Breaking Down the Business of Story with Park Howell
02/24/22 • 37 min
In this episode of Before IT Happened, entrepreneur, storytelling coach and bestselling author Park Howell joins the show to discuss the ‘Story Cycle System’ that he created to apply the full potential of ‘the hero’s journey’ to business and entrepreneurship. There is endless competition for our attention and it forces businesses to become acutely aware of the audience they're serving. This awareness leads to the possibility of crafting powerful stories. So join us and discover what good brand storytelling is all about and how you can make it come to life!
Before any world-changing innovation, there was a moment, an event, a realization that sparked the idea before it happened. This is a podcast about that moment — about that idea. Before IT Happened takes you on a journey with the innovators who imagined — and are still imagining — our future. Join host Donna Loughlin as her guests tell their stories of how they brought their visions to life.
JUMP STRAIGHT INTO:
(01:39) - How Park Howell fell in love with music: “I’ve applied everything I've learned in [music] to the work I've done over the past 35 years in advertising and branding because everything is about flow and rhythm.”
(07:45) - Park’s early approaches to the art of storytelling - “I realized we've only been telling them intuitively, we've never told them intentionally, meaning I've never used a framework.”
(11:09) - The origins of the ‘Story Cycle System’ - “While he was going to school there, I said, ‘Parker, send me your textbooks since I'm paying for them. I want to know what Chapman University teaches you as a storyteller.”
(15:10) - Redefining the ‘Hero’s Journey’ - “Depending on where your audience is with you in the story cycle system journey, you want to share with them appropriate stories that they can relate to.”
(21:51) - How Park guides people to apply his framework to their brand’s story - “Take us to that problem, share that conflict or that contradiction. When you don't, you end up not telling a story. You think you're telling a story. All you're telling is the exposition of that story.”
(24:27) - Focusing on the problem you’re solving for your audience - “I want to know what this actually does for me. What do you actually make happen in my world? There's no list of features and functions that’s going to sell that for you.”
(26:42) - Crafting a focused narrative - “You're going to try to sell lots of different things in that ABT, but I want you to always boil it down to a singular narrative and that in this case is the companionship.”
(32:00) - The ABT, a versatile tool - “I've been using this ABT in my emails. I've cut my email writing time down by two thirds. People who receive them actually understand what I'm asking of them. And I have a built-in call to action in my therefore statement.”
EPISODE RESOURCES:
Connect with Park Howell on Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin
Watch Park’s Ted Talk: Start Looking for Your Scenes and Your Story Will Find You
Read Park’s books: Brand Bewitchery and The Narrative Gym
Learn more about The Business of Story
Listen to Before IT Happened’s: Becoming Superhuman with Designer and Entrepreneur Donald Burlock, Jr.
Thank you for listening! Follow Before IT Happened on Instagram and Twitter, and don’t forget to subscribe, rate and share the show wherever you listen to podcasts!
Before IT Happened is produced by Donna Loughlin and StudioPod Media with additional editing and sound design by
In this episode of Before IT Happened, entrepreneur, storytelling coach and bestselling author Park Howell joins the show to discuss the ‘Story Cycle System’ that he created to apply the full potential of ‘the hero’s journey’ to business and entrepreneurship. There is endless competition for our attention and it forces businesses to become acutely aware of the audience they're serving. This awareness leads to the possibility of crafting powerful stories. So join us and discover what good brand storytelling is all about and how you can make it come to life!
Before any world-changing innovation, there was a moment, an event, a realization that sparked the idea before it happened. This is a podcast about that moment — about that idea. Before IT Happened takes you on a journey with the innovators who imagined — and are still imagining — our future. Join host Donna Loughlin as her guests tell their stories of how they brought their visions to life.
JUMP STRAIGHT INTO:
(01:39) - How Park Howell fell in love with music: “I’ve applied everything I've learned in [music] to the work I've done over the past 35 years in advertising and branding because everything is about flow and rhythm.”
