Storytelling skills from Abraham Lincoln

“What you might not realize about “four scores and seven years ago . . .” is that Lincoln’s oration followed one of the most effective story structures you can use–the structure that storytelling expert Shawn Callahan calls “the clarity story.”

This type of story is so valuable because for people to be engaged, they need to understand why they should take action. “The clarity story provides reasons in the most powerful and digestible format possible,” writes Callahan in Putting Stories to Work.

Here’s how Lincoln used the clarity story structure to build his famous speech: