Cross-Cultural Storytelling: How To Be Authentic, Engaging And Resonant With Your Audience

At the end of a talk or presentation, I usually get questions about the line between authenticity and dramatization. Stories, in particular, lend themselves to being dramatized—in some ways, dramatization makes the story more interesting and engaging—but that very same dramatization has the potential to feel affected or “put on” by the storyteller.

Recently, I gave a talk about influential storytelling in Switzerland to an audience of product managers from all over Europe. As usual, the question came up, but this time it was framed as a cross-cultural question. An audience member mentioned that my storytelling felt distinctly “American,” and she could never imagine herself telling a story in that way, let alone to an audience of “French and German executives.” Her question was “How do I be me, be engaging and resonate with my audience all in the context of working cross-culturally?”

In this article, Stephanie Judd is featured as a Forbes Council Member who shares how to be authentic, engaging and resonant with your audience.