(07:45) - Park’s early approaches to the art of storytelling - “I realized we've only been telling them intuitively, we've never told them intentionally, meaning I've never used a framework.”
(11:09) - The origins of the ‘Story Cycle System’ - “While he was going to school there, I said, ‘Parker, send me your textbooks since I'm paying for them. I want to know what Chapman University teaches you as a storyteller.”
(15:10) - Redefining the ‘Hero’s Journey’ - “Depending on where your audience is with you in the story cycle system journey, you want to share with them appropriate stories that they can relate to.”
(21:51) - How Park guides people to apply his framework to their brand’s story - “Take us to that problem, share that conflict or that contradiction. When you don't, you end up not telling a story. You think you're telling a story. All you're telling is the exposition of that story.”
(24:27) - Focusing on the problem you’re solving for your audience - “I want to know what this actually does for me. What do you actually make happen in my world? There's no list of features and functions that’s going to sell that for you.”
(26:42) - Crafting a focused narrative - “You're going to try to sell lots of different things in that ABT, but I want you to always boil it down to a singular narrative and that in this case is the companionship.”
(32:00) - The ABT, a versatile tool - “I've been using this ABT in my emails. I've cut my email writing time down by two thirds. People who receive them actually understand what I'm asking of them. And I have a built-in call to action in my therefore statement.”
EPISODE RESOURCES:
Connect with Park Howell on Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin
Watch Park’s Ted Talk: Start Looking for Your Scenes and Your Story Will Find You
Read Park’s books: Brand Bewitchery and The Narrative Gym
Learn more about The Business of Story
Listen to Before IT Happened’s: Becoming Superhuman with Designer and Entrepreneur Donald Burlock, Jr.
Thank you for listening! Follow Before IT Happened on Instagram and Twitter, and don’t forget to subscribe, rate and share the show wherever you listen to podcasts!
Before IT Happened is produced by Donna Loughlin and StudioPod Media with additional editing and sound design by
Previous Episode
Values-Based Investing for the Future of the Planet with Will Peterffy
“Put your money where your heart is.” That’s the tagline you’ll see when you visit Will Peterffy’s mobile trading platform IMPACT. Will is the ESG Director at Interactive Brokers, and his purpose is to help guide younger generations who want to invest consciously. Millennials are the most socially responsible and soon to be wealthiest generation of investors the world has ever known. In this episode, Donna talks to Will about how he believes mission-based investing can help create a better, healthier planet and why he says other hedge fund owners should get in front of the wave. Join in while we imagine the future of collective and generational efforts to make a change!
Before any world-changing innovation, there was a moment, an event, a realization that sparked the idea before it happened. This is a podcast about that moment — about that idea. Before IT Happened takes you on a journey with the innovators who imagined — and are still imagining — our future. Join host Donna Loughlin as her guests tell their stories of how they brought their visions to life.
JUMP STRAIGHT INTO:
(01:12) - How Will Peterffy found his purpose - “One of the things that Bioneers focuses a lot on is the principle of biomimicry. When we're addressing a solution, nature usually has one that's better than what we can come up with on our own.”
(07:49) - From ranch hand to Board of Directors - “I spent my summers working on regenerative ranches in Montana. And this is actually where I had that epiphany moment.”
(15:27) - Explaining IMPACT, Will’s new mobile app for conscious investing - “You can create your own personalized combination of different values to really reflect who you are, and it will then match your investments with those values.”
(20:26) - Millennials and the blockchain - “We're able to create currencies and assets that are backed by different values, so we're able to invest more directly in what we care about.”
(25:10) - On tracking data about the health of the planet - “If we can see these different data points coming in and be able to track the health of our ecologies, we can start accounting for them. Create systems that incentivize the healing of them.”
(28:07) - The process of applying to a One Small Planet grant - “The biggest thing with that is really having an understanding of exactly where the money's going and that it's really going to those who know what to do with it.”
