Maggie, Boris and the earwigs that make a great storyteller

We haven’t been able to open a newspaper for the past two weeks without seeing at least one story about Baroness Thatcher. From a communications perspective, what is most interesting is how such a divisive figure secured such a following among the electorate and was able to influence global leaders who had completely different ideologies than her own. Co-incidentally, l’m reading Gavin Esler’s Lessons from the Top and he has some theories on this. He analyses what we can learn from the storytelling of successful leaders as he argues that it is the basis of attracting, impressing controlling and retaining followers. The range of people he includes is pretty diverse – not many books team up Margaret Thatcher, Lady Gaga, Nelson Mandela, Steve Jobs and Osama bin Laden as believers in the same philosophy!

According to Esler, the most important thing to remember before you engage with any audience is the earwig! He describes an earwig as a story that will stick in the audience's mind, like an annoying pop song. The story always begins with ‘Who am I?’ In media training we describe this as establishing credibility but on a more personal level it is making yourself the hero of your own story. For Margaret Thatcher it was ‘a grocer’s daughter and a housewife’. ‘Who am I?’ always leads on to ‘Who are We?’ Thatcher used her ‘Who am I?’ earwig very effectively to connect with the aspirational middle classes and to convey the message that she could manage a budget. Even now that perception remains.

However, ‘Who am I?’ is rarely the only version of truth. For example, she didn’t go for the intelligent and ambitious Oxbridge Economics graduate that had turned her back on the traditional female role, as that would alienate the majority of the electorate and is also why Boris Johnson is so sheepish about the Bullingdon Club. Later she seized on the ‘Iron Lady’ as her ‘Who am I?’ created the perception that she had made Britain a force to be reckoned with globally (‘Who are We’?).

In politics it is humble beginnings driving a passion to make the world a better place that sells. In the technology sector, the ‘Who Am I?’ story is typically that the company was started by the geeky teen in his bedroom or the garage. It makes the ‘Who are We?’ story easy to tell – a company with a passion for technology that we believe will be shared by everyone who encounters our products.

So on top of just surviving and thriving in even the most difficult of media interviews, in order to demonstrate leadership and ensure that your company stands out from the crowd you have to think about the story you are telling. As Cathy says in her post on handling media interviews Boris will survive even the most difficult interview because people like his ‘Who am I?’ story, and it connects well with ‘Who are We’? He makes it look easy but like most of our clients that deal successfully with the media, he and his team of advisors put a lot of effort into creating an earwig.