Storytelling has risen to be a "must know" business topic. One commentator calls it "the biggest business skill of the next five years." 

Stories have always been a staple of advertising. You can think of a recent evocative McDonald's or Budweiser commercial. Even political advertising has taken on the art of storytelling.

You can learn to use this trend in your own business. Remember that business stories don't need long, thick plots. The simplest stories have three elements: situation, complication, resolution.

For example, "I wanted explosive growth for our business (situation). I copied what the company across the street was doing, but it didn't work for us (complication). Now I realize I need to leverage our unique strengths (resolution)."

Or: "The CEO flew economy class with her staff to a company retreat as a gesture of solidarity (situation). The flight attendant saw the CEO's elite status and upgraded her to business class (complication). The CEO picked a member of her staff to upgrade to business class instead (resolution)."

Fill out the three-part structure with engaging details and tell the story suspensefully.