(30:34) - What the ‘Big Hedge Funds’ can learn from ESG efforts - “This tide shift is occurring and people are going to start being held more accountable for the impact that they have on the planet.”
EPISODE RESOURCES:
Connect with Will Peterffy on Linkedin
Learn more about Will’s mobil app IMPACT
Learn more about how the Bioneers are working to solve environmental and social challenges
Read Traders Magazine’s Interactive Brokers Launches ‘IMPACT’ Mobile Trading Platform for Socially Conscious Investors
Read Tech Bullion’s interview with Will: IMPACT Enables Investments In Social Values: Interview with Will Peterffy, ESG Director at Interactive Brokers.
Read Finance Magnates: Interactive Brokers Releases IMPACT Mobile Trading Platform
Listen to Before IT Happened’s: Smart, Electric Motorcycles and Achieving Zero Fatalities Before 2030 with Damon Founder Jay Giraud
Listen to Before IT Happened’s: Disrupting the Silicon Valley Boys Club with Mercedes Soria
Thank you for listening! Follow Before IT Happened on
Next Episode
Moving the Medical World into the Future with Dr. Peter Bonutti
Dr. Peter Bonutti has practiced over 30,000 surgical procedures during his career but he’s also an innovator passionate about product design and lab research that moves the medical world into the future. In this episode, Dr. Bonutti talks about how he used the money from his work as an orthopedic surgeon to fund his own medical research lab. He also explains what neuromodulation is and why it should be approached carefully. Join us and listen to this medical pioneer talk all about hard work and simple solutions!
Before any world-changing innovation, there was a moment, an event, a realization that sparked the idea before it happened. This is a podcast about that moment — about that idea. Before IT Happened takes you on a journey with the innovators who imagined — and are still imagining — our future. Join host Donna Loughlin as her guests tell their stories of how they brought their visions to life.
JUMP STRAIGHT INTO:
(01:10) - How Dr. Peter Bonutti’s became a young doctor - “My father had me apply to the University of Chicago and I started there at 16. I had a full scholarship. So actually college was cheaper for me than high school.”
(05:27) - Spinal surgery revolution - “It wasn’t what you would consider a lab. It was more of a product development facility where you could build, test, work on redesigning and then getting FDA approval.”
(09:29) - An orthopedic surgeon and creator - “We try to bring things down to what I call the least common denominator, the simplest solution often ends up being the best.”
(17:53) - A multifaceted approach - “It's kind of an armamentarium. You need both, I believe, to really help in current contemporary environments with problems that we have, such as with COVID currently.”
(20:39) - Neuromodulation and what can be done with it - “Nerves in the human body function via an electric current, essentially. So if you can provide a current, you can either enhance the nerve’s function or you can diminish the nerve’s function by overriding it.”
(25:35) - Dr. Bonutti’s advice for medical research and development - “All the parts have to work together in synchrony and by taking things out of synchrony or trying to affect only one area, you have to be careful you're not affecting others.”
EPISODE RESOURCES:
Watch Bonutti Technologies’ demo on the UVCeed Smart Mobile Disinfection
Learn more about Dr. Bonutti’s UVCeed disinfectant device that attaches to mobile devices
Read The Geek Church’s Review: Our Review of the UVCeed Sanitizing Device
Learn more about Bonutti Technologies
Connect with Dr. Peter Bonutti on LinkedIn
Follow his band The Clinic on Spotify
Listen to Before IT Happened’s: Electrifying Agriculture One Tractor at a Time with Praveen Penmetsa
Thank you for listening! Follow Before IT Happened on Instagram and Twitter, and don’t forget to subscribe, rate and share the show wherever you listen to podcasts!
Before IT Happened is produced by Donna Loughlin and StudioPod Media with additional editing and sound design by nodalab. The Executive Producer is Katie Sunku Wood and all episodes are written by Jack Buehrer.
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