Real Storytelling Doesn’t Stop
Storytelling doesn’t stop in a crisis, it starts
Written by Tom Tapper
It’s well known that crises crush communications. Sometimes stifled by a fear of getting it wrong and appearing tone deaf to your audience. Often because storytelling is deemed non-essential to business operations. Too many organisations hit the pause button on telling stories when the going gets tough.
Channels that were once awash with inspirational stories, dwindle and diminish to functional marketing and communications. Meanwhile, while audiences crave guidance and inspiration, the organisations they look to are on mute.
This is of course understandable. If budgets have been slashed, or investments are volatile, funding a film or piece of journalism can seem frivolous. But it’s during these dark times that stories are most valuable to our audiences.
The truth is, during times of peace and prosperity, stories are important, but not essential. It’s in a time of crisis that stories become a lifeline. They show us a path through the uncertainty and unrest, and remind us just how resilient humans can be.
And what’s more, the most powerful stories emerge from periods of crisis. When people and places are tested to breaking point, when cracks appear in institutions, when any sense of hope evaporates; testing times expose deep truths and elevate heroic figures – reminding us of the resilience of humanity when pushed to our limits.
Take the story of the two men pulled miraculously from the rubble a staggering 11 days after the magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit Turkey and Syria, defying the “magical 48 hours” rule to find survivors alive. Or at the beginning of the Russian war with Ukraine, stories started circulating about “The Ghost of Kyiv” – a Ukrainian fighter pilot who shot down six Russian planes, keeping Ukrainian skies safe. Although late proven to have been a myth, the story raised morale and kept fighting spirits high.
While during the devastating tsunami in 2004, the Indonesian island of Simeulue had a drastically lower death rate, which locals attributed to the story of “Smong”, a tale passed on from generation to generation following a tsunami in 1907. The story taught islanders how to detect the early warning signs and, crucially, how to respond.
Photo credit: Luxe
Each of these stories serves a different purpose for different communities of people, but together they highlight the importance and effectiveness of storytelling in times of crisis.
This is why I believe so deeply in the Resilient foundations mission: to Unearth the Untold. Our global network of journalists, filmmakers and storytellers are busy unearthing ground-breaking stories. We now have an incredible slate for 2023, full of atomic stories that the world needs to see. In 18 months since starting, we’ve already had 10 pioneering foundations and philanthropists join the Resilient Circle – funding 15 high impact stories amplified via WaterBear to over 190 countries around the world.
But we’re only just getting started. If you’re part of a foundation, a philanthropist or a purpose-driven business who believes in the power of storytelling to pull us through a crisis, now is the time to reach out to Resilient to get a glimpse of our impact slate.
I’ll say it again, storytelling doesn’t stop in a crisis, it starts.
