The Storyteller's Secret: From TED Speakers to Business Legends, Why Some Ideas Catch On and Others Don't

Successful leaders build an award-winning culture with stories that bring the company’s purpose to life. Publicly sharing those stories triggers a crusade.

Successful leaders use storytelling to build great cultures. Culture is created by loyal, frontline employees who are passionate about delivering an exceptional experience to every customer, every time. Getting employees to see themselves as the hero of their own customer story is the magic to creating an unbeatable culture.

The poet Maya Angelou famously said people will forget what you said and what you did, but they’ll never forget how you made them feel.

Successful leaders motivate their teams with stories that paint the picture behind the organization’s mission, purpose, and vision. People don’t care about how they’re supposed to do their jobs until they understand why they’re doing it.

“An Integrative Review of Storytelling,” Professor Robert Gill

Stories evoke emotions that make people feel more deeply, making them more likely to internalize the habits and practices that will move the brand forward.

Inspiring storytellers reframe their personal narratives to give their lives purpose and meaning. In doing so they motivate the rest of us to dream bigger and to accomplish everything we’re capable of achieving.

Our personal narratives—and the characters in those stories—form our identities.

Storytelling is not something we do. Storytelling makes us who we are.