August 8, 2024
What do Steve Jobs, Arianna Huffington, Alex Hormozi, and other successful leaders have in common?
They know how to tell captivating stories.
But not just any stories.
There are 3 stories that they use the most.
In this feature on leadership storytelling, you’ll uncover:
Let’s go!
“I’ve always dreamed about optimizing the supply chain.”
“My whole life I felt really passionate about data centers.”
This is what you hear a lot of leaders say when pitching themselves. But do these statements really show their passion? Probably not, right? Anyone can make these statements.
The better way is to share an origin story that explains why you do what you do.
Let me give you a sample origin story of a company you definitely know. You’ve probably tried their product before.
Example of Leadership Storytelling
This is Gary Erickson, one of the most successful entrepreneurs of all time.
One day in 1990, he was out on a 175-mile bike ride that would change his life.
As he reached the top of Mount Hamilton, he took a break. He opened his bag and pulled out the energy bars he had brought along. Within a few minutes, he ate five of them. But as he looked at the sixth energy bar in his hand, he thought, “No way. I can’t eat one more. I’d rather starve than eat another one of these.”
Back in those days, energy bars weren’t like the ones we are used to: hard, sticky, and feeling like a rock in your stomach. Plus, they tasted awful.
As he was sitting there, he thought, “Is there a way I could turn these tasteless rocks into something yummy and actually healthy?”
The next day he called his mom and started working on a formula in her kitchen. Six months of trial and error later, they’d found the perfect recipe—lots of whole oats, real fruit, and no added sugar.
That’s when CLIF Bar was born.
Today, as you know, CLIF Bar is one of the most recognized energy bars in the world.
So, how can you find these stories?
Every great origin story has a pivotal moment where the leader realizes something needs to change. It’s this one moment where the leader stands with their jaw dropped, thinking, “This is wrong. I’ve got to fix this,” or “How does no company offer this? I need to look into this.” It’s this one specific moment that sparked the idea to start the business.
What’s your moment?
Once you have that moment, you can then craft a story around that. How was your life before that moment? What did you realize in that moment? How did your life change afterward? That will be your origin story.
The origin story is powerful, but there is one story that is even more important.
“We put the customer first.”
“We exhibit a high level of integrity.”
That is a blank, meaningless statement. Anyone can say that. But even though it’s absolutely meaningless, that’s what most leaders say when they try to stand out.
The better way is to share a value story that shows what you stand for and what is so unique about working with you.
Let’s look at an example.
This example comes from Bob McDonald, the former CEO of Procter & Gamble. He shared the following story with his customers and employees to show how he works and what matters to him.
Example of Leadership Storytelling
In 1971, Bob McDonald was fresh out of school when he decided to join the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
Pretty early into his time at West Point, he learned something that would stick with him for the rest of his life.
One day, he was standing outside in formation, looking super neat—shoes polished, trousers pressed, shirt perfectly tucked in. But then something unexpected happened.
One of his classmates rushed past him, stepped in a puddle, and splashed mud all over his shoes and trousers. Immediately Bob started to panic.
“Shoot, how can I clean this now? The supervisor will be here any second.”
Before he could even act, the supervisor stopped right in front of him and said, “McDonald! Why is there mud all over your shoes and trousers?”
In that millisecond, Bob considered how he could respond. He saw four possible answers:
‘Yes, sir’ would just restate the obvious, so that didn’t seem appropriate.
‘No, sir’ wouldn’t work because it was clearly true. They’d probably kick him out for lying.
‘I don’t understand, sir’ would just make him look stupid.
And that’s when he realized that there was only one way he could respond: “No excuse, sir.”Even though it wasn’t his fault, he realized that the best way to respond to anything is not to make excuses but to take responsibility for whatever happens.
So, how can you find these value stories?
First, think about what makes it unique to work with you. This unique claim could be:
“I’m here for you 24/7” or “I care about the long-term success of my clients.”
Once you know what claim you want to make, find evidence to back it up. The evidence is any specific moment from your past when you lived that claim.
Any moment where you:
You can then use one of these moments to craft your value story.
The origin story and value story are crucial, but there is one last story to inspire in business.
Let me share a fascinating experiment that shows why customer stories are so effective.
In a study in China, researchers asked restaurant managers to make one tiny modification to the menu. They were asked to put a little asterisk on certain items of the menu. They didn’t change anything else.
What they found was absolutely mind-blowing.
The items with the asterisk got purchased 13% to 20% more frequently.
Now, what did that asterisk represent?
It indicated the most popular item on the menu. People bought it up to 20% more just because they thought other people liked it.
How is that experiment relevant for you?
Your buyer is much more likely to buy your product or service if you can give solid social proof. The most effective way to give social proof is to share a customer story. That is a story of how you helped another customer overcome a certain problem.
But let me give you an example.
Here’s a story that I share once in a while in my sales conversations:
Example of Leadership Storytelling
In April 2021, I hopped on a coaching call with Esraa from Canada.
On the call, I was greeted by a bundle of energy—a super extroverted and very charismatic woman.
Immediately, I thought to myself, “How can I help her? She should be coaching me, not the other way around.”
A couple of minutes in, I asked her to share a story she had prepared. But the moment I asked that, her entire energy changed. That big bundle of energy shrank to an insecure pile of misery. She looked down, bit her bottom lip, and let out a long “ahhhhh.”
After she told her story, I asked, “Esraa, what just happened? You have this incredible presence, but the moment you started your story, it just disappeared. What’s going on?”
She replied, “I don’t know. Somehow, I’m scared that people will make fun of me and that I’m not articulate enough.”
It turned out that she had struggled a lot when she moved from Iraq to Canada when she was 12 years old. For years, she felt that people made fun of her English. Now, she felt comfortable in normal situations, but in higher-stakes situations, she freaked out.
When I saw this, I knew there was no point working on structure or elements. We had to work on her beliefs. For the next hour, we looked at the things she had been telling herself, where they came from, and how we could reframe them. In that one hour, we essentially rewrote her story.
At the end of our session, I asked her to tell the story a second time. When she finished, I looked at her in awe and said, “Wow, Esraa. You’re a phenomenal storyteller. What a transformation.”
At that point, she broke down in tears, saying, “Philipp, this had been holding me back for years. Now, I know it doesn’t have to be part of my identity. Thank you.”
So, how can you find these stories?
The easiest way is to go through your list of customers and identify the ones who were happy with your offering. Then, ask yourself:
Those are the 3 stories leaders use to motivate, inspire and grow their business.
But now that you know what types of stories to tell, you may also want to learn how to tell them in an engaging way.
For that, you can check out my book, The StorySelling Method, or this next article in which I share my favorite techniques to spice up your stories.
Enjoy!
Are you ready to transform your storytelling skills?
Discover how your storytelling skills score and uncover useful insights to help you become a charismatic storyteller:
