Business of Story

Richie Prynne, a young street performer (also known as a busker) formed CC Smugglers in his early twenties. He knew it was hard to make it as a band these days, and that they'd have to get creative with their marketing to really stand out. Their idea? 'Guerrilla Busking.’ They'd pop up and play to queuing crowds waiting to go into similar shows. The long list of targets included the fans of SeaSick Steve, Old Crow Medicine Show, The Devil Makes Three, Jools Holland and more. And it seemed to be working, so the strategy became fundamental to their innovative brand promotion. In 2013, their journey took a drastic turn as they decided to create careers as touring stage performers. In their usual innovative fashion, they used their well-rehearsed approach of ‘guerrilla busking’ to create a media splash and reach more fans than ever before. Cue their most daring ‘Guerrilla Busking’ mission to date, the eventual success of which would elevate them to national recognition. The stunt was picked up and reported by The Sunday Times and triggered a series of events that saw them eventually touring across the world. The aim of that mission was simple: Busk their way on stage with two-time Grammy award-winning Nashville band ‘Old Crow Medicine Show’. How? Follow them to every date of their UK tour busking to their audiences on the streets and sleeping in a small van in the freezing depths of British winter in the hopes of earning the band's respect and eventually getting invited on stage. The whole thing was filmed for a self-made documentary that never got released. Now, on the brink of their first official debut album, they are releasing that documentary footage as a part of a new docu-series that documents and compares their struggles to forge careers in the music industry then & now. The new album is set to release in Spring 2019 and is being produced with the help of their fanbase.  CC Smugglers started off as young British street performers. Over the years, their infamously engaging live performances and innovative brand of self-promotion saw them take the show on to stages and audiences across the world. Become a Master Storyteller Grab your free copy of The 5 Stages of Grief in Telling YOUR Business Story: http://bit.ly/StorytellingTools Like what you hear? Bring Park to your next event.

As a business storytelling speaker, a customer relationship management (CRM) system is pretty important for me to organize my prospects. But I find my relationship with the CRMs I've tried to be frustrating, cumbersome and not particularly effective. I recently heard about another up-and-coming CRM called Nimble and decided to give it a go. I was pleasantly surprised with how easy it was to use. Yet I wondered what their story was. How were they able to stand out among the other CRMs? I thought I'd challenge Nimble's CEO to see if he could use the Story Cycle System™ to define his core advantage and humanize his technical offering. On this week's episode, Jon Ferrara, founder of Nimble CRM, shares how they used the Story Cycle to help clarify their brand story, amplify their impact and simplify their lives. Jon is an entrepreneur who made his mark in the business world by creating and ultimately selling GoldMine, a Sales Force Automation and CRM software. But after a near-death experience, he realized early retirement wasn't for him. Instead, he set out to redefine customer relationship management by creating an online platform that grows organically with the growth of its users' social communities and email contacts. But can Nimble really be that effective and separate itself from the competition? Jon and I explore the brand story of Nimble using the Story Cycle System™, and how he has differentiated Nimble in a crowded market to be an award-winning CRM used by 140,000+ professionals worldwide. You'll feel inspired to work on differentiating your brand too. Become a Master Storyteller Grab your free copy of The 5 Stages of Grief in Telling YOUR Business Story: http://bit.ly/StorytellingTools Like what you hear? Bring Park to your next event.

I love wordplay. You've heard me say things like, "storytelling is the Velcro of collaboration" or "an anecdote is the antidote". I’m just using the storytelling powder keg of proverbs to make an explosive impact. But I never realized the power of these tiniest of stories until I read Ron Ploof’s new book, The Proverb Effect: Secrets to Creating Tiny Phrases That Change the World. What's the difference between a parable and a proverb? And, how can you use them in your business? Ron has spent decades using the power of storytelling in business, and in fact was one of our first guests on the Business of Story a few years ago sharing how to create a pitch-perfect story. On this week's show, Ron is going to show you how you can use proverbs, the tiniest of stories, to make your points stick. After all, there's something to be said about the fact that proverbs are remembered for centuries: Two wrongs don't make a right. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Fortune favors the bold. Short and simple, yet so impactful. That's something we should work harder to apply to our own business storytelling communications. Tune in to hear how you can create your own proverbs to convey your stories with less words. And don't forget "the benefit rule", meaning the proverb is always useful for the listener immediately. Become a Master Storyteller Grab your free copy of The 5 Stages of Grief in Telling YOUR Business Story: http://bit.ly/StorytellingTools Like what you hear? Bring Park to your next event.

