How Do You Write a Thing?

Episode 029: Dave Carroll – How To Create A Movement Through Storytelling (United Breaks Guitars)

Known as a master storyteller, Dave Carroll’s incredible talent was introduced to millions when his 2009 anthem ‘United Breaks Guitars’ became a worldwide sensation. The song chronicled his experience in the customer service process with United Airlines. His creative use of social media to share that message as an Independent Musician, has reached over 150 million people. As the #1 most watched YouTube Music Video in the world in July 2009, United Breaks Guitars has been called ‘one of the most important [videos] in Google’s history,’ and became a metaphor for change and innovation. Dave Carroll and United Breaks Guitars are now recognized as ‘household names.’ United Breaks Guitars won the 2009 Music Nova Scotia Video of the Year Award and Dave Carroll was award the 2009 Music Nova Scotia Digital Artist of the Year. Dave was also nominated for the 2010 ECMA for Entertainer of the Year.

Episode 029: Dave Carroll – How To Create A Movement Through Storytelling (United Breaks Guitars)

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The Learning Leader Show

“Your comfort zone can be your worst enemy.”

Some Questions I Ask:

• Why is storytelling so powerful?
• What is your process for writing a song?
• What was your thought process when writing “United Breaks Guitars”?
• When was a specific moment that you knew you had created something special?
• How can regular people make a viral video?
• What does the term learning leader mean to you?

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

• How Whoopi Goldberg gave him the idea to license “United Breaks Guitars”
• About Dave’s song creating a 10% drop in United’s stock… Worth $180 million
• Dave’s feelings on Harvard Business School using his video as a case study
• The specific moment when Dave realized he had gone viral
• Startups he’s involved in
• The elements that define a quality life

 “Show me your friends, and I’ll show you your future.” – John Wooden

Continue Learning

• Go To Dave’s website: http://www.davecarrollmusic.com/main/   
• Read Dave’s book: United Breaks Guitars
• Follow Dave on Twitter: @DaveCarroll

You may also like these episodes:

Episode 001: How To Become A Master Connector With Jayson Gaignard From MasterMind Talks

Episode 002: How To Take Over And Set Bigger Goals With Chris Brogan

Episode 004: How Todd Wagner (and Mark Cuban) Sold Broadcast.com To Yahoo! For $5.7 Billion

Episode 010: Shane Snow – How To Accelerate Success Using Smart Cuts

Did you enjoy the podcast?

This was a jam packed episode full of great content.  Dave Carroll is leader who has created a drastic change in the customer service industry. Who do you know that needs to hear this?  Send them to The Learning Leader Show!

Episode edited by the great J Scott Donnell

Bio From http://www.davecarrollmusic.com/bio/

Dave Carroll is an award winning singer-songwriter, professional speaker, author and social media innovator based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. He began his music career with his brother Don in the band Sons of Maxwell and has been enjoying success as a solo artist since 2008.  He released his debut solo album Perfect Blue in 2008 and a second solo album in 2012 called Raincoat in Vegas. For over two decades, Dave has charmed fans with his approach to music. His ability to extract the essence of a message and craft it into song is a rare gift that is attracting fans of all ages, while his sense of humor and disarmingly warm stage presence makes each live experience a memorable one for audiences around the world.

Known as a master storyteller, Dave’s incredible talent was introduced to millions when his 2009 anthem ‘United Breaks Guitars’ became a worldwide sensation. The song chronicled his experience in the customer service process with United Airlines. His creative use of social media to share that message as an Independent Musician, has reached over 150 million people. As the #1 most watched YouTube Music Video in the world in July 2009, United Breaks Guitars has been called ‘one of the most important [videos] in Google’s history,’ and became a metaphor for change and innovation. Dave Carroll and United Breaks Guitars are now recognized as ‘household names.’ United Breaks Guitars won the 2009 Music Nova Scotia Video of the Year Award and Dave Carroll was award the 2009 Music Nova Scotia Digital Artist of the Year. Dave was also nominated for the 2010 ECMA for Entertainer of the Year.

The United Breaks Guitars trilogy has awakened companies everywhere to the importance of focusing on the customer and on delivering exceptional customer experience. Dave Carroll is a musician with a message, demonstrating the power one voice can have in today’s socially driven world. Dave has become internationally famous as one of the world’s top media relations innovators & customer experience authorities. He is also widely sought after as a content creator & songwriter.

Dave  has been featured in major news media around the world (including ABC’s ‘The View,’ ABC’s 20/20, CNN, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, Rolling Stone Magazine, Wall Street Journal & BBC to name a few). Several case studies and book references about United Breaks Guitars have been published including one’s by Harvard Business School, University of Toronto and a Thesis by Allison Soule for University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. On February 16th, 2011, Dave Carroll and United Breaks Guitars were featured as part of a question/answer on the hit show Jeopardy. 

Dave has testified (and sung) on Capitol Hill in Washington, delivered keynotes at Columbia University’s Brite Conference, TedX Hoboken, NewComm Forum, Mesh Conference, Atlantic Brand Confabulation (with Gene Simmons), SXSW Interactive, The Power of PR CPRS Conference, G-Force Prague, G-Force Melbourne & other significant customer service & corporate events (including for RightNow Technologies & Sandvik Coromant).