Business of Story

This episode holds a special spot in my heart because my father, Keith Clinton Howell, passed away recently. We recorded this episode three days after he was buried and I felt he was the one who led today's guest to the show. My guest is someone who went through severe losses –family members, a job she really loved - and came out kicking. Surprisingly, hitting rock bottom and going through the lowest point in our lives can help unravel our most powerful story. Let's welcome 2019 as warmly as we welcome our guest today, Andrea Cadelli, author of Life After This. Andrea is a storytelling coach dedicated to helping people achieve positive transformation. She is also a director, producer, and the founder and CEO of Newcastle Media. As she talks about that one point in her life when she was at her darkest, she aims to impart the 6 steps she took to rise above the pit. She calls these steps the 6 heart fire stories. Andrea will also teach us how to write our own heart fire stories, how to live into those to achieve just about anything you wish to achieve – which is our goal for 2019. Life is filled with inevitable events. When we deal with difficult times, all we can do is to try to get through and overcome them. Through this episode, we hope to ignite emotions, inspire change, and influence results simply by sharing our stories. Learn how to write your own "Be statements" and internalize that one thing we all have within ourselves that can push us over the top. Let's all start the new year living out our own self-narratives. 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.

Many sales and business professionals ask themselves questions every day. "How do I earn the trust of my audience?" "How can I become an effective salesperson?" The answer? Ask your audience and customers questions. And after hearing their questions, offer a solution through your own story. Because you can earn trust through storytelling. When is a particular story applicable for a specific type of audience? Mike Adams joins me on this week's episode to share the different stories we need to tell in order to effectively sell. Mike is an engineer-turned-salesman who also authored the best selling book, Seven Stories Every Salesperson Must Tell. He is currently managing a team of salespeople from different parts of the world for corporations like Schlumberger, Siemens, Nokia, and Halliburton. In the show, we'll go through a little discovery process together to find each story. Some of the stories may come as a surprise to you, but they are all interconnected to one another. As a matter of fact, we've already been practicing them. All we need is to identify the story that works for us and how to tell it. And if you're not a salesperson, don't worry. Any profession needs to sell their services in some way. Mike believes that our backgrounds are not a hindrance or a limitation. After all, whether you're an engineer, a doctor, a pilot - you can also be a salesperson. Just like our guest today, Mike Adams. Tune in to find out how to use storytelling for sales by mastering seven different stories for your business. 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 fearful words that has ever existed is "failure". It hinders even the most ardent dreamer from pursuing their dreams. This fact made me thoughtful of an important question: if we remain fearful, will our dreams ever come true? Before recording this week's show, I was reminded of an old dream of mine to become a Spring DJ for KUGR radio in the 1980s. It was the craze back then before the internet came into existence. When I was asked to audition, I chose not to. To me, not trying at all was a better approach than trying and failing. This fear made my dream of becoming a Spring DJ unrealized. It was only later on when I realized the lesson out of that experience. And we do things like this every single day. Conflict and failure are in the heart of every story we tell. So if you're avoiding it, you're choosing not to take the journey that can change your life for the better forever. My guest on this week's show, Andrea Waltz, co-author of Go For No! Yes is the Destination, No is How You Get There, shares how to reframe your story about failure so you can gain more confidence in pursuing your dreams. Andrea is an expert at fun, fabulous failures. Yep, that's right. Failing doesn't always have to be scary. Andrea will teach us how to turn our stories of failure into stories of success. Starting with the mindset, she will change the way you think, feel and respond to failure. Then, you'll be liberated from the fear of failure and rejection. Once that fear is gone, only then you can unleash your most extraordinary story. My goal with this episode is to help listeners understand the important role of failure in the attainment of success. Today, find out why embracing failure and rejection is important in crafting and telling your story. Learn about the 5 levels of failure, how to deal with these levels, and how to combat the fears that are hindering you from telling your stories. Now, who has a connection for a college radio station that needs a new DJ? 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 actual aesthetic of our voices is something many of us have worried about at some point or another. We've all seen or heard a recording of ourselves and thought, "Is that really what I sound like?" The good news is that perception can be changed. Yes, we can even change how we hear our own voices through simple exercises and mindset changes. And more importantly, we can change the way others hear and understand our communications through vocal awareness. In this week's show, we're diving into how to use our voice as an instrument to become a better business storyteller. How we tell a story vocally is just as important, perhaps even more important, than the story itself. Your voice's pitch and speed contribute to what others perceive as inauthentic and what we trust. That's a skill that must inherently be ingrained into our primal minds. It takes some serious vocal awareness, disclipline and dedication to master it. My guest is Arthur Samuel Joseph, founder and chairman of the Vocal Awareness Institute. Arthur is widely recognized as one of the world's foremost communication strategists and authorities on the human voice. He's coached talented individuals like Angelina Jolie, Sean Connery, Tony Robbins, Stephen Covey, Jerry Rice, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, and many more. His voice and leadership training program, Vocal Awareness, teaches Communication Mastery through a disciplined regimen of specific techniques designed to cultivate an embodied and enhanced leadership presence and personal presence. Tune in to hear Arthur Samuel Joseph, world renown voice coach to the stars, teach you techniques on how to use your most powerful but underutilized instrument (your voice) to bring sincerity, depth and persuasion to your business storytelling. 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.

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.