How Stories Move us to Action

When I was fifteen, I applied for my first job, at Eureka Baking Company, and ran into a complication. The job interview was a few miles from my high school, and I didn’t have a way to get there. I suggested to my dad that I might reschedule, but he immediately shot down the idea.

“When I moved to Oakland from Mississippi at nineteen, I heard General Motors was hiring,” he said. “The plant was in San Leandro [the next town over]. I wanted the job, so I woke up at five a.m. and walked the eight miles to the open job interview. I got the job. I didn’t ask them to reschedule, I made it work . . . so make it work!” Now this may sound like the classic “uphill both ways” story, but I remember it to this day, and it inspired me to find a way to the interview and get the job.

Why did my dad share this story? Because stories are the most effective way to convey information, teach, and to move people to action. He could have just told me it’s important to be adaptive and make an effort, but instead he showed me how those attributes served him in a very real way.