Do You Have Gold Hidden Within Your Dusty Old Stories?

I had no idea who he was.

In the mid ‘80s, I sat down for a plane journey from New York to Dublin. And being a college student, I admit I was far too busy noticing the attractive red head on my left to pay any attention to the frail, elderly gentleman to my right.

“Hello”, I said to the young lady.

No response. A blank stare. Maybe even a hint of disdain.

“Fair enough”, I muttered in my head.

I turned away to settle down for a quiet flight and silently cursed that I hadn’t brought a book with me to while away the hours. A snooze and a cover-to-cover read of whatever was in the airline magazine later, the food trolley arrived.

The old man looked at me as we ate.

Going home, I suppose? He inquired.

“Yes, I’ve just spent four months in Canada and America.” I replied brightly.

“I’m going home too”, he said. “Except I’ve been away a deal longer than that. Truth be told, I don’t know what’s going to happen. This’ll be the first time I’ll be back in Ireland since the twenties, when I had to go on the run.”

I’m now stunned.

“I’m hoping they won’t arrest me!” he continued.  “But I don’t care. This is my last chance to do this before I die.”

He had my attention. What was going on? Who was this guy? If it hadn’t been obvious he was well into his eighties, maybe I might have felt a tad more nervous about my traveling companion.

“Why is that?” I asked, “What did you do?”

For five glorious hours of living history the story unfolded. It turns out this man had been a member of the twelve apostles (often known today as the squad) IRA unit formed by Michael Collins to counter British Intelligence efforts during the Irish War of Independence in 1919.

Blow by blow he told me what was happening in Ireland at the time, how he was recruited, what it was like to be around and to work closely with the infamous Michael, and what unfolded as he became a hardened hit man who – as he put it – would ‘plug’ whoever he was ordered to plug.

Eventually things became too hot for him and he was ordered to get out of the country. Arrangements were made to smuggle him away and, via a circuitous route, he arrived in America. Years later he was to move to Philadelphia, where he ran a garage until ill health forced him to stop. And all the while he longed for a chance to go home and see his family and friends. It never happened. But now he was ready to risk freedom for one last look at home and a chance to see his few remaining family members before they passed away.

Incidentally. I don’t imagine he was stopped by the Irish police when he went to passport control or elsewhere. After all, who would have been looking for him? Any APB once issued for his whereabouts was likely destroyed years ago or was safe under a glass case in a forgotten part of a history museum.

This is an old story I’ve shared with you today. We all have them. They come in all shapes and sizes. And this is one I’ve never used, so far, in a speech.

But, why not? It lends itself to speaking to how we can lose out if we fail to take in or consider a full range of possibilities before we make decisions. It can take a deal of effort to not judge a book by its cover, but the pay off of looking a little more deeply before you jump can be handsome.

Think Beyond Corporate Stories When You Speak

And the point of today’s post is this…

…When you’re called upon to speak, don’t assume all the stories you use must be of the corporate variety. Far from it; That’s much too limiting.

Rather, consider the fact that you’ll likely have more non work related stories than you can shake a stick at in the vinyl vaults of your memories that could – would limited modifications – be shaped and moulded into engaging and personal stories to bolster most any argument you’d like to make.

Be prepared to trawl through stories old and new from personal experiences, to dust them off, and to give them a spring clean and a little tweaking to illustrate the points you make. Your talks will be more interesting and memorable. And, hey, you’ll likely enjoy the experience of spending a little time down memory lane.

Over to You

How about it? What old stories do you have that taught you a lesson? Would you be happy to share them?

Let me know what you think.

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