The Neuroscience of Storytelling for Private Schools

Dr. carrie grimes

Carrie Grimes

Carrie is the Director of the M.Ed. in Independent School Leadership at Vanderbilt University's Peabody College of Education and Human Development. Carrie is a Professor in the Department of Leadership, Policy and Organizations, and teaches across master's and doctoral programs at Peabody College. In addition to her teaching and scholarship, Carrie facilitates workshops and learning sessions for independent schools and associations on topics such as leadership, storytelling, strategic fundraising, and organizational flourishing.

Carrie has over 20 years of professional experience in independent school leadership in New York, California, and Maryland. Carrie's scholarly interests include emotionally intelligent leadership, program design, institutional advancement, and social identity and community building within school settings.

Carrie Quoted

“Storytelling is the capacity to feel less alone in the world and to feel as if one is part of a larger community.”

“For today's MarCom professionals, the vehicle of story is a real superpower that should not be underestimated in its capacity to bring people together.”

“It has been proven in the laboratory when human beings listen to or watch or read stories, these chemicals [oxitocyn, dopamine, and cortisol] are activated and our brain chemistry does, in fact, change.”

“Marketing and communications practitioners really need to have a bit of a sixth sense to sense the emotions of others.”

“[Storytelling] has the capacity to be extremely instrumental in terms of thinking about how we're crafting narratives in order to create certain behaviors in our stakeholders — namely, loyalty behaviors…choosing to make a gift, to apply to a school, to enroll my child, to re-enroll my child, to volunteer.”

“Some of the most motivating kinds of stories we can tell within the independent school world include stories that are heavy on folklore or nostalgia.”

 “As individuals are engaged in these neurochemical changes in response to stories, they are going out in the world are helping build the brand, helping tell the story of the school, replicating it across the community, and serving as evangelists for the organization.”

“[MarCom practitioners have] an enormous responsibility affiliated with…telling stories about the people in our community and therefore, must be treated with very high regard.”

“When I think about impactful storytelling, the words that come to mind are ‘think small.’”

What You’ll Learn

• What the most powerful forms of storytelling are for private schools and the results they can deliver.

• Why knowing your private school audience is paramount.

• How the effects of storytelling are rooted in science.

• How storytelling can motivate your audience.

• How and why engage in fieldwork.

• How leveraging private school community members to participate MarCom storytelling is critical to doing it well.

• Why thinking small can make work seem less overwhelming for the private school marketer.

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