Stories turn feeling into action—research shows they increase our willingness to act by 261 percent.

Think about that the next time you click through a graph-heavy quarterly report with your team.

Thirty years ago, Julie Lancaster began studying teams and what causes them to succeed and fail. She’s delivered 900 performance evaluations and worked with teams ranging from college faculty, outdoor educators, cross-cultural teachers, government employees, to board members and has found three consistent takeaways: People love or hate stories depending on how they are told. Personal stories inspire action and connection. A toolkit of practical strategies to draw from gets more successful outcomes.

Beyond Words gives you bite-size, research-based strategies paired with relevant storytelling from Lancaster’s experience that cut through the noise and inspire real action. Whether you are a long-winded storyteller who drones on and takes hostages or you don’t tell any stories at all, you will harvest and develop your own authentic stories that create connection, relevance, and inspiration using the REST Method.

Considering that inspired people are twice as productive, this has massive implications for you, your people, and the team as a whole. By reframing inspiration as something rooted in looking backward to lived experiences, we correct the outdated notion that inspiration is rare or innate. Instead, we find how it can be intentionally cultivated to create workplaces that thrive in an artificial intelligence age—when human stories are more precious than ever.