The Rooftop Podcast

Our theme this week, as we go into our second month of narrative competence, is “Birthing your Story”. It is a hard process. It is a challenging task and it comes from within us, and that's why you'll often hear authors and creatives call it “birthing a story” because it's difficult. It's painful. It doesn't feel good often times when we're doing this. It's hard work. It's deep work. Birthing a story is not easy. It requires generosity. It requires you to tap in emotionally to the miles that you have run and the struggles that you've been through so that you can make yourself relatable. It requires you to be transparent, to be authentic. “Birthing your Story”, requires you to reconnect with that emotional struggle, and it must be done in the service of others. If we tell stories just about ourselves for the sake of talking about ourselves, it has the opposite effect. We can't watch it. People just dismiss you right out of hand as arrogant and self-righteous, right? Join me by the campfire as we work together on, “Birthing Your Story”. I’ll see you on the Rooftop, Scott Join Our Tribe! Website: http://www.rooftopleadership.com/Mastery Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialScottmann Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rooftop_leader Twitter: https://twitter.com/RealScottMann LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidscottmann

The Hero's Journey is a timeless story, it is one of the oldest forms of story in the world, it is a structure that can really serve you well when you are leading with story. The Hero's Journey framework, was really codified by a guy named Joseph Campbell and his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. What Campbell essentially said is, every hero, or every protagonist, or main character, if you will, from Alexander the Great to Rocky Balboa to JFK, all follow the structure of The Hero's Journey. It's a universal structure for very purposeful storytelling. Now, you ask, "Okay, what kind of purposes?" Well, The Hero's Journey structure is great for keynotes. If you have to get up on the stage and address people, whether it's at a church congregation or at a massive keynote, The Hero's Journey is a proven structure to use. It's also great for honoring people, folks who are new arrivals to your team or your company, or maybe you're honoring someone for an award, or maybe you have to introduce a guest speaker, or even introduce one person to another, a very sacred form of connection, The Hero's Journey structure connects to the listener at the most visceral primal level, where people feel a sense of reciprocity. The story is so compelling, it's so powerful, they want to do something for you. It hits an emotional chord. Join me by the campfire this week as we go deep on, “The Hero’s Journey”. Scott Join Our Tribe! Website: http://www.rooftopleadership.com/Mastery Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialScottmann Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rooftop_leader Twitter: https://twitter.com/RealScottMann LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidscottmann

So, what is it about story that makes it so powerful? In this month of July, we're focusing on Narrative Competence, Part One. And before I get you on your feet, and start having you develop your story, I want to talk about, "What is it that must be in a story?" Let’s talk about five critical components you would want to include in a story. They're not the only five, but they are five, “Essential Elements of Story”. So, whether you're telling a joke to your friends, that you really want to laugh, or whether you're doing a sales pitch to a customer, or you want a donor to take action for your nonprofit, or you want your child to listen to the rules you're laying down. If you're going to use a story to connect with them, then what I'm going to ask you to do, or to consider, these five essential elements. Join me by the campfire and let’s get into the deep work and learn about the “Essential Elements of Story”. Scott Join Our Tribe! Website: http://www.rooftopleadership.com/Mastery Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialScottmann Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rooftop_leader Twitter: https://twitter.com/RealScottMann LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidscottmann

I learned storytelling in one of the hardest environments in the world which is tribal society, at-risk, and under-governed, and really on the edges of tribal warfare. That's where I learned storytelling as a Green Beret, to go in and make human connections across vast trust gaps that if we got them wrong, could mean life, death, mission failure at a strategic level. The understanding of high stakes storytelling, of purposeful storytelling, of Rooftop storytelling, stories that would give the listener, the skeptical listener slowly caressing the trigger of his AK-47 while he looked at you, enough of a sense of you and enough of a sense of himself that he would follow you up that ladder into the darkness when the village is under attack. That kind of storytelling. I've heard all kinds myths surrounding story, and so as we dive deep into this month in July, and you start to arm yourself with the power of story, of narrative competence, of the integration of storytelling, active listening and interpersonal skills to form deep connections, you've really got to know what the myths are. Let's just take them on head-on. Join me by the campfire and let’s move on to Busting the Myths of Story….. Scott Join Our Tribe! Website: http://www.rooftopleadership.com/Mastery Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialScottmann Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rooftop_leader Twitter: https://twitter.com/RealScottMann LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidscottmann

Kendall Haven calls us “Homo-Narratus”. Storytelling has become an evolutionary tool in our survival and why we sit at the top of the food chain. This is why story is so powerful. It's 100,000 years of hard wiring in every human's body. Now, what Kendall says, is that humans have this thing called a make sense mandate. We must make sense of things in order to do them. In order to take a risk, to buy a product, to try a new farming technique. We must make sense of it first. If a story does not carry proper information into the listener's brain, the listener will create their own story to make sense of it before processing it to the frontal cortex for formal decision. Now here's what you need to know because your customers, your clients, your donors, your children, when they have to make their own story up because there's no story accompanying the information you're giving them in that 80,000 page PowerPoint deck, two things are constant. One, the listener's story is often inaccurate and two, the listener's story is often negative about you or whatever external input is coming in. So not only does the brain require story to make sense of things before it renders a decision on whether to buy from you, invest in you, follow you, it will make up its own story if you don't provide one. Join me by the campfire and let’s discuss how “Story” can work for you…. Scott Join Our Tribe! Website: http://www.rooftopleadership.com/Mastery Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialScottmann Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rooftop_leader Twitter: https://twitter.com/RealScottMann LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidscottmann

