How Stories Happen

I know a ton of storytellers and creators and entrepreneurs, but I know exactly zero other people who have learned how to do what they do from both legendary news broadcasters and Kermit the Frog.

Meet Andrew Davis. He is a powerhouse business speaker who’s given speeches in 35 different countries, at more than 50 events every year. He speaks to audiences ranging from marketers and entrepreneurs to plumbers and physicians — and there may not be a storyteller who is this craft-driven and obsessed with telling amazing stories in the worlds of business, marketing, and customer experience.

Andrew hosts a popular video series called the Loyalty Loop on YouTube, and he’s had a long career crafting stories of all kinds, including jobs as a producer for NBC and a writer for the news legend Charles Kuralt.

As an entrepreneur, Andrew has built and sold a marketing agency, produced docuseries for brand clients big and small, and authored multiple books about marketing and customer experience.

In this episode, we dissect one of his signature stories. It's been with him for almost ten years, and he can customize it across audiences and projects to arrive at basically any insight he needs to teach. It’s a rare look at how a true master of the craft executes the tiny things that create a big impact both for his audience and his business.

Jump into the conversation:
(06:27) Meet Andrew
(14:18) Andrew’s Story
(22:38) Dissecting the Story
(39:02) First, Last, Favorite

Bonus Video:

🎨 Watch a video animation of Andrew’s signature story:

https://jayacunzo.com/blog/how-stories-happen-episode-1-andrew-davis

Resources:

⚫ Follow Andrew: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drewdavishere/

⚫ Explore his speaking: https://www.akadrewdavis.com/

⚫ Watch the Loyalty Loop: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeegDFQqmxjBUpr5FCHzlpsKVyeEmPuf3

🔵 Follow Jay: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayacunzo/

🔵 Subscribe to Jay’s newsletter: https://jayacunzo.com/newsletter

🔵 Learn about Jay’s coaching and consulting: https://jayacunzo.com/

🟢 Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/

🟢 Cover art designed by Blake Ink: https://www.blakeink.com/

🟢 Video animation by La Hacienda: https://www.lahacienda.media/

🟢 Find and support our sponsors: https://jayacunzo.com/sponsors

Our guest for this episode is rarely online. But when she is, she’s telling small stories with big meaning.

Meet Michelle Warner—she’s a business strategist and consultant who architects business models and marketing strategies for clients who sell high-priced services. She also hosts the podcast Sequence Over Strategy—an idea that represents her entire platform’s differentiated premise, and one the story she brings to us today reflects.

Michelle has founded multi-million dollar startups, raised capital the traditional way, and generally followed “the blueprint” for business growth before burning out and finding a new path forward. She is an independent consultant and educator who doesn’t need to rely on social media for growth.

What I admire about Michelle is that she’s designed her life and work in a certain way—she’s intentional, genuine, and carefully curates anything she elects to spend time on. These characteristics are reflected in her life, in her work, and in the way she tells stories.

In this episode, we dissect one of her signature stories she recently sent to her newsletter. It was well-received, but the ending needs work, and she recognizes there are some structural problems with the story. We work on that together to turn this into a signature story she can take with her everywhere, and we identify the job this story does for her audience and her business.

You’ll get a deep look at the small changes that you can make to a story to communicate with greater impact.

Jump into the conversation:
(03:39) Meet Michelle
(17:40) Michelle’s Story
(21:28) Dissecting the Story
(23:04) First, Last, Favorite

Resources:

⚫ Listen to Michelle’s podcast: https://www.themichellewarner.com/blog/sos001

⚫ Check out Michelle’s website: https://www.themichellewarner.com/

🔵 Follow Jay: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayacunzo/

🔵 Subscribe to Jay’s newsletter: https://jayacunzo.com/newsletter

🔵 Learn about Jay’s coaching and consulting: https://jayacunzo.com/

🟢 Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/

🟢 Cover art designed by Blake Ink: https://www.blakeink.com/

🟢 Find and support our sponsors: https://jayacunzo.com/sponsors

The hardest question to answer when we show up publicly might be the simplest question we receive: “Tell me about yourself.” Who are you? How’d you get here? What’s your story?

We then face a choice: we can make the story about us, or we can make it about the thing we’re there to say. We can make our own stories about the audiences we wish to serve, and we can do so without feeling like we’re bragging and even without any newsworthy moments in our past.

Meet Rand Fishkin, cofounder and CEO of two companies (audience research platform SparkToro and indie video game maker Snackbar Studio). He’s an entrepreneur who’s navigated the roller-coaster of startup life, written an incredible book about it (Lost and Founder), and gone on the journey with hundreds of thousands of professionals following his every move. Rand has spoken at countless events, sharing his (often difficult) journey with audiences ranging from fresh-faced founders to seasoned veterans.

