Discovering the magic of stories untold

Last month my husband wrote and delivered the eulogy at his father’s funeral.

Anyone who knows my husband will confirm that he loved his dad completely and is certainly not shy in front of an audience.

Yet, while he’s quick to get out his guitar at gatherings big or small and organise a sing along or more than happy to wax lyrical about his topics of interest (usually the Beatles, space travel or his family), public speaking is not something that sits in is comfort zone.

In fact, when he said he was going to do the eulogy at such a high emotional occasion I did feel more than a little nervous for him 

Yet, I needn’t have worried. For a whole 31 minutes my husband not only delivered the most touching of eulogies, but also held everyone’s attention and emotions for the entire time.

How did he do this?

My father-in-law was not one for talking about himself. He was a quiet, intensely private and humble man. An introvert, whilst he loved to talk at length about his favourite topics – usually anything that engaged his engineering mind. From constructing relays, that he had made his whole life, through to chatting through the industries that still use this analogue technology, to his latest DIY project or batch of his award-winning preserves and pickles. But, whilst these make for conversations over dinner, they do not make for a riveting eulogy!

To writing the eulogy it was clear my husband was going to need to dig for stories untold. And this was no mean feat; my father-in-law had been one of 11 children!

My husband also realised that whilst he knew his dad well, he knew vastly more about him since he became his dad rather than his life before fatherhood. Through every conversation with uncles, aunts, his mum and his sister, my husband not only got to know more about his dad, but it also began processing his own grief.

And the final gift to his dad was to be the eulogy itself. My husband created a beautiful collage of stories all thoughtfully woven together to give us all a fuller picture of his father’s life and the man he had been. All those stories untold, or very few had heard; stories of growing up one of 11, in poverty, of bravery, of pain, and a few precious insights into his time in National Service. An experience that had hit him hard and that he carried with him for the rest of his life.

The stories were delivered through tears, the occasional bad joke and even an impromptu slapstick comedy moment as my husband fell off the podium. They were delivered with care, with pride and with love. And not a guitar in sight.

I listened in awe, along with everyone else, as my husband delivered his pure, searingly raw and touching homage to a man he had loved so much. The stories transported me to a life and time I knew little about, and about a man I thought I knew so much more about! Whilst I’d known him from his early sixties to his mid-eighties, however, I’d never got to glimpse the young man – or even middle-aged man - he once had been. Now I was seeing my father-in-law in a whole new, much fuller and rounded, light.

I viewed my husband in a whole new light too.

My husband as a storyteller! He spoke with such eloquence, courage and passion, connecting viscerally with every one of us, uniting us all together - strangers, friends and close family alike. 

His words had created a new world in our imagination. My father-in-law’s world; a life, as extraordinarily ordinary as most of ours. We do not need to be famous to have wonderful stories underpinning our lives. The stories that really resonate are the most universal ones of all.

And through great stories we connect with each other in a way like no other. Stories bring us together. They spark our imagination. They inspire us and can teach us new things.

Stories are also too precious to keep just for best men speeches and eulogies. Stories need to be told!

How can we leverage this power of storytellling in the world of work?

Company storytelling begins with your brand story, creating an engaging means of sharing your company’s purpose, goals and values, as well as lay down the essential foundations for your marketing strategy. 

From content, communications, through to marketing campaigns, your brand story gives you the launch pad you need to connect and engage authentically with your audience - at every interaction and every touch point.

Successful companies have mastered the art of storytelling and research, like this study in the Harvard Business Review , demonstrate that emotional connections are key drivers of brand loyalty, as well as among the best indicators of future customer value.  

So, the business case is there right in front of us. What’s stopping you from telling your story?

If you want help or learn more about how you can create impactful connections with your audiences get in touch!

Rest in peace William Patrick Power, father, husband, brother, father-in-law, grandad and all round lovely human.