How Stories Happen with Jay Acunzo

This episode, we do something a bit different. I’m joined by the brilliant messaging strategist and pioneer of the message design industry, Tamsen Webster! We fully nerd out on crafting messaging and the elements that help you create stronger speeches, better stories, and a more effective message for your entire platform.

Tamsen in not only a leader in the field of message design, she’s also the author of two revolutionary books: Find Your Red Thread and Say What They Can’t Unhear. She’s been named to the Thinkers50 Radar, spent over 10 years as an Idea Strategist for TEDx events, and continues to be a sought-after speaker and consultant helping her clients design messages that create large-scale change.

Tamsen understands the mechanics and structure of how to motivate readers, audiences, and listeners toward action. In this episode, we get into the nitty gritty of her favorite tagline (and why), what Aristotle has to teach us about story, and why story is an argument (and how to win it). We also break down what it takes to create a powerful message by examining the beats of the argument you need to address, from the foundation to the framing to the finishing. Can you communicate to get buy-in?

Connect with Tamsen on her website, instagram, and Linkedin

Grab a copy of Tamsen’s books

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IMPROVE YOUR SPEAKING + STORYTELLING:

Subscribe to my newsletter and learn more about me at jayacunzo.com

Work with me one-on-one: jayacunzo.com/services

Book me to speak: jayacunzo.com/keynotes

***

CONNECT:

Follow me on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Bluesky

This episode was produced by Ilana Nevins

Cover art designed by Blake Ink

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ABOUT ME:

I help business leaders become stronger speakers and storytellers. The goal isn’t to get in front of your audience. The goal is to ensure they care. While others agonize over reach, your ability to resonate helps you compete on the influence of your ideas, not the volume of your marketing.

With my clients, I help clarify + differentiate their message, craft their thinking and expertise into a distinct premise and IP they own, and develop signature speeches, frameworks, and stories to influence, inspire, and drive results.

After making a name for myself as an early advocate for quality and storytelling in content marketing at brands like Google and HubSpot, I’ve partnered with orgs like Mailchimp, Salesforce, Wistia, and GoDaddy and consulted dozens of authors, entrepreneurs, execs, and creators on their storytelling, messaging, and public speaking.

I live in the Boston area with my family as a proud Yankees and Knicks fan (yes, I’m in enemy territory). In the 60 seconds per week I’m not creating stuff for work or making my kids laugh, I like to shoot hoops, sip nice bourbons, cook with my wife, and daydream about telling stories like my storytelling hero, Anthony Bourdain. Say hi on LinkedIn or contact me here.

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When we communicate with business results in mind, whether we work in-house on a team or we ARE the business, it's so common that we omit specific details. We want to rush to stuff things full of our ideas and make our value clear instantly. The thing is, only when we slow our stories down, include specific details, and describe one or two tiny moments, do others start to care.

Because the goal isn't to say everything all at once. The goal is to find the touchstones of the story that bring it all to life, allowing your audience to fill in the rest in their heads. This ensures they're enrolled into the story, leaning forward, and paying close attention. This ensures they genuinely care.

This is the final episode in a short three-pack of episodes, each of which features a different storyteller from my video series built alongside Intuit Mailchimp, taking you inside my coaching process with three marketing leaders. The series, called B2B Storytelling Stars, offers 6 videos plus associated storytelling templates you can use in your work, all available for free without any registration required at https://jayacunzo.com/stars

To cap off that series, each storyteller gets their own episode of How Stories Happen to further improve 1 story I helped them start building.

Closing out the series is Natalie Taylor, head of marketing at video software company, Capsule. Natalie tells a tasty story about pizza. She crafted it for her work to speak to heads of creatives at enterprise brands (the company's core customer base).

Together, Natalie and I discuss how tiny details help audiences connect with a character and a story, and you’ll get a front row seat to her story’s transformation during this episode. I also share a technique for validating, improving, and marketing your story which I call "up the mountain, down the mountain."

WATCH THE SERIES: STORYTELLING STARS

For all 6 videos (3 group coaching calls and 3 one-on-ones), plus a free template associated with each (no forms required), visit https://jayacunzo.com/stars

RESOURCES:

Connect with Natalie on Linkedin and learn more about her company Capsule

Subscribe to my newsletter at jayacunzo.com

Join the Creator Kitchen membership

Follow me on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Bluesky

This episode was produced by Ilana Nevins

Cover art designed by Blake Ink

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ABOUT JAY:

Consulting

Speaking

Contact

Books

I help business leaders become stronger speakers and storytellers. The goal isn’t to get in front of your audience. The goal is to ensure they care. While others agonize over reach, your ability to resonate helps you compete on the influence of your ideas, not the volume of your marketing.

With my clients, I help clarify + differentiate their message, craft their thinking and expertise into a distinct premise and IP they own, and develop signature speeches and stories to influence, inspire, and drive results.

After starting at brands like Google and HubSpot, I’ve helped organizations like Mailchimp, Salesforce, Wistia, and GoDaddy, plus dozens of individual authors, founders, execs, consultants, and creators with their storytelling and public speaking.

I live in the Boston area with my family as a proud Yankees and Knicks fan (yes, I’m in enemy territory). In the 60 seconds per week I’m not creating stuff for work or making my kids laugh, I like to shoot hoops, sip nice bourbons, cook with my wife, and daydream about telling stories like my storytelling hero, Anthony Bourdain. Say hi via jayacunzo.com

It's hard to show up publicly at times, sharing your work, giving of yourself to others. It can be even harder given the places we mostly show up online today. But Brad Montague is here to lead a joyful rebellion—one for creatives, artists, and humans of all kinds, both kids and (in Brad's terms) former kids. And here's here to show us that celebrating failure is part of the process of doing meaningful things.

