about the person.

There are always two stories you can tell -- one with names, and one without.
Check out the difference in what you feel about these two sentences from a tragic event that happened to day in New York City.

"Three members of two popular Iranian indie bands who were living and working in the United States were shot and killed in Brooklyn early Monday by a fellow rocker who then turned the gun on himself, police said."

And now this.

"The dead included Soroush Farazmand, 27, whose rock band the Yellow Dogs was featured in a 2009 CNN report about Iran's burgeoning underground rock scene. Farazmand's brother, Arash, 28, a drummer with the band the Free Keys, was also shot and killed at the same location as was a third Iranian musician, Ali Eskandarian, 35."

The human element is incredibly powerful in storytelling. We as humans have an innate desire to connect with other people. It's how we're created. The first paragraph is significantly more ambiguous, and we're noticeably more isolated from the horror because it's happening to nameless, faceless individuals.

Paragraph #2 hits the reader hard in the face, jarring our evening. With a name like Soroush we instantly pair the word with a foreign face, creating a person, an identity. Then in the second sentence the weight of what happened truly starts to hit home as the victim's brother is named.
I have a brother.
He has a name.
The third man is named.
The ages of all three are listed as well. These were people. We know people that either are or are close to those exact same ages.
And what was initially an news story about a tragedy starts to sink in far more than it did when we started reading.

---

When telling your story, whether it's about your business, your family, funny or sad, a sales pitch or referral, use the human element. It's what we connect with. It brings what we're saying to life. The ambiguous takes shape, a name, face, and identity appear to your listener. Tell your story well. Make it not about merely people, but individuals.
If it's a product or a mission statement, who is involved, what are their names and what do they look like? What did that product or idea do for a person specifically? Which person?

one of the crew.

He walked up to our shop showroom one day and knocked on the door. No one knocks on the showroom door; it's a showroom, people just walk in.
"I just lost my job I had for 5 years, so I'm goin' door-to-door looking for work."
We hired him that day, and there isn't a person in the shop he hasn't encouraged or made laugh at least a dozen times since.
He takes immense pride in every piece of furniture he builds and recently challenged one of our shop managers to break the crew up into two teams instead of just a bunch of individuals working on their own projects.
This took what was already a great work environment and made it excellent both in culture and productivity. Suddenly people were finding motivation in their team and problem solving together, driven to solve problems quickly by their team lead. It was a huge win for both the company and the employees.

One afternoon he came into my office and sat down heavily. "Boss, I need to apologize."
I was surprised, I hadn't seen him yet that day.
"I had a crappy attitude and I feel like you shouldn't pay me for this morning. I wasn't at my best and I want to ask your forgiveness." Dumbfounded and immediately choked up, I found myself completely without a reply.

I consider hiring him one of the best business decisions our company ever made. Every day he shows up to work he will not just build into the people he works with, but construct beautiful dining furniture.