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Hey folks,

Storytelling in corporate environments often feels like swimming upstream. From pitching new initiatives to sharing project updates, many of us struggle to break free from the corporate jargon and connect authentically with our audience.

In this newsletter, I explore why storytelling is a superpower that can transform every aspect of your work. I'll share practical frameworks for crafting compelling narratives, including my go-to BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front) method that's particularly effective in business settings.

And what better way to practice storytelling than by sharing what I've been enjoying lately? I'm thrilled that Severance is finally back after three years, I've discovered the Chicago Blues genius Otis Spann, and I'm exploring existence through Maria Popova's beautiful poetry book. More on all of these below.

Let's dive in.

- Jeff

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Article: Storytelling is Your Superpower

I've spent the bulk of my career in large corporate environments. Initially it was as an individual contributor, then manager and today as consultant, coach, speaker and trainer. One thing that continues to plague companies today is the ability (or lack thereof) to tell a compelling story. You can't make a pitch, convince a colleague to join you or get promoted consistently without a great narrative. Ask a colleague or friend what they do for a living or what they work on and more often than not all that comes out is word salad. In this newsletter I want to cover why stories and storytelling are not just important but are your superpower to achieving every aspect of your work.

Storytelling sells

Remember Shark Tank? Which entrepreneurs did well there? Was it the ones with the best products? Not always. It was the ones who told the best stories. There were tons of good products that passed through Shark Tank that were presented poorly. Steve Jobs was a master storyteller. He made us want every Apple product and upgrade. TED talks? Obviously these are great stories, well told. Now, of course, we don't have to give a TED talk every time we're sharing this month's numbers or project update but, inevitably, most of the presentations we give at work have some kind of request attached to them. Storytelling helps you get the response you're looking for.

What makes a story compelling?

Stories need to be deliberate. They must be designed. Compelling stories focus on the target audience (surprise surprise). You need to know who you're pitching to. What do they care about? What words, jargon, corporate language do they speak? Are you presenting tactical data to C-level executives who care about the big picture? Are you sharing highly technical specifications with non-technical audiences? You may be up there making a pitch for something you'd like to do but it has to matter to your audience. Understanding their motivations and making it clear how your request will help them achieve them increases the likelihood of your success.

Good stories have an arc. They have a beginning, middle and end. There are lots of storytelling templates and frameworks. One I use all the time is called BLUF - bottom line up front. This is a particularly useful framework for the business world. This story type starts with the most important data points first, clearly, quickly and succinctly closing with the request. This way, in the first 30 seconds, you've made clear what you're talking about, why it's important and what you'd like to do about it. From here you can start to tell a more robust version of the BLUF.

As you move from beginning to middle of the story, the tension should build. Using facts, data and evidence you paint a picture of the bottom line with more detail. Importantly, you're connecting it to the needs and motivations of your audience. Why should they care? Finally, you close with a clear request for action. Here's an example:

We've seen a consistent drop in subscription renewals in Central and South America. This is costing us $15.7 million dollars per year in user acquisition costs. The revenue we collect from these countries rarely exceeds $20 million dollars. We recommend shutting down operations in these countries and shifting focus and resources to our more lucrative markets in North America and Europe.

The bottom line is clearly up front here. There's an issue. It's costing us money and we won't likely recover this money. We should focus elsewhere. From here you can build a stronger case eventually closing with a more detailed request for reprioritizing global operations.

Authenticity is the key

One of the main reasons corporate employees fail to tell compelling stories is a lack of authenticity. There's this belief (and I've no idea where it came from) that if you use more words you somehow increase the perceived value of your work. In the midst of all of those words the real you is lost. Your passions, motivations and contributions don't shine through. As you build your stories at work, remember to keep them human. Use fewer, simpler words to describe what you do instead of lengthy word salad sentences. Pepper your story with a personal anecdote or two. The more you can convince people that this is important to you, a real person and colleague, the more likely you are to get what you're looking for from your story.

There's so much more to storytelling and writing. This newsletter has barely scratched the surface. Want to learn more? Josh Seiden & I are now offering a class called Storytelling superpowers for great presentations. We ran pilots of the class last year and have sharpened it up this year based on the great reviews we got from those tests. We're teaching this to any team in your organization as it's literally relevant to everyone. Let me know if you want to learn more.

What I’ve been up to

My biggest focus this year is growing Sense & Respond Learning. Josh Seiden and I are building a network of certified training partners who want to teach our materials in their markets. If this is interesting to you let me know by replying to this newsletter.

We’re also looking to partner with training companies. Specifically, we’re looking for bigger corporate training organizations who want to add our classes to their catalogue. 

If you know someone at one of these companies, I’d be very grateful for an introduction. Just hit reply.

Watch, Listen, Read

Watch: Severance is back! Three years later this fascinating show on AppleTV+ starts filling in some of the answers we’ve wanted to know about Lumon Industries, its cult-like following and the “severed” workers in the basement. 

Listen: Otis Spann – I have to admit I’d never heard of Otis Spann until my piano teacher made me listen to him. The man’s a genius of Chicago Blues, and I am partially embarrassed I’m only now learning about and listening to him. 

Read: The Universe in Verse by Maria Popova – A poetry book? Yep, a poetry book. About existence and the meaning of life? Yep, about that. It’s a beautiful book to look at too.

What’s new on the blog

OKRs for OKRs - Just like implementing any framework is an output and not an end goal, implementing OKRs needs its own set of OKRs to measure success through behavioral changes in your organization. It might seem meta, but it’s also crucial to the OKR’s success.

Does every target audience need an OKR? - When setting OKRs, we often think every target audience segment needs its own objective and key results, but in reality we should only set OKRs for audiences whose behavior we can directly influence. This is especially true in B2B environments.