Narrative competence is one of the best ways to make a human connection. Inside narrative competence, lies the integration of storytelling, high-stakes listening, and then nonverbal skills for deep human connections to help you achieve your goals. If you want to move people to take action, if you want to inspire people to follow you, storytelling, the command of story and narrative in your daily dialogue with other people, is essential. Now whether you're doing that on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, in person, I will tell you that story is a powerful way to communicate to people. Our brains are wired for it. Humans have been telling stories for 100,000 years, and we've only had coded language for about 10,000 years. So story has been around for 90,000 years before we even had formal languages, just like this sitting around the fire like Wes and I are right now. Telling stories around the fire about the day's hunt, about the foraging that took place, about what we learned in facing our enemies. Now we share those lessons through story around the safety of a fire, and if I walk into the campsite here and I tell Wes, "Let me tell you why saber-toothed tigers make crappy pets." Wes is going to lean in. Lean in with us around the campfire let’s talk about the incredible Power Of Story. I’ll see you on the Rooftop… Scott Join Our Tribe! Website: http://www.rooftopleadership.com/Mastery Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialScottmann Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rooftop_leader Twitter: https://twitter.com/RealScottMann LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidscottmann

"Freedom isn’t free.” We hear this all the time don’t we. It’s become cliche and over-used. But as we party down this July 4th and continue down the path of a divided America…what do Rooftop Leaders really need to know about this elusive thing and what can we do about it? I'll see you on the Rooftop... Scott Scott Mann breaks it down in this special holiday Rooftop Podcast Episode. There is stuff in here that will not only make you a better leader in your community, it’s stuff that can serve your kids and our nation for years to come! Check out the episode and share widely. Join Our Tribe! Website: http://www.rooftopleadership.com/Mastery Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialScottmann Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rooftop_leader Twitter: https://twitter.com/RealScottMann LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidscottmann

Narrative competence. Whether you are a senior leader in a Fortune 100 company, whether you are a speaker, whether you are a small business owner, a nonprofit owner, a warrior, or a transitioning warrior, pretty much anything where you have to deal with people and achieve big things in a high stakes environment, narrative competence is absolutely essential. We've got a major disconnect between top and bottom, between upper echelons of leadership and the folks in the trenches who are doing the grind. You've got a disconnect there. You've got a disengagement there. You've even got some level of distrust. So how do you overcome it? Human connection. Humans are the most social creatures on the planet. We can't do anything without a human connection. People have to see you as relevant to their problem. Authority means nothing in this day and age in a trust depleted environment. Are you relevant to the problem? Are you credible? Are you relatable? Can I see in you the fact that you've run miles and you've got scars and I can relate to you? Are your words resonant to me? Do they help me see myself as the hero in the journey? Join me by the campfire and follow the video lessons over the next month as we learn how “Narrative Competence” is crucial to making the human connections that will establish you as the most relevant person in the room. I’ll see you on the Rooftop… Scott Join Our Tribe! Website: http://www.rooftopleadership.com/Mastery Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialScottmann Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rooftop_leader Twitter: https://twitter.com/RealScottMann LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidscottmann

Anytime there's somebody that's losing me, that can't stay focused for more than three seconds, I say, "Squirrel!" That's kind of the thing that we use these days to illustrate somebody who can't stay focused, and I believe that is permeating our culture. Humans are severely distracted, and again, if you can't make a human connection as a leader today, then you're pretty irrelevant. You are in an overcrowded marketplace, everybody's just yelling at everybody. Everybody's trying to over index, over rely on their product or their service or the selfie or whatever, and we can't watch that. We can't connect with that. What we need is authenticity, transparency, good, solid story-telling, active listening, those interpersonal skills that are timeless. Join me by the campfire in Old Florida as I dodge the smoke and we talk about how to focus the Squirrels... Scott Join Our Tribe! Website: http://www.rooftopleadership.com/Mastery Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialScottmann Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rooftop_leader Twitter: https://twitter.com/RealScottMann LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidscottmann

As you think about leadership today in your organization, in your household, in your community, do you see lots of motivation? Do you see lots of engagement? Do you see a lot of collective energy, or do you see evidence of apathy, disengagement, disconnection? Our theme this month is the challenge of human connection, understanding your arena and that no one wins alone, and if you want to accomplish things bigger than yourself, if you want to leave deep tracks in this world, you've got to be good at human connections. You've got to be great at human connections. The most relevant person in the room, which is the person we're going to follow, is the person who can make the best human connections. So join me by the campfire in Old Florida as we learn that without those connections, a sense of purpose and leadership… there is no “Rocket Fuel” to make those “Moon Landings”. I'll see you on the Rooftop... Scott Join Our Tribe! Website: http://www.rooftopleadership.com/Mastery Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialScottmann Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rooftop_leader Twitter: https://twitter.com/RealScottMann LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidscottmann