144: Your Most Underused Leadership Tool Is Your Own Story

May 05, 2025

A study by Stanford University* found that stories are up to 22 times more memorable than facts alone, emphasizing the impact of storytelling on audience retention and engagement.

Today we are focusing on your most underused leadership tool: Your own story. Grab your coffee and join us as we dive into a few reasons WHY storytelling is so powerful and how it can help you build authenticity to lead your team better…

*(Source link: https://www.imi.ie/blogs/why-storytelling-is-the-secret-to-influential-leadership/#:~:text=The%20Power%20of%20Storytelling%20in%20Leadership&text=For%20instance%2C%20a%20study%20by,on%20audience%20retention%20and%20engagement)

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Episode Transcript

Episode 144 - Your Most Underused Leadership Tool Is Your Own Story

A study by Stanford University found that stories are up to 22 times more memorable than facts alone, emphasizing the impact of storytelling on audience retention and engagement.
*(Source link: https://www.imi.ie/blogs/why-storytelling-is-the-secret-to-influential-leadership/#:~:text=The%20Power%20of%20Storytelling%20in%20Leadership&text=For%20instance%2C%20a%20study%20by,on%20audience%20retention%20and%20engagement)

Let’s talk about it… Welcome back to the Fearless Feminine Leadership Podcast.

Today we are focusing on your most underused leadership tool: Your own story.

I’ve noticed that leaders often use other people’s stories to try to lead their team, and they neglect to craft their own stories as a leadership tool. But that doesn’t build trust or authenticity.

Let’s dive into a few reasons WHY storytelling is so powerful and how it can help you build authenticity to lead your team better…

1. Storytelling builds connection and belonging on a team
When the leader is comfortably talking about their experiences that have made them who they are now and why they lead the way they do is inspiring and motivating for a team.

Too often leaders focus on other people’s stories and neglect to develop their own.

Get started by understanding your audience and what experiences/stories could align with them. Once you know who you’re talking to - and what story you want to share - then you can start structuring your story.

2. Story telling creates a culture where it's safe to take risks.

When leaders share their personal and professional failures and mistakes and what they learned from them- it tells their team and clients it's ok to take risks. And how to handle failure when it happens. Authenticity is key.

3. Storytelling is a way to make sales without feeling salesy
Leaders who master story telling can make more sales without feeling salesy or manipulative. Your story is what connects your audience to you! It works for so many industries. We even include storytelling as part of our coach certification training...

Closing story:

When we first started in business back in 2014, we built our company on the stories of what we had overcome in our personal lives – health challenges, major life losses & grief, marriage issues. We were a Life Coaching company for women back then – and those stories made sense. However, when we rebranded and stepped into the leadership coaching world, we kept telling the same stories and it was NOT helping our business grow at all. In early 2022 we worked with a business coach who helped us dig into the leadership stories that we weren’t telling.

That was a game changer for us!

We started telling stories of how we started out in the professional world BEFORE we started our business. We shared the expertise we had in different industries – like the skincare/spa industry or the hospitality industry – and the more we told those stories, the more we began to OWN the expertise we had in business. The result? We began attracting high level clients that wanted the specific leadership coaching that we were offering. We also finally hit the six-figure mark as a business and our personal paychecks began to grow, too.

The moral of the story is this: Your Most Underused Leadership Tool REALLY IS Your Own Story.

Own it.

Share it.

And if you’re not sure where to start to become confident in your story, then click the link in the show notes to hire us and we will help you tell your story in new, powerful ways that build your credibility as the fearless feminine leader that you were designed to be.

144: Your Most Underused Leadership Tool Is Your Own Story

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