Your story. Your legacy

Public speaking and story – vital forms of communication,

– connecting, convincing

and

leaving a legacy.

I have long loved this from Neil Gaiman, storyteller extraordinaire:

I do love Neil Gaiman’s understanding of story … so much.

When I first saw this quote, I wrote …

This, in a nutshell,  I’ve just lately realised, is why stories have always mattered so much to me.

Libraries, books, stories are collections of what we know deep in our cells is treasure beyond wealth or money.

It is our creative stimulus, our survival, our reminders of why we exist and what is possible….

creative stimulus, survival, reminders of why we exist and what is possible.

There is so much we can discuss around that in terms of connecting/convincing, but let’s look at legacy.

What might be your legacy – the legacy of your communication, speaking and storytelling

and perhaps in terms of stimulating creativity, making meaning of existence, seeing possibilities?

And if that sounds a bit pompous, a bit beyond the realms of your everyday life, please think again.

If you are a speaker, if you are a storyteller, if you are a communicator of any sort, within your family, within your community, at work, in business you are influencing people whether you think you are or not, whether you choose to or not.

And that

might change a LITTLE piece of history,

or you might be able to contribute to one of the BIG movements for change that is happening around us right now.

How will we use story to be a part of the constant change that IS history, to leave even just a tiny legacy as part of it all?

I love the way we can use story, whenever we tell it, to encourage our teams, our communities, our audiences, ourselves, in fact,

to strive to

be the best of what it is that makes us human – to remind ourselves of that.

It can also show us our shadow side and how we need to work at accepting and working with that too.

If you are a change-maker, a history-maker – story is your most potent tool  !!

And I’m going to own that one!

You can too!

There is always some way we can make the world a better place, change our culture, inspire change and growth, if only through our workplace, our children, our incidental conversations.

Elon Musk, who is doing so much to move us forward in useful ways, is also aiming to take us to Mars, in case we need an alternative home to this one.

That’s altruistic perhaps, but let’s not contribute to making it a necessity!!

Whatever way we choose to harness the power of speaking and story, it will be our legacy – yours and mine.

My question to you today is …

What is the story you will contribute to our shared history?  What would you like your legacy to be?

Think about that as you go about your daily tasks.

Feel free to visit the comments below and let me know what you would like the legacy of your speaking and storytelling to be,

and it you do want to chat with me about using story to leave a legacy, find a time that will suit you here.

A story of love, a pandemic and sunrises

Storytelling in the Time of Corona

If you are communicating at all, right now, you are a storyteller and therefore a leader.

Whether we are writing, typing or talking, we have the opportunity to lead – to create a movement, to offer an opportunity for those we write to, communicate with, to do something differently.

I have been following a thread of storytelling and framing because that is what story does, it sets a framework for a way forward, a way to behave, a way to see things.  And specifically, they are to do with the way we frame Covid19.

I wanted to offer some suggestions I have found, of alternative ways to present information for you to think about and maybe to use, should they resonate with your thinking.

While we need to maintain a feeling of safety, I believe we can move from values of security and power and activate humanity and universalism.

It’s one of the ways forward that is possible as we deal with this situation we all face together and then as we do our best to build a new way a new possibility in the future when we come out of this challenge.


Replace

Monitor each other’s behaviour

People should be social distancing and sticking to the rules. If they don’t, they’re selfish and it’s ok to call the police on them.

Embrace

Have each other’s backs

As neighbours, this is a time for us to have one another’s backs. That means more than just checking in, it also means understanding each other’s struggles without lots of judgement. It might be harder for some people to self-isolate and physical distance right now for lots of reasons.


Replace

We will get back to normal

This crisis will end and things will go back to normal. The economy will recover but it’s going to be hard.


Embrace

We can transform our systems

If this crisis has shown us anything, it’s that the systems put in place to govern our lives can be quickly changed for our collective wellbeing. We can deliver new hospital beds and we can hire enough people to care for us when we’re unwell, we can stop landlords from evicting tenants, we can tell banks that they’re not the priority.  It’s only when a system breaks that you can truly see its flaws, and now we can fix what is broken when politicians have the will to do so.