Robert McKee once told me that our conscious mind is simply the P.R. department for our subconscious mind, where all of our real decisions are being made. In the advertising world, we know we buy with our hearts and justify our purchases with our heads. We tell ourselves emotional stories as to why we need to buy something, and then we create nonfiction in our brains to counteract any buyer’s remorse we might experience. But how exactly do our brains come up with these stories? And, have you ever stopped to think about what stories you tell yourself? Today, we’ll be going inside the depths of our minds to understand the Applied Science of Story. Our guest for this week's show is Dr. Ron Bonnstetter, senior vice president of research and development for Target Training International and professor emeritus of University of Nebraska – Lincoln, who has dedicated 3 decades of his life to research cognitive neurology. His team uses real-time EEG (electroencephalogram) tests that scan human brains and studies brain-based findings that inform human interactions. He and his team of research scientists are all working to uncover the meaning behind our human attribute database.  Recently, Ron Bonnstetter and his team snapped a bathing cap-like apparatus on my skull with 57 electrodes to measure my emotional quotient, or what is called emotional intelligence. Your EQ is the level of your ability to understand other people, what motivates them and how to work cooperatively with them. For most people, emotional intelligence (EQ) is more important than one’s intelligence (IQ), because as individuals, our success depends on our ability to read other people’s signals and react appropriately to them. Our optimal personal performance is often measured most accurately by how we score on our emotional quotient. I think of EQ as a measure of how well you read other people and accurately identify their story. The test they gave me at TTI measured my initial emotional response to stimuli – my gut instinct– compared to my immediate second response which is more logical. They look at how much similar these two reactions are, or what is the gap between them: We tell ourselves one story but actually believe something different. In this episode, Dr. Ron Bonnstetter will take us inside the brain, sharing what they have learned over the past six years on how we process stories to live our optimum life. He also shares the result of the EEG test he performed on me including the 3 major outcomes and how we can differentiate knowledge from understanding.  Don't forget to take your own emotional quotient study online for FREE, thanks to a special link made available to our Business of Story listeners: http://bit.ly/yourtti Become a Master Storyteller Grab your free copy of The 5 Stages of Grief in Telling YOUR Business Story: http://bit.ly/StorytellingTools Like what you hear? Bring Park to your next event.

Storytelling is so highly relevant in elevating the skills and competence of professionals in their respective fields. Yet, why is no one in business has taught how to use storytelling to their advantage? With the influx of new technology, it is no surprise why a huge need for storytelling has been stirred. A lot of ideas swarming inside the great minds of innovative thinkers are going down the drain, unnoticed. The main culprit lies in the absence of a binding ingredient, essential in connecting us together through stories.  On this week's show, we have someone who is pioneering the ancient skill of storytelling in upper education. Liz Warren is the Faculty Director and Co-Founder of the Storytelling Institute at South Mountain Community in Phoenix, Arizona, an institute helping students use storytelling to advance their career and life. Liz's textbook, The Oral Tradition Today: An Introduction to the Art of Storytelling is used at colleges around the nation. In this show, we will learn tips that can be immediately implemented to be a notable storyteller, plus a few assignments we can start on our own to take part in learning about storytelling as a jump start in advancing our lives. Become a Master Storyteller Grab your free copy of The 5 Stages of Grief in Telling YOUR Business Story: http://bit.ly/StorytellingTools Like what you hear? Bring Park to your next event.

