business world is full of inspiring stories for employees.  

The most effective business storytelling reinforces a company’s culture and shared values.  Storytelling in business can provide common-sense solutions to issues affecting all employees— from new hires to executives. For example: 

• Onboarding stories help employees learn how to connect with allies. 
• Stories about resilience can help individuals and sales teams overcome rejection. 
• Stories about good decision-making can assist executives faced with departmental belt-tightening.  
• Sharing personal struggles can help destigmatize mental health. 

What makes an inspiring story for employees 

Storytelling is an art. An effective storyteller weaves the tale in a relaxed and entertaining way, as if speaking to friends. A storyteller who speaks from personal experience adds credibility to the story, especially in business. That’s why TED Talks are so powerful!  

 Every good business story has these elements: 

• The setup. When and where does the action take place?
• Who’s speaking and who’s driving the action?
• Is the story about overcoming a challenge?
• What’s the story’s goal or moral and what did the characters learn?    

Remember, stories are more than entertainment. Telling an inspiring story for employees provides information about the business and the company’s culture.  

Which story to tell 

Storytelling creates an emotional bond that encourages the audience to root for the storyteller and characters. Here are four types of business stories: 

1. Team Stories on how a change in one person’s actions can affect the entire team, for better or worse. 
2. Vision Stories encourage teams to work toward a specific goal. 
3. Values in Action Stories reinforce an organization's core values. 
4.  Who I Am Stories highlight overcoming adversity and building trust.

The following stories highlight some of these different types of business stories, involving well-known characters and companies. 

Who I Am: Jim Carrey’s Story 

Jim Carrey always believed he would be a star. Born in Canada in 1962, his family was of modest means. The family moved several times and at one point were forced to live in the family van. As teenagers, he and his brother worked janitorial jobs to help with their living situation. At 16 years old, Jim dropped out of school to pursue comedy — while continuing to work to help his family. 

 Despite the family’s hardships, Carrey was reportedly a funny kid, known for impersonating actors like Pee-wee Herman. Carrey also created comedy routines. At 10 years old,  he even mailed a resume to the popular Carol Burnett Show.  

 Carrey consistently visualized his life as successful. In a 1997 interview, Carrey told the story of writing himself a ten million dollar check for “acting services rendered,” postdating it for Thanksgiving 1995 and keeping that check in his wallet. 

 It would have been easy for Carrey to curse his luck and abandon his dreams — but he didn’t. He honed his skills as an impersonator, eventually moving to Hollywood. There he doggedly worked routines and small film roles, until one day he was discovered and encouraged by Rodney Dangerfield, who invited Carrey to open for him on tour. In 1990, Carrey’s big break came on the sketch comedy television show, In Living Color.  

 By 1995, the year of his postdated check, Carrey was a star, with three hit movies released the year before! Today, Carrey is accomplished as an actor, comedian, producer, and artist — and no one could have imagined his achievements given his early struggles, including a period of homelessness. His story is a powerful testament to self-confidence and perseverance.  

 For employees struggling with repeated rejections in some areas of business, such as sales, Carrey’s story can be an inspiration. Write a check for a million dollars or more, date it, put it in a wallet, and watch the story play out.  

 Values in Action: An Allyship Story 

Allies are people in one group who advocate for and empower those in a different group who may not experience the allies’ same level of privilege. Allyship is a way to break down bias, for example, it can be used to combat gender bias in the workplace. However, in a recent survey on allyship by All In, 64% of men perceive that they “mentor or sponsor women” while only 39% of women share that perception.  

 Luckily, that wasn’t the case for Ursula Burns at Xerox, an early leader in office and print technology. Ursula Burns’ story as the former CEO of Xerox and the first African American woman to lead a Fortune 500 company reflects allyship and inclusion as positive company values. During her long rise to the top, Burns discovered allies that would support her on that journey.  

 But her start in life was rough. Growing up in the projects on New York’s Lower East Side, Burns excelled in math. After earning a mechanical engineering degree, she gained an internship at Xerox in 1980. From there, her reputation for hard work and excellence began to grow. 

 After a 10-year slog, and with support from her allies, Burns’ efforts started paying off. She landed a key role as the assistant to a male senior executive. Then in 1991, Paul Allaire, Xerox’s CEO, tapped Burns as his right hand. By 1999, Burns was almost at the C-suite when Allaire named her as VP of Global Manufacturing. In 2001, Anne Mulcahy, the first female Xerox CEO, brought Burns on as a pivotal member of the leadership team. In 2009, Ursula Burns was named the first Black CEO of Xerox, where she remained for seven years.  

 In 2021, Ursula Burns wrote an inspiring story for employees in her book, “Where You Are is Not Who You Are.”  Throughout Burns' story of struggle, ambition, and success, allies played a key role. 

Failure-to-adapt: Blockbuster’s Story 

Blockbuster Video is a cautionary tale for any business. With more than 9,000 brick-and-mortar stores around the world, Blockbuster Video was the multi-billion-dollar king of the hill in the 1990s and early 2000s. So, what went wrong?  

 In a nutshell, Blockbuster management focused on building up its physical stores while missing the rise in streaming services. Blockbuster is a classic case of failure to adapt to technological changes with the rise of the internet.   

Comfortable in its position as the leading rental company, Blockbuster easily dismissed Netflix, a new upstart on the scene. In 1997, Netflix introduced a DVD-by-mail system to take advantage of the emerging movie technology. In 2000, Blockbuster turned down an opportunity to purchase the then-fledgling Netflix. 

 In 2004, Blockbuster tried its own hand at a DVD rental service, but legal battles with Netflix and poor management decisions presented challenges. In 2009 alone, Netflix earned $116 million through its streaming service while Blockbuster lost $518 million. Because Blockbuster management failed to prepare for changing technology, by 2013, Blockbuster Video was done. The moral of the story is that any company can go under if it fails to pay attention and adapt to change.  

Telling stories in business 

All employees need stories that reveal universal truths about their business, their customers, and themselves. But the skill of storytelling is not universal, by any means. Telling a good story is a skill that can, and must, be taught. 

 Does your organization need more storytelling in its culture? Consider making the art of storytelling part of your learning and development program. HSI Blue Ocean Brain has content that can help achieve these goals; schedule a consultation today.