Replace

Social Distancing

We need to keep social distancing to stop the spread of the virus and protect frontline health staff.


Embrace

Physical Distancing

Right now we need to keep physical distance from others so that we can protect ourselves, each other, and give healthcare workers a chance. But we can still connect, check-in on neighbours, and raise our voices together to demand change now and in the future.


Have a think about those suggestions,

your values,

your hopes for the way things could be.

Maybe watch the media, our leaders, others presenting opinions

and the way they are framing the solutions and the way forward.

The first step is being aware.

The next step is creating change

and as speakers, we have that opportunity

as communicators, we have that opportunity

every day.

Leadership engagement – story does it easily, naturally and powerfully

I have had several clients come to me, having left the corporate sector, and wanting to engage an audience without the power of their position.

Story will do that for you as a leader, without you having to rely on your authority, and that makes it so much more effective!!

Jane came from a position as Project Manager with a large mining company.

She was confident, strong, obviously aware of her skills and her success in her career.

She has seen a need in the industry and decided to leave her job and create a startup to develop software that would make work more efficient and effective.

And now she needed to pitch her product, market it, share her vision for it.

And I was amused to see her so obviously confused and bereft, really, when she came to me, admitting that she suddenly realised she couldn’t use her authority to engage her audience.

 

Amanda came to an open mic night to get feedback on her corporate “town hall” presentation.

It was so full of jargon that I understand maybe one sentence in three.

Nevertheless, she was obviously proud of her presentation. It proved she could “speak the language”. Her engagement and authority relied on it.

 

Both of these women and the men that I coach are suffering from varying degrees of disconnection with their audience.

Many aren’t even aware of it. That’s how it is done in their world and they are simply perpetuating their culture.

And their audience tolerate it, thinking that if only they understood the language a little better, they, too, could achieve success in that world.

 

Story is the ultimate connection tool.

It’s the ultimate engagement tool.

It’s the ultimate persuasion tool,

 

Tell your own story.

Tell the story of someone your audience knows, someone they can relate to.

Tell the story of how it could be for them, of how they could be, of how success will feel.

 

Choose the story with your audience in mind, with a lesson they need, with a vision they already know they own,

and there will be no more need for “authority” of “corporate speak” or bullying,

just a bonding, relationship building and cultural alignment that will surprise even the most hardened of corporate gangsters.

 

 

Your Story Matters – Sing it!

 

That bird – he sings.

He doesn’t stop to ask if he is good enough.

He doesn’t stop to ask which song would be best.

He doesn’t practise first.

He sings.

And the song is just exactly how it is meant to be.

 

Your story.

BEFORE

you ask if you are good enough to live it or to tell it

BEFORE

you ask how it should be lived or told

BEFORE

you practise living or telling

just “sing”.

 

What is your message then – if you tell your own story?

What would your life be if you lived your own story?

 

Your story matters in its own pure reality. Sing it!

So that the message is pure, so that the life is your own.

 

Then you can polish so it is good enough.

Then you can choose the parts of most value.

Then you can practice.

But only then!!

Ramping up your impact with the bigger story

Behind your business story your personal story, your leadership story, there is a bigger story.

 

 

Whenever we tell a story – in a speech, online, as a leader, as a motivator, we drop the energy, but increase impact.

If we do it well, we have our readers, audience, teams in the storytelling trance, in our story with us, following our lead.   Their brains and heart rates drop and they relax both their physiology and their resistance.

Nevertheless there is powerful impact happening with that storytelling, points communicated, minds moving towards change and messages embedded.

What we do after that can break the spell and undermine the success of our message or it can support it, build on it and add even more power.

Take your audience|readers|team out of the story trance and shift the energy and the brain patterns by introducing some left brain, rational support for the point you are making.

Tell the bigger story.

Why is this relevant to the times?

Why is this relevant to the industry you all inhabit?

Why is this relevant to your part of the world or your culture?

