True story
Before we dive into storytelling, let’s start with a true story. Why? Just as action speaks louder than words, stories communicate messages better than plain text.
Here we go:
The bright sun reflected on a blanket of snow in Antarctica. The air was full with sounds of playing penguins. They jumped in and out the clear water, just for fun. 
But one of them stood alone. He was tall, strong and elegant. ‘What if I swam as far as I could?’ he thought. ‘What will I find?’
He dove in the blue ocean and reached for the horizon. The sun went down, the moon rose. He swam under the twinkling stars. He swam for many days and nights until he finally arrived completely, totally exhausted on a blazing hot New Zealand beach.
Soon, the penguin fell ill. He ate beaks full of sand, mistaking it for snow. Luckily, a stunned man on the beach, alarmed the nearby zoo. They came to rescue the penguin. His caretakers performed surgeries to remove the sand. They named him Happy Feet and put a webcam in his cage.
Happy Feet gained lots of weight thanks to a diet of fish milkshakes. Masses of people followed him on webcam. Visits to the zoo went through the roof. His fans spontaneously gave large donations to bring him back home.
Finally, Happy Feet recovered and was fit again. A cheerful crowd gathered at the zoo to say a final goodbye to him. His caretakers chartered a boat and a team to release him close to Antarctica. At last, Happy Feet dove back into the blue ocean to swim home.
The story of Happy Feet
Why does one penguin get more media coverage than an entire species being wiped out?
The penguin Happy Feet captured the world’s attention with his amazing tale of travel, illness, recovery and release. This true story got more media coverage then many conservation projects. People spontaneously jumped in to help and support. They donated large sums of money without being asked. Why? Not facts and rational thinking did the trick. But a compelling story touching their hearts.
Helping this Emperor penguin was irrational. Of course the penguin suffered. He would have died on the New Zealand beach with no support. But Emperor penguins are not rare. There are more than half a million of them in Antarctica. Rationally, it would have been wiser to donate the money to a real conservation project, a project which makes a true difference. Saving Happy feet’s life warmed our hearts, but did not help to conserve nature. (In fact, Happy feet was probably eaten by an Orca a few days after his release, as his sender suddenly stopped giving signals.)
What is interesting to know, is: Why does one penguin get more media coverage than an entire species being wiped out? Why do we jump out of our chairs to help one bird, but do nothing to stop the loss of entire ecosystems? Is it really true that we care less about a tragedy as the numbers of sufferers increase? To understand why we respond to compelling stories about individuals instead factual information about a big problem, we will explain the secrets of the power of storytelling in the next topics. But let’s first look at another example.