The Science Behind Storytelling: Why it Works and How Leaders Can Use it

This blog kicks off a three-part series on the power of storytelling in leadership. At The Humphrey Group, we believe storytelling isn’t just a communication skill— it’s one of the most effective ways leaders can inspire and influence.

Whether you're rallying a team behind a new vision, navigating change, or reinforcing your values, the ability to tell a compelling story helps you connect on a deeper level, build trust, and move people to action.

That’s why we created The Power of Stories™ (launching next week!), a program designed to help leaders bring meaning and emotion to their messages. In this series, we’ll explore:

• Why storytelling resonates so deeply (below)
• How to Craft and Deliver Stories that Engage and Inspire
• Data Storytelling vs. Leadership Storytelling: Bringing Numbers to Life

Let’s start by exploring the science behind why storytelling works—and how leaders can harness it to elevate the way they communicate.

Why Stories Stick (and Why That Matters for Leaders)

Think back to a story that stayed with you. Maybe a mentor shared a failure that changed their perspective—or a colleague told you about a pivotal moment in their career. Whatever it was, chances are it stuck not because of the information but because of how it made you feel. That’s not a coincidence. It’s neuroscience.

Stories activate multiple areas of the brain at once—language, emotion, and sensory processing all light up when we hear a narrative. That kind of full-brain engagement is what makes stories more memorable and meaningful than facts alone.

For leaders, this reinforces a simple truth, if you want what you’re saying to stick, it needs to do more than inform. When a message is delivered through a story, it’s more likely to be understood, remembered, and acted upon. And those are three outcomes every leader is looking for. But why do stories have this kind of power in the first place? To answer that, we need to go back—way back.

The Evolutionary Edge: Why Humans Are Wired for Story

Storytelling isn’t just a technique, it’s part of how we evolved to communicate. Long before we had slide decks or Slack messages, we used storytelling to pass down knowledge, teach lessons, and create bonds. In fact, cognitive psychologists believe storytelling was key to our evolution—helping early humans retain and share vital survival information. They helped early humans remember what mattered—and they still do.

Modern research backs this up. One study from Harvard found that people are significantly more likely to retain information when it's delivered as a narrative, rather than a list of facts. That’s because our brains look for meaning—and stories give structure and emotion to information in a way our minds are built to understand.

That same instinctive pull toward a story is still at play in the workplace today. Whether you’re communicating vision, values, or change, storytelling helps people absorb your message in a way that sticks. It turns abstract concepts into something people can relate to—and act on.

The Emotional Power of Storytelling

So what does that look like in action? Let’s bring this to life.

Imagine a senior leader at a manufacturing company preparing to announce a major change: the organization is shifting from a traditional top-down workflow to a more agile, team-driven model. It’s a big shift—and one she knows could trigger resistance.

She could explain the strategy with a timeline and an org chart. But instead, she opens the town hall like this:

“When I was an engineer just starting out, I remember working on a product that failed—spectacularly. But it wasn’t because the idea was flawed. It was because no one on the ground felt empowered to speak up. We all saw the issue coming but assumed someone else would say something. That moment taught me the cost of silence. And it’s why this shift we’re making matters to me—because the best ideas don’t come from the top. They come from everywhere.”

Sharing this story grounds the strategy in a personal experience. It makes the change feel human—not just necessary, but meaningful. In that moment, she didn’t just present a new model, she invited her team into it. The story gave people a reason to care. It created alignment, not by mandate, but through connection. That’s the power of storytelling in action.

The Power of Stories in Leadership Communication

Stories have a unique ability to stick with us, shape our perspectives, and ultimately drive action. They transform abstract ideas into something people can connect with. And that’s exactly what effective leadership communication demands.

At The Humphrey Group, we’ve seen how stories build trust, spark engagement, and help leaders bring their message to life. That’s why storytelling isn’t just a communication skill—it’s a leadership essential.

This blog laid the foundation for why stories matter. In the next two blogs, we’ll focus on the how—giving you practical tools to bring storytelling into your day-to-day leadership.

Up Next: Now that we’ve explored why storytelling works, we’ll turn our focus to how leaders can use it in different contexts. In our next blog, we’ll introduce the STORY framework—a simple, powerful tool to help you craft and deliver leadership stories that engage, inspire, and drive action

Then in part three, we’ll explore the differences between leadership storytelling and data storytelling, and how to make even numbers feel human by anchoring them in narrative. 

Whether you’re leading change, sharing a vision, or trying to build stronger connections—these tools will help you do it with purpose and impact. Stay tuned!