You are bringing yourself and your audience back into why this experience you have created with the story, and the message that is embedded behind it, is so very relevant and important to them on a much larger scale than their personal needs or wants.

They feel swept along in a movement far greater than themselves.

Then you can take them further along in the flow of your message.

Make me the hero of your story

Tell me a story and

I will relate to your hero,

be your hero,

learn from your hero’s journey.

If the learning is irrelevant and I cannot continue to relate,

the story is lost,

wasted.

 

Make me, (and I am

your client,

your student,

your prospect),

my possibilities,

my needs

and my problems the prototype for your hero

whether that hero be a raccoon, a robot or a real person,

and I will relate,

I will follow you through the story and to the inspiration, persuasion, learning that you want for me.

Winning the Story Wars : Why Those Who Tell (and Live) the Best Stories Will Rule the Future

Trying to get your message heard? Build an iconic brand?

 

Welcome to the battlefield. The story wars are all around us. They are the struggle to be heard in a world of media noise and clamor. Today, most brand messages and mass appeals for causes are drowned out before they even reach us. But a few consistently break through the din, using the only tool that has ever moved minds and changed behavior–great stories.

With insights from mythology, advertising history, evolutionary biology, and psychology, viral storyteller and advertising expert Jonah Sachs takes readers into a fascinating world of seemingly insurmountable challenges and enormous opportunity.

You’ll discover how:

* Social media tools are driving a return to the oral tradition, in which stories that matter rise above the fray

* Marketers have become today’s mythmakers, providing society with explanation, meaning, and ritual

* Memorable stories based on timeless themes build legions of eager evangelists

* Marketers and audiences can work together to create deeper meaning and stronger partnerships in building a better world

* Brands like Old Spice, The Story of Stuff, Nike, the Tea Party, and Occupy Wall Street created and sustained massive viral buzz

Winning the Story Wars is a call to arms for business communicators to cast aside broken traditions and join a revolution to build the iconic brands of the future.

It puts marketers in the role of heroes with a chance to transform not just their craft but the enterprises they represent. After all, success in the story wars doesn’t come just from telling great stories, but from learning to live them.

Globally recognized storyteller, designer, and entrepreneur Sachs argues that only those brands that tell “values-driven stories” through the “right” channels will revolutionize marketing and may become humanity’s greatest hope for the future.
About the Author: Jonah Sachs. As the cofounder and CEO of Free Range Studios, Sachs has helped hundreds of major brands and causes break through the media noise with unforgettable campaigns. His work on renowned viral videos including The Meatrix and The Story of Stuff have brought key social issues to the attention of more than sixty-five million people online. A constant innovator, his studio’s websites and stories have taken top honors three times at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival. Sachs’s work and opinions have been featured in a variety of media, including the New York Times, NPR, and Fast Company magazine, which named him one of its fifty most influential social innovators. About the Illustrator: Drew Beam Drew Beam is the Innovation Director at Free Range Studios, where he helps clients see the future and leap into it. After earning his BFA at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Beam built a successful career creating visuals and innovation strategies for dozens of Fortune 500 companies. His illustrations have been published by Time Warner Books, Penguin Books, and Rolling Stone magazine, to name just a few.

Reviews

“Story Wars is a thorough guide for the novice or even practiced storytellers in all of us. Sachs offers story structures, ways of thinking about characters and messages. He pulls artfully from recent brand successes from companies including Nike and Apple. And he tells a few good stories along the way.” — Forbes

“Sachs is full of ideas and strategies to help readers give their brands the rare, compelling story that will raise their message above the melee of advertising noise… the ideas are powerful and solid, and will make inspiring reading for marketing professionals looking to set their stories apart.” — Publishers Weekly

“In this timely, practical, perceptive, and thought-provoking book, Sachs (CEO, Free Range Studios) does a remarkable job trumpeting storytelling as a means by which people can effectively influence others.” — CHOICE

“The book is an interesting blend of marketing and advertising history, mythology, and psychology that pulled me in and kept me turning the pages… the eye-catching illustrations of Drew Beam. Beam’s artwork combined with Sachs’s writing style kept me glued to the pages… this one has earned a place on my bookshelf and a noteworthy position on my leadership development reading list.” — T+D magazine, American Society for Training & Development