Brad is a New York Times bestselling author of books for kids and former kids alike. He’s also a speaker and creator of the web series Kid President which took the world by storm years ago and was the first viral video I shared to all my friends instantly. His books, which he writes and illustrates with his wife Kristi, include The Fantastic Bureau of Imagination, The Circles All Around Us, Becoming Better Grownups, and his most recent, Failabration.

In our episode, Brad shares a delightful story in verse about the "dumpster fire" we always talk about, and a little girl who is skeptical, hopeful, and brave.

Brad and I discuss why his style of communicating matters, how humor cuts through defenses, the difference between speaking to an audience of children versus adults, and how we can let our audience know, instantly, “You’re in good hands.”

Connect with Brad on his website, Instagram, and LinkedIn

Grab a copy of Brad’s books

Watch the video I mention at the top of the episode, Kid President’s Pep Talk

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IMPROVE YOUR SPEAKING + STORYTELLING:

Subscribe to my newsletter and learn more about me at jayacunzo.com

Work with me one-on-one: jayacunzo.com/services

Book me to speak: jayacunzo.com/keynotes

***

CONNECT:

Follow me on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Bluesky

This episode was produced by Ilana Nevins

Cover art designed by Blake Ink

***

ABOUT ME:

I help business leaders become stronger speakers and storytellers. The goal isn’t to get in front of your audience. The goal is to ensure they care. While others agonize over reach, your ability to resonate helps you compete on the influence of your ideas, not the volume of your marketing.

With my clients, I help clarify + differentiate their message, craft their thinking and expertise into a distinct premise and IP they own, and develop signature speeches, frameworks, and stories to influence, inspire, and drive results.

After making a name for myself as an early advocate for quality and storytelling in content marketing at brands like Google and HubSpot, I’ve partnered with orgs like Mailchimp, Salesforce, Wistia, and GoDaddy and consulted dozens of authors, entrepreneurs, execs, and creators on their storytelling, messaging, and public speaking.

I live in the Boston area with my family as a proud Yankees and Knicks fan (yes, I’m in enemy territory). In the 60 seconds per week I’m not creating stuff for work or making my kids laugh, I like to shoot hoops, sip nice bourbons, cook with my wife, and daydream about telling stories like my storytelling hero, Anthony Bourdain. Say hi on LinkedIn or contact me here.

***

SUPPORT THE SHOW:

Leave a review on Apple Podcasts

Leave a rating on Spotify

How do you make a story truly come alive? You pace things down and focus on the small details. Everyone else might want the big, flashy story, but your most effective (and ownable) stories are from noteworthy moments, not newsworthy events.

In this episode, Ron Tite puts on display his otherworldly mastery of public speaking and performance. He takes a (relatively average) hotel and uses a series of interactions with the brand to make you laugh, feel inspired, and transform how you think about customer experience, social media, and even story structure.

Of course, this story could ONLY be told by Ron Tite. It’s ownable for him. Ron spent 20 years as a comedian before shifting to the business world, where he founded the successful marketing and advertising agency Church+State. He’s written multiple books, including his latest, Think Do Say, and he tours the world as a keynote speaker, delivering gripping talks to thousands of people and generally making you laugh, think, and change your approach to marketing.

Ron and I discuss what we can learn from standup comedy, the differences between a warm open and cold open (and how to craft them), his hilarious relationship with the Westin Grand in Vancouver (they’re in love!), and how to design and deliver stories that only YOU can tell—without making yourself the hero.

It’s an episode you probably won’t want to end. Ron is one of the very best in the world at this, and his energy is infectious.

Connect with Ron on his website and Linkedin

Grab a copy of his books, Think Do Say and Everyone’s An Artist(Or At Least They Should Be)

Learn about Church+State on their website

***

IMPROVE YOUR SPEAKING + STORYTELLING:

Subscribe to my newsletter and learn more about me at jayacunzo.com

Work with me one-on-one: jayacunzo.com/services

Book me to speak: jayacunzo.com/keynotes

***

CONNECT:

Follow me on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Bluesky

This episode was produced by Ilana Nevins

Cover art designed by Blake Ink

***

ABOUT ME:

I help business leaders become stronger speakers and storytellers. The goal isn’t to get in front of your audience. The goal is to ensure they care. While others agonize over reach, your ability to resonate helps you compete on the influence of your ideas, not the volume of your marketing.

With my clients, I help clarify + differentiate their message, craft their thinking and expertise into a distinct premise and IP they own, and develop signature speeches, frameworks, and stories to influence, inspire, and drive results.

After making a name for myself as an early advocate for quality and storytelling in content marketing at brands like Google and HubSpot, I’ve partnered with orgs like Mailchimp, Salesforce, Wistia, and GoDaddy and consulted dozens of authors, entrepreneurs, execs, and creators on their storytelling, messaging, and public speaking.

I live in the Boston area with my family as a proud Yankees and Knicks fan (yes, I’m in enemy territory). In the 60 seconds per week I’m not creating stuff for work or making my kids laugh, I like to shoot hoops, sip nice bourbons, cook with my wife, and daydream about telling stories like my storytelling hero, Anthony Bourdain. Say hi on LinkedIn or contact me here.

***

SUPPORT THE SHOW:

Leave a review on Apple Podcasts

Leave a rating on Spotify

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