Last week I was truly moved by a TED talk. Hard to believe for those who know me and my (apparently) “cynical” nature, particularly when I mentioned the talk’s topic: Story Telling. But after watching the talk, I realized just how relevant and important storytelling actually is to my work and everyday life. It is something we, as qualitative researchers, are dealing with and facilitating on a daily basis.

So what got me I hear you ask? What got me, was the reminder of how incredibly powerful a simple conversation can be.

The project I am referring to is called StoryCorps. Since 2003, StoryCorps has collected and archived more than 50,000 interviews with over 100,000 every-day participants who interview one another in a mobile interview booth. The diversity of topics is endless (as would be expected), yet if we listened to all of them, common themes would begin to appear: “Thank you”, “I love you”, “Forgive me” and “I forgive you” are apparently the most important things humans want to say to each other every day, and also in those important last moments before passing.

StoryCorps’ mission is to provide people of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share and preserve the stories of their lives. “Why?” I hear you ask again. To remind one another of our shared humanity. To strengthen and build the connections between people, to teach the value of listening, and to weave into the fabric of our culture the understanding that everyone’s story matters.

The same principles can be applied to the work we do here at BrandHook and indeed any qualitative research consultancy worth its salt. As StoryCorps has made so powerfully clear, the story of the individual is an important snapshot of the zeitgeist, and listening, recording and understanding those individual snapshots is what we strive to do (and do well) everyday.

We’re always happy to hear a new story here at BrandHook, what’s yours?