In this episode, Rand shares his personal story as he’d present it from the stage, illustrating for us the power of stories the more “strategic” thinkers among us might think unwise to share: stories of failure, struggle, and genuine emotional turmoil. You’ll hear the power of having an "enemy" to galvanize your cause and attract your tribe, and why sharing failures and other difficult experiences can forge stronger connections and teach more valuable lessons than sharing wins and case studies.

Rand’s style is a breath of fresh air in communities that rarely get so real, and it’s a big reason he resonates deeper than most.

Jump into the conversation:

(01:14) Meet Rand
(10:43) Rand’s Story
(18:46) Dissecting the Story

Resources:

⚫ Follow Rand on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/randfishkin/

⚫ Follow Rand on Threads: https://www.threads.net/@randderuiter

⚫ Visit SparkToro: https://sparktoro.com/

⚫ Visit Snackbar Studio: https://snackbarstudio.com/

🔵 Follow Jay: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayacunzo/

🔵 Subscribe to Jay’s newsletter: https://jayacunzo.com/newsletter

🔵 Learn about Jay’s coaching and consulting: https://jayacunzo.com/

🟢 Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/

🟢 Cover art designed by Blake Ink: https://www.blakeink.com/

🟢 Find and support our sponsors: https://jayacunzo.com/sponsors

How do we craft a metaphor that works? More importantly, perhaps, how do we ensure the metaphors we use pivot to the audience to teach them something in their lives or work, without them getting lost? Do we overtly explain the lesson? Imply it? Some combination? It’s a delicate dance, and few do it like Tucker Bryant.

Tucker isn't just a keynote speaker; he's a poet who has taken the stage everywhere from corporate boardrooms to major conferences, importing what he knows from the world of verse to the world of business innovation. After working at Google, Tucker transformed his own unique perspective and skill as a poet into keynotes that grip audiences by the thousands, leaving lasting impressions on everyone from marketers to HR pros to C-suite executives.

In this episode, we dive into Tucker's signature story about a young poet named Robert. We find a macro-level shape to the metaphor and apply it back in the audience’s more literal world, before re-working some of the story to add some drama, tension, and lessons — all to make Tucker’s message feel inescapable and irresistible to audiences. We talk pacing, pivoting, and probably a third-P (and why lists of three really matter when we list examples.) (For real, that’s in there.)

Whether you're looking to deliver a powerful speech, tighten your brand's message, or inspire action in your next conversation or piece of content, this episode is for you.

Resources:

⚫ Follow Tucker on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tuckerbryant/

⚫ Tucker’s site: https://www.tuckerbryantspeaks.com/

🔵 Follow Jay on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayacunzo/

🔵 Subscribe to Jay’s newsletter: https://jayacunzo.com/newsletter

🔵 Learn about Jay’s coaching and consulting: https://jayacunzo.com/

🟢 Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/

🟢 Cover art designed by Blake Ink: https://www.blakeink.com/

🟢 Find and support our sponsors: https://jayacunzo.com/sponsors

While everyone scrambles to learn the new trends and act like a futurist, it’s the folks who understand what parts of this work are timeless – because they’re based on human nature – that are most powerful of all.

Storytelling is one such thing. It’s been a constant throughout the history of humanity. Why? Because although the world changes in many ways, human nature is one thing that doesn’t change much at all.

So says our guest today, Scott Monty, and it’s part of what makes Scott such an inspiring storyteller – and a leadership advisor, consultant, and coach who has worked for and with brands like Ford, Google, IBM, Adobe, and Walmart. In fact, thanks to his work helping pioneer all things social media at Ford Motor Company, The Economist named Scott #1 on its list of social business leaders.

In this episode, we hear Scott dissect a signature story piece by piece, taking us into the executive team meeting from his time at Ford and how storytelling helped him thwart – then win over – his archnemesis, the curmudgeonly CFO at the time.

After hearing the story, we identify the three tentpoles that help it stand up, plus identify details that could improve – and we hear why the moments that don’t seem to advance the action are actually the most important pieces for this story to resonate deeper.

Scott’s brand is about the idea of timeless leadership – and he effortlessly quotes philosophers and leaders from centuries past to help make his points, both on the show and everywhere he shows up.

Resources:

⚫ Follow Scott on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottmonty/

⚫ Subscribe to Scott’s newsletter, Timeless & Timely: https://www.timelesstimely.com/

🔵 Follow Jay on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayacunzo/

🔵 Subscribe to Jay’s newsletter: https://jayacunzo.com/newsletter

🔵 Learn about Jay’s coaching and consulting: https://jayacunzo.com/

🟢 Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/

🟢 Cover art designed by Blake Ink: https://www.blakeink.com/

🟢 Find and support our sponsors: https://jayacunzo.com/sponsors