“This fast-paced entertaining book takes on storytelling from the POV of a 24/7 information culture and shares the strategies and tactics that fuel today’s most compelling content.” — Ketchum PR, On the Bookshelf: New Year Reads

“Sachs offers a step-by-step guide to corporate storytelling, showing how brands can use recognisable characters, such as “freaks, cheats and familiars” to create instantly relatable campaigns…Marketers who are able to define the core values of a brand then use them to engage the target audience in a compelling, relatable story are the ones who will thrive in the new media landscape of the “digitoral” age.” — Warc

“His investigation also unveiled a process to help others create winning stories that he shares with great depth and charm in this book.” — 800 CEO READ

“To influence this brave new world, first convince the global media marketplace of your story. The better the story, the better chance of making people think differently.” — Quantas magazine

“In the often superficial, deceptive world of marketing and advertising, social innovator Jonah Sachs is an individual with a conscience…Sachs’s engaging work is a call to arms for anyone who works to influence consumer choices.” — getAbstract

ADVANCE PRAISE for Winning the Story Wars: Dan Heath, coauthor, Switch and Made to Stick– “Jonah Sachs knows stories. He’s responsible for some of the most popular and respected viral messages of all time: The Story of Stuff, The Meatrix, Grocery Store Wars, and others. This book is a storytelling call to arms, an appeal to tell the stories that matter. So read Winning the Story Wars–and join the fray.”

Nick Coe, CEO, Bath & Body Works; former President, Land’s End– “History is written by the winners. And as Jonah Sachs makes abundantly clear, it is now being written by the marketers, the new mythmakers of our time. Whatever your product or your cause, if you want it to succeed, read this wise and enlightening book.”

Kumi Naidoo, Executive Director, Greenpeace International– “Winning the Story Wars will convince you that storytelling is the most powerful way to move people to action. And it will teach you to use that power to orient our world to a more positive future. If you’re ready to be a great storyteller, read this book.”

Deepak Chopra, founder, The Chopra Foundation– “Great leaders transform the world through stories that inspire hope, stability, trust, compassion, and authenticity. This important and thought-provoking book shows that leadership in marketing will require the living and telling of such stories as well.”

Bill Bradley, former US Senator; Managing Director, Allen & Company– “We know about who we are both individually and as a society through stories. In this brilliant book, Jonah Sachs tells us how we lost our storytelling capacity and how we must regain it, constructing our own myths and living the truth of the stories we tell.”

Paul Hawken, author, The Ecology of Commerce and Blessed Unrest– “In the current maelstrom of media babble and corporate deceit, Jonah Sachs makes sense where none appears to exist. Winning the Story Wars explains why we respond to lies–whether in political or product ads, campaigns or speeches–and how truth ultimately trumps all. This remarkable book delivers on that rare promise of changing how you see the world.”

Me?  I am getting so many ah-has I have to stop reading to absorb them all!!

You can buy the book at The Book Depository , The Nile , Fishpond or Amazon

Speakers – build your brand using stories

Stories are a subtly powerful way to support your speaking outcomes.

You can use them to support the points you want to make, but you can also use them to position yourself in the eyes of your audience.

When you speak you need to be seen as an expert, though an approachable expert, and the audience needs to understand you and your why.

They need to know why they should listen to you and why they should do what you expect from them at the conclusion of your speech.

You also have an opportunity to establish yourself and your brand in their memories, through the power of storytelling.

Here are 4 specific ways you can use storytelling to build your brand…  Read the article at my public speaking blog

One question: Which story will you tell?

And who are you to deny it?

Because that is the power of story.

It can cleanse.

It can heal.

It can lead its listeners and readers to a new way of living – a new story for themselves.

It can inspire.

You can do that because you are a storyteller, we are all storytellers and you have a story to tell, as do we all.

Which one will you tell,

and to whom

and why?

Those are the only questions you need to ask.