Editor’s Note: Originally from Orange County, Jay Golden coaches executives from Google to BMW to Golden State Foods on becoming memorable storytellers. Some OC leaders encouraged Golden to write this Leader Board. He is the author of “Retellable: How Your Essential Stories Unlock Power and Purpose.”
Steve Jobs said you can’t connect the dots going forward; you have to connect the dots going backward.
And in a world where your audience takes in 100,000 words a day, connecting the dots into a powerful story often makes the difference between being top of mind and being left behind.
“This doesn’t mean we read 100,000 words a day – it means that 100,000 words cross our eyes and ears in a single 24-hour period,” The New York Times reported. “That information comes through various channels, including the television, radio, the web, text messages and video games.”
The daily inundation of social media in itself can be overwhelming.
How can our messages rise above the noise to create memorability and drive action? The task is to bring the ancient craft of storytelling into a modern context.
Finding the Big Change
Consider Charles Antis, CEO and founder of Antis Roofing and Waterproofing. Charles used to be so nervous in presentations he could barely get through a few sentences without sweating through his shirt. And then Charles started telling his story, which began on a particularly difficult day, when the mortgage was due.
He got a call from a family who needed a new roof. When he got to the door, he realized this was not going to be the way to pay his mortgage and thought to turn back. Just then, the daughter of the family invited him in proudly to see her room.
Once Charles walked down that crowded hallway, he found he could barely breathe: the mattresses on the floor were moldy, and the ceiling was leaking. Charles realized he was stuck because it was clear the family would not be able to pay for a new roof. Instead of stepping away, however, he stepped up, calling on friends and donations. By the weekend, that family had a new roof.
Antis Roofing has since donated hundreds of roofs, and Charles still tells that origin story to carry the purpose of his company: keeping families safe and dry. The story weaves through keynotes, interviews and events and is a present in every employee’s memory to define their culture.
“I was speaking all the time in those early days, but I would speak in circles. I’d show up at a presentation with 200 slides because I didn’t understand how people’s brains digest stories,” said Charles. “Now, my talks – and all of our communications – are made of stories.”
One of the newer stories he told helped to spearhead a $15.7 million fundraising campaign for the Ronald McDonald House, which was featured in the Sept. 30 issue of the Business Journal.
Creating Audience Alignment
A study by Uri Hasson of Princeton put two people into an MRI scanner, one telling a story to the other. The MRI tracked blood flow in the brain because when one part of a person’s brain is active, it needs more oxygen and nutrients— and thus more blood.
The study found that both the storyteller and story-listener increasingly synched up – as shown by the blood flowing to exactly the same regions. This is a phenomenon Hasson calls “neural coupling.” The more the listeners track a story, the deeper the brains align, and the more intimate their connection.
Telling a story is about illuminating a new pathway. A new op-portunity. It’s about synching with your audience.
And sometimes the stories you must tell aren’t ones you want to reveal. Julie Hudash, CEO and founder of Team Kids, had to take a break due to a serious brain surgery. Julie, who was a record-holding runner in high school and college and the mother of five, realized that for the first time ever and suddenly had to stop running so hard.
As the writer Simon Sinek says, “Split happens.” The thing that you’re best at suddenly becomes the thing that is causing you problems.
Julie’s brain surgery left her struggling to regain balance to walk again, along with total hearing loss in her right ear. Although she was back in her CEO role, she realized her approach had to change.
She had to tell the story, to be authentic to her community, and so people wouldn’t think she was ignoring them when she actually couldn’t hear!
The result was surprising. By telling her story as the keynote of the Team Kids’ Innovative Thinkers Forum at UC Irvine last spring, she found that she could drop the shield. She found the connections she felt among her community and team became even stronger as Team Kids programs continued to stretch around the country.
Connecting the Dots Anew
It is hard to recognize that your story matters. For Eric Good-man, CEO of Mountain View Services, a company that distributes food and services to people with disabilities across Southern California, his story seemed to belong in the past, not in the present.
At 15 years old, Eric’s back was severely bent by Schuman’s Kyphosis. Due to a risk of lung puncture, he was called into emergency surgery that resulted in 150 stitches. He spent nine months in bed and in a body cast. The expenses took a big toll on his parents, and his dad almost lost his business.
“When I saw Forrest Gump running with those leg braces, I thought to myself, ‘That was me,’” said Eric. “I was that little kid that everyone looked at.”
But it wasn’t until he began telling his story that he connected the dots. For years he was that kid with disabilities, and now his entire business serves thousands of people with disabilities.
When Eric connected the dots of his story, he inevitably discovered some new insight or access points that when added to the previous ones, shifted the meaning – and the potential – of the story like a set of dominoes.
Then, when linked with other insights and lessons and mapped to a new need or vision, it becomes an entirely new story. A fresh, vibrant, ‘out of the box’ authentic story. Eric was hooked. He started telling the many stories that make up his great story.
He wrote stories on LinkedIn about the philanthropic projects he loved. He joined new non-profit boards and started telling their stories too. And recently Eric was named
Philanthropist of the Year in Orange County. Last year, his company was honored with the Business Journal’s Family-Owned Business Award.
That one story is often the gateway to finding more. Charles, Julie and Eric each find storytelling development foundational to their leadership.
Whether speaking to your customers or employees or suppliers, you must inspire them. You must give your audience a treasure that helps them change the way they see the world.
But before you can create change, your story must change. And the secret to that change might just be a story left by the side of the road in your journey.