There has always been a distinction between a commander and a leader. A commander gives instructions, delegates tasks, and implements orders. A leader has a more serious responsibility – that of influencing people and making the critical decision to choose what kind of influence he will be. My stint in the United States Air Force paved the opportunity to work with their leaders, trained them how to craft, find and share their own stories. Through storytelling, they are able to connect deeper with men and women in their speeches and get to recruit and retain the best fliers in the crew. One of the highlights of my stint is to be a listener to the stories of remarkably honorable men and women, generals, and leaders who are living up to their life missions to inspire, motivate and develop potential leaders who would someday lead the pack they are currently leading. I am deeply honored to welcome in today’s show, someone who, I have come to admire and respect for his exemplary leadership that has honed heroes in the world of air force and beyond. General Christopher “Mookie” Walker is an Air Force Brigade General, Chief of Staff and Deputy Commander of West Virginia International Guard. Today, he will teach us, coach us, and motivates us to be our own, little heroes as he demonstrates how he is currently living to his most powerful story by helping others find their own leadership potential. Let us all be inspired by how an initially non committal and unbelieving young boys of a football team in a small state university in West Virginia rose to their calling as heroes to defend the whole neighborhood from wars on drugs. All because this friendly and humble general went out to tell them of his childhood story, related it with the group’s life story and posed a challenge to initiate a smile, be a leader to one’s self, and do what is right. Let us also join him in his current mission which he will be sharing with us today, to help bring pride in the sunken shoulders of men in uniform who, as he has observed, are only fulfilling their day-to-day tasks out of duty without a sense of accomplishment. By telling them of his story, he will journey with them in realizing their own stories, and bring a dawn of enlightenment that their roles are so much bigger than they believe, that they matter, and that they too are heroes as we all are.   Become a Master Storyteller Grab your free copy of The 5 Stages of Grief in Telling YOUR Business Story: http://bit.ly/StorytellingTools Like what you hear? Bring Park to your next event.

As the Kavanaugh hearing underscored, the Democrats still lack a focused, cohesive narrative on which to build their platform. Dr. Randy Olson, who appeared on this show the day after Trump's election to the White House, reveals how Donald Trump and the Republicans continue to steamroll the Democrats for want of a story. From his post: "Rather than presenting a clear ABT structured narrative (Kavanaugh wants to be a Supreme Court judge AND a supreme court judge needs to have the right temperament, BUT he doesn’t, THEREFORE he needs to be rejected), they took a shotgun approach and ended up with a laundry list of complaints." A revelation hit me at the beginning of the show taken from one of my favorite poems, For Want of a Nail, that, at least to me, sums the problem with the Democratic Party's approach to communications. For Want of a Story For want of a story, the vision was lost. For want of a vision, meaning was lost. For want of meaning, emotion was lost. For want of emotion, empathy was lost. For want of empathy, connection was lost. For want of connection, camaraderie was lost. For want of camaraderie, the mission was lost. For want of a mission, the election was lost. All for the want of a simple story. For want of a story doesn't just happen to Democrats. It happens to all of us. If you're uncertain where to start with your presentation, speech, whitepaper, website...any communications...use the And, But & Therefore narrative structure to find your focus. Land on your one-word theme (Like the Dems. should've focused on "temperament" in the Kavanaugh hearings), and captivate your audience. On today's show, Dr. Randy Olson shares with you the wonderful journey of telling stories not OF Science but ABOUT Science. He is a Harvard Ph. D. evolutionary biologist who gave up tenure at the University of New Hampshire to study filmmaking at the University of Southern California. He has created three documentaries and written three books to help scientist become better communicators using the power of story. Olson also consulted with the Hillary campaign and cautioned them that they'd lose to Trump if they didn't get their story straight. The rest is history, and you can hear Olson here on this special episode of the Business of Story the day after Trump's election to the White House where he reveals the secret behind Trump's narrative intuition. My goal with that particular episode was to help listeners understand the magic to combat the spell. Today, let’s unravel the secrets of telling stories that do make a point, and understand the old and overused but often understated line, “less is more.”   Become a Master Storyteller Grab your free copy of The 5 Stages of Grief in Telling YOUR Business Story: http://bit.ly/StorytellingTools Like what you hear? Bring Park to your next event.

“One of the most important commodities in our industry is truth.”   In a world where almost everyone’s personal struggle revolves around the approval from others, it’s always been easier to say what we think people want to hear instead of what things actually are. Truth is the most powerful tool every storyteller can use when they want to win the hearts of their audience.  Director Randy Murray is the man behind the scenes and success of Dr. David Brill's political ad featuring six siblings who rebelled against their brother, Paul Gosar, and encouraged the public to oust him as their Arizona Congressman. These 6 siblings used nothing but pure, honest words, and told the public a story of a family and how they struggled with the truth they all had to live with. They wanted to tell the world what is really happening in the hopes that the rebellion will end up saving not only the people of Arizona, but will also put a permanent end to their brother’s evil ways. Today, Director Murray will teach us how we can turn the truth into the most compelling element to create a hit story of all time. Our guest on this week's show, Randy Murray, unravels the shocking revelation that truth, in its deepest essence, is actually the best tool any storyteller can use in this lifetime.   Become a Master Storyteller Grab your free copy of The 5 Stages of Grief in Telling YOUR Business Story: http://bit.ly/StorytellingTools

Brand and business storytelling is all of the rage today. And for good reason. It works. But while most storytelling experts tell you to tell stories, these six content marketing and communications leaders will show you how. This week's show previews the latest storytelling tips and techniques you’ll learn from leading brand and business storytellers who are coming together for STORYco, a FREE storytelling conference on October 25, 2018 at the historic downtown Los Angeles Theatre Center. This is your opportunity to receive the most invaluable free advice you can get on the art and science of storytelling to grow your brand, your personal influence, your people and your career. So you might ask, why would all of these speakers appear at STORYco for free and share their wisdom? Well, because we’re all trying out new material, filled with the latest insights on brand, business and leadership storytelling, and we’re recording our sessions for our own promotional purposes. But you receive the greatest benefit. Because not only will you be among the first people privy to these insights during the conference, but you'll also get to connect with each of the speakers at the reception. So on today’s show, and at STORYco, you will hear from… The hilarious KATHY KLOTZ-GUEST of Keeping it Human and author of  Stop Boring Me! How to Create Kick-Ass Content, Products and Ideas Through the Power of Improv. The business-savvy & witty CARRIE WILKERSON, author of The Barefoot Executive who challenges you to see what is possible professionally & personally through hard-hitting truth, humor and high-performance strategies. One of the Godfathers of content marketing, ROBERT ROSE, the Founder and Chief Troublemaker for The Content Advisory, the education and consulting group for the Content Marketing Institute. Robert ran Content Marketing World in Cleveland last month. MIKE GANINO, a company culture and engagement expert and author of Company Culture for Dummies. For 20 years, Mike has been on the front lines of creating radical cultures that help create bottom-line results, beloved brands, and engaging employee experiences. You'll learn from the incomparable LESLIE EHM of Combustion who joins us with her own kind of swagger. Leslie is a supreme evangelist of creativity and collaboration who will do just about anything (and has) to unleash her participants’ potential. She'll do that for you at STORYco. DANIEL LEMIN, co-author of the recently released book on word of mouth marketing, Talk Triggers, and the puppet master of STORYco who corraled all of us speakers, offers current insights on how to build word of mouth marketing strategies in your business. I’ll also be presenting at STORYco. I’ll show you how to use the three most powerful words in business storytelling: And, But & Therefore. Because the hardest thing about storytelling is getting your story straight. Learn how to clarify your story, amplify your impact and simplify your life with these three words that are the DNA of story. Unfortunately, KAREN WICKRE, who rounds out this talented group of presenters, couldn’t make it on today’s show. But you’ll want to catch her live in L.A. on October 25 when she shows you how to take the "work" out of networking. Which reminds me: in addition to storytelling tips and techniques that you can immediately apply in your business, STORYco is going to be a one-of-a-kind networking event in downtown L.A., but only for the select few who reserve their seat today. When they’re gone, they’re gone. So let’s hear from the marvelous story mavens of STORYco right now on the Business of Story podcast. Become a Master Storyteller Grab your free copy of The 5 Stages of Grief in Telling YOUR Business Story: http://bit.ly/StorytellingTools Like what you hear? Bring Park to your next event.  

The primaries are approaching and we’re inundated with the typical screeching political attack ads. But a surprising thing happens when you replace vitriol with ingenious storytelling. People take notice. And in this rare case, laugh. Patrick Hunt, partner in Minneapolis ad agency Hunt Adkins, shares how they created the viral Bigfoot ad for Dean Phillips for Congress Campaign. They married truth with brilliant brand storytelling to call out five-time incumbent Erik Paulsen, a Congressman with a strong aversion of interacting with voters. “How can you have tens of thousands of people looking for you all the time and not one of them find you?” asks a clearly impressed Bigfoot. “I started to wonder, does Erik Paulsen really exist?” Hunt reveals how his team managed to get their client to take a chance with Bigfoot and create this viral ad on a shoestring budget in just three and a half weeks. Get a peek into the nuances of ad production, where you can learn about different production aspects that went into making this virally successful campaign. Patrick shares some interesting information about the Dean Phillips campaign. Did Dean’s progressive attitude encourage Patrick to try this radically different approach? Learn about Dean’s campaign strategy to create erikpaulsen.org, a creative website that highlights the competitor’s differences complete with a Pac Man game – with Erik as Pac Man, of course. Tune in to discover how attributes like confidence and selflessness can help you design strategic and responsible brand storytelling.