Unthinkable with Jay Acunzo

Author Simone Stolzoff, known for The Good Enough Job, shares insights on crafting meaningful stories, challenging misconceptions about job satisfaction, and the power of our professional narratives. They also discuss incorporating stories into speeches and presentations with impactful endings.

Exploring the frustration with low-quality content on the internet and the opportunity for creators. Impact of generative AI on content creators and storytellers, including job losses and brand damage. Misalignment between company values and incentives, urging ethical AI companies and respect for creatives.

Amanda Natividad, VP of marketing at SparkToro, shares her story of meeting her marketing hero, Rand Fishkin, and discusses the power of personal storytelling, exploring performance and authenticity, being refreshing, and creating meaningful connections through personal experiences.

Jenny Blake, author, speaker and podcaster, joins Jay to discuss pulling out moments of meaning from small interactions, reshaping stories for audio, and the power of setting and description in storytelling.

Michael Bungay Stanier, author of 'The Coaching Habit', shares a story about a bad job. The podcast discusses using open loops in storytelling, comedy, crafting tiny stories, and creating a sense of safety for the audience. They also explore the power of storytelling in presentations, structuring stories for maximum impact, and acknowledging biases.

Former editor of branded content at the New York Times, Melanie Deziel, shares her experience crafting resonant narratives and using them to build connections and serve audiences. Topics include her time at the New York Times, maintaining journalistic standards in branded content, crafting powerful speeches, and the importance of storytelling for marketers.

What is taste? And once we understand it, how do we use our own taste? In this one-shot, Jay dives into they days before dating apps to find something unexpected - Bryan Cranston showing us just want the power of having taste can do. ***KEEP MAKING WHAT MATTERS:1.  Learn more about Jay's 1:1 coaching and collaboration: https://jayacunzo.com/accountability-group-for-b2b-marketers-creators2. Get a new story/framework from Jay every other week for making things that matter more to you and others: jayacunzo.com/newsletter3. Join the Creator Kitchen, a membership program for professional communicators to achieve their creative potential.Go inside the making of Unthinkable and all Jay's projects, immerse yourself in the work of inspiring creators, get personalized feedback from Jay, and join live sessions to do better work, more consistently and confidently.creatorkitchen.com(Use code UNTHINKABLE for $100 off membership.)***PRODUCTION CREDITS:- Creator, host, writer, editor, sound design: Jay Acunzo- Producer and researcher: Ilana Nevins

This podcast explores the challenges of writer's block, discussing its impact on creativity and ways to overcome it. They highlight the power of writing in business and personal growth, emphasizing its ability to build relationships and establish a personal brand. Additionally, they provide practical advice on overcoming writer's block through discipline and habit, including capturing story ideas and dedicating regular writing time. The host expresses gratitude to the production team and encourages listeners to explore creative individuals mentioned in the episode.

In this episode of Unthinkable, why formats matter so much. If you want listeners to stay engaged, for readers to finish an article, for your whole experience to resonate deeply, then we need to go beyond grabbing attention to genuinely HOLD it.Today, we focus on why formats are mission critical to creative work, and how you can search them out for yourself and craft your own to hook an audience and get them to the end.We’re joined by the most format-obsessed person out there: Hugh Garry, co-founder of Storythings. Hugh and his team (and friends) write the newsletter, Formats Unpacked, diving each week into a format and why they love it so very much and why, maybe, you should too. DEVELOP MORE INSPIRING IDEAS & STORIES:Jay's free newsletter, with a new idea for communicating in ways that connect shared every other Friday: jayacunzo.com/newsletterThe Creator Kitchen: Jay's membership for quality-obsessed creators, built in partnership with Melanie Deziel (author, speaker, NY Times, TIME, HuffPost). Use code UNTHINKABLE for $100 off membership.Jay's 1:1 coaching: book an hour or a month of swapping voice memos -- or book Jay as your dedicated collaborator, coach, exec. producer, and creative partner to develop your ideas and tell more effective stories.***INSIDE THIS EPISODE:Hugh Garry: Director at  Storythings, writes the Formats Unpacked newsletterTone Knob newsletterBrands and Humour newsletter***PRODUCTION CREDITS:- Creator, host, writer, editor: Jay Acunzo- Producer and researcher: Ilana Nevins

How you define quality is contextual, it's in the eyes of the beholder. In this one-shot, Jay breaks down the three questions we each need to ask to define quality - Who is it for? What is it for? How will I know if it's working? - and then shares the two habits that can help us to create quality content. ***KEEP MAKING WHAT MATTERS:1.  Learn more about Jay's 1:1 coaching and collaboration: https://jayacunzo.com/accountability-group-for-b2b-marketers-creators2. Get a new story/framework from Jay every other week for making things that matter more to you and others: jayacunzo.com/newsletter3. Join the Creator Kitchen, a membership program for professional communicators to achieve their creative potential.Go inside the making of Unthinkable and all Jay's projects, immerse yourself in the work of inspiring creators, get personalized feedback from Jay, and join live sessions to do better work, more consistently and confidently.creatorkitchen.com(Use code UNTHINKABLE for $100 off membership.)***PRODUCTION CREDITS:- Creator, host, writer, editor, sound design: Jay Acunzo- Producer and researcher: Ilana Nevins