stories as motivation

As a follow-up to "what do bestsellers tell us about society?", I thought I'd share a couple of relevant posts by Tim O'Reilly in the last week.  Somehow I often find his posts highly relevant to my perspective and sometimes even my research.  First, "The Techmeme Leaderboard: The Enduring Appeal of the Bestseller List" is an alternate angle on what bestsellers tell us about society, and precisely why they can be used as such a lens.  Or at least that's one thing to take from it!

Second, today he posted a lovely example of the motivation provided by stories I spoke of at the end of my piece:

Few business leaders appreciate the power of stories to connect with their audiences. A few weeks ago I was working with one of the largest producers of organic food in the country. I can't recall most, if any, of the data they used to prove organic is better. But I remember a story a farmer told. He said when he worked for a conventional grower, his kids could not hug him at the end of the day when he got home. His clothes had to be removed and disinfected. Now, his kids can hug him as soon as he walks off the field. No amount of data can replace that story. And now guess what I think about when I see the organic section in my local grocery store? You got it. The farmer's story. Stories connect with people on an emotional level. Tell more of them.

We need more farmer's stories, especially in the non-profit world!  Who is going to go out and write them?