Once Upon a Fable

Humans are wired to love stories, because the stories we tell ourselves explain life to us and make us feel safe. This has been true ever since man sat around the campfire after a long day’s hunt, interpreting experiences and remembering the days of old.

Today, instead of sitting around a fire, we stare into screens, but it is the same thing. We are looking for people to tell stories that help us make sense of the world around us. Today, we call these stories “news” or “movies” or “shows.” At the end of the day, stories are how humans connect with others and make the world safe.

So, it is not surprising that storytellers have important roles to play in society today, including in the business world. Stories are sticky. They remain in our minds long after facts and figures fade. Or, as I was advised at the beginning of my writing career, “No one remembers even a well-written government report.”

I’ve been writing fables and novels for clients for as long as I can remember, and I love doing so. Some clients specify that they want stories told, whether in the form of a novel or business fable, which I will define in a moment. And sometimes, clients will explain the ideas they want to get across, and I will propose a fable as the ideal way of doing so. Let me explain.

We all know what a fable is, going back to Aesop and his story of the Tortoise and the Hare. Religious literature is replete with stories, which can be called parables or lessons. The beautiful thing about stories by any name is that they empower the reader to identify the lessons and teach themselves what is vital. If the Bible said, “Thou shalt not hide thy talents under a bushel,” much of the resonance of the story about the talents would have been lost. Instead, readers read or hear the story of the individual who did not use his talents (then a measure of money, and now a measure of ability) was criticized. So we say to ourselves, “Wow! I don’t want to be like that guy! I’m going to use my talents and get out there!” the lesson lands more strongly because, in effect, we are teaching it to ourselves.

In these pages, you will see several examples of fables I created for clients. In all the examples in this book, the clients did not come in with the idea of a fable. It is just that the lessons they wanted to convey to their audiences met two specific criteria:

1. There were already a ton of books on their subject, so writing yet another “Seven Steps to” or “Five Principles of” book would be redundant and boring.
2. They were only trying to teach a handful of key

If you are writing about real estate investing, or financial services, or for that matter, a variety of other topics from how to find the perfect mate to how to get divorced, you can search Amazon and find countless nonfiction books that give you step-by-step guides to accomplishing those goals.

How boring to write yet another one.

If you are doing a book that offers a lot of pieces of information and guidance, then a fable is probably not going to be the play. I will give you an example. I did a book recently for a tech CEO whose firm helps other tech companies manage their employees. Tech companies often come into existence when an engineer decides he wants to go off on his own, and then drives enough business to require the assistance of other techies. The problem is that managing techies is like herding cats, and the technologist CEO is typically more comfortable with zeros and ones than actual human beings.Hilarity does not ensue. Instead, you have got a big mess, where people who don’t have great management or people skills are trying to manage other people who also don’t necessarily have great people skills.

The book I did for my client offers several hundred different pieces of guidance about how to make a tech company run right and ensure that everyone from the CEO to the entry level hires are happy and marching in the same direction.That book would not work well as a fable; there is simply too much to teach. By contrast, if your message is limited to a few key takeaways, then you are a candidate for a fable, and I will tell you so. We will then talk about how the story should be structured, where it takes place, who our characters are, what is being taught, and why. It is a really fun and exciting process. I love it when clients trust me with the idea for a fable. We typically end up having a really great time.

I also ghostwrite novels, and I’m not the only one. There is a history in the publishing industry of fiction not being written by the purported author. Sometimes clients will come to me with an idea for a nonfiction book that they would like to write. They tell me the story, and I think to myself, wow, if you publish the story as you have described it, somebody is going to sue you, or somebody is going to come after you, and not for an autograph. So in those cases, I have counseled them to tell the story in fictional form, so as to avoid libel lawsuits or worse.

One such client came to me a dozen years ago with a remarkable story to tell. His wife’s great-grandfather had invented a device which, a century later, remains a staple in the production of a common household item. Pardon my being vague, but I’m bound by confidentiality rules, and I also don’t want anybody coming after me!

It turned out that the brother-in-law running the company that held rights to that still much-desired device was sweeping anywhere between $40 million and $100 million off the table. My client wanted to write an exposé about how evil his brother-in-law was.

The more he told me about his brother-in-law, the more I cautioned him that writing a non-fiction book may be detrimental to his health. Instead, I suggested that we do a novel that told the story of an individual who had committed the same kinds of alleged crimes as his brother-in-law, but in a business arena far removed from the actual one. I also suggested that, given everything he told me about his brother-in-law, the likelihood that he would survive much longer after publication day was limited. So, we went the novel route. He was happy, and, as far as I know, still alive. Whether the brother-in-law has ever been brought to justice is beyond my pay grade.

A client came to me with a similar story about shenanigans in a financial services firm. My client wanted to do an exposé because he was angry at the people who were behaving so fraudulently. Instead, I suggested that he either write an anonymous letter to the SEC or just stay out of the actual case and write a novel that, along the same lines as the previous story I shared, told the same story but in a very oblique way. He agreed, and the novel ended up being a bestseller that became the foundation of a network series.

Fiction saves lives.

So, whether you are looking to make a score, settle scores, or simply convey lessons to people in your audience, fables and fiction can be wonderful ways to go.