"You have a real gift," we say to our storytelling heroes. But do they? Storytelling is a skill. Communicating with greater impact is a craft. It’s not something anyone is gifted. It’s something we all can master.Today, it’s just me, Jay. Hello! I’m trying a solo episode, sharing my favorite trick for stronger ideas and stories.Be forewarned: this trick involves sharing your thinking publicly. Not “building in public,” as many like to talk about doing, but by aerating your thinking to sharpen it.So what “thinking” are you aerating? A very specific kind. To communicate in ways that resonate does NOT require you to experience a lightning strike insight or sensational story. This isn’t about doing something grand and newsworthy either. No, this trick requires us to do something which our society doesn’t often teach, but it’s free and easy to start.RESOURCES:Subscribe to Jay's newsletter at jayacunzo.comJoin Jay's membership program for business storytellers and service providers, the Creator KitchenFollow Jay on LinkedIn, Instagram, or ThreadsProduced by Ilana NevinsCover art designed by Blake Ink***ABOUT JAY:ConsultingSpeakingContactBooksJay Acunzo is an author, speaker, and differentiation-and-thought leadership consultant on a mission to help you make what matters to your career, company, and community. He's an advisor to experts, execs, and entrepreneurs who want to resonate deeper with others, not just reach them. To do so, he helps you turn your expertise into IP and your IP into differentiated messaging, exceptional speeches, and celebrated creative projects, equipping you with the communication techniques and power of today’s top thought leaders—because he believes in standing out through substance and stories, not hollow hype.A leading voice in B2B content marketing for many years thanks to his roles at brands like Google and HubSpot, companies like Mailchimp, Salesforce, Wistia, and GoDaddy have turned to Jay to strengthen their storytelling, while dozens of individual authors, speakers, consultants, and service providers hire Jay as their dedicated thought partner and exec. producer to help develop their premise, IP, speaking, and shows.Jay lives in the Boston area with his family as a proud Yankees and Knicks fan. In the 60 seconds per week he's not creating stuff for work or making his kids laugh, he likes to shoot hoops, sip nice bourbons, cook with his wife, and daydream about telling stories like that of his storytelling hero, Anthony Bourdain.***JOIN MY VIRTUAL BOOTCAMP: Design My Signature TalkHappening this November, I'm leading a two-day virtual bootcamp to help you design, package, and pitch your signature talk—the speaking product you can reliably deliver virtually or in-person, to evangelize your message, continually speak and get invited to speak thanks to how brilliant you are in the room, and generate spin-out business from the talk as well.Some talks are blog posts with a runtime. Other talks stir hearts and engage minds. Whether you’re promoting a big launch or your overall business, your signature talk needs to be the latter.Learn more and see the full schedule at jayacunzo.com/signaturetalkSpace is limited. Register now.

It's time for a new edition of "Is This Anything?", the miniseries where friends and clients join me to work out new drafts and ideas for upcoming pieces and projects. In this episode, I help Justin Moore design his signature talk, beat by beat.Justin is the founder of Creator Wizard, which helps creators secure more and better brand deals to grow their businesses. Through trainings, coaching, and his signature course, Justin has made a name for himself in the creator economy.For both his book and for the next wave of growth that he sees for his business, involving a slightly new group of buyers, Justin wants to develop a talk capable of earning him the main stage, not just breakouts, where he's up against multiple speakers at the same time slot. Together, we work through a structure you can use to develop your speeches. We discuss the differences between breakouts and keynotes, virtual and in-person, and why Justin needs his "higher-order idea" or the idea BEFORE the ideas he's known for already, in order to inspire action in his audience and grow his business through speaking.It's a rare look at the speech development process with two established creative voices, with one entrepreneur playing coach and the other the vulnerable but committed student. I hope this is both enjoyable and useful to your speaking journey!RESOURCES:Learn more about Justin's business at creatorwizard.comGet a copy of Justin's book Sponsor Magnet, or join the waitlist now (coming in January 2025)Subscribe to Jay's newsletter at jayacunzo.comJoin Jay's membership program for business storytellers and service providers, the Creator KitchenFollow Jay on LinkedIn, Instagram, or ThreadsProduced by Ilana NevinsCover art designed by Blake Ink***ABOUT JAY:ConsultingSpeakingContactBooksJay Acunzo is an author, speaker, and differentiation-and-thought leadership consultant on a mission to help you make what matters to your career, company, and community. He's an advisor to experts, execs, and entrepreneurs who want to resonate deeper with others, not just reach them. To do so, he helps you turn your expertise into IP and your IP into differentiated messaging, exceptional speeches, and celebrated creative projects, equipping you with the communication techniques and power of today’s top thought leaders—because he believes in standing out through substance and stories, not hollow hype.A leading voice in B2B content marketing for many years thanks to his roles at brands like Google and HubSpot, companies like Mailchimp, Salesforce, Wistia, and GoDaddy have turned to Jay to strengthen their storytelling, while dozens of individual authors, speakers, consultants, and service providers hire Jay as their dedicated thought partner and exec. producer to help develop their premise, IP, speaking, and shows.Jay lives in the Boston area with his family as a proud Yankees and Knicks fan. In the 60 seconds per week he's not creating stuff for work or making his kids laugh, he likes to shoot hoops, sip nice bourbons, cook with his wife, and daydream about telling stories like that of his storytelling hero, Anthony Bourdain.***JOIN MY VIRTUAL BOOTCAMP: Design My Signature TalkHappening this November, I'm leading a two-day virtual bootcamp to help you design, package, and pitch your signature talk—the speaking product you can reliably deliver virtually or in-person, to evangelize your message, continually speak and get invited to speak thanks to how brilliant you are in the room, and generate spin-out business from the talk as well.Some talks are blog posts with a runtime. Other talks stir hearts and engage minds. Whether you’re promoting a big launch or your overall business, your signature talk needs to be the latter.Learn more and see the full schedule at jayacunzo.com/signaturetalkSpace is limited. Register now.

Today, it's a total treat as the one and only Seth Godin takes us into how he thinks about storytelling and the intersection of strategy and story, and then we hear him dissect a signature story. Plus, Seth and I trade stories in the back half of the episode—business storytelling nerdery on full display.Seth is a world-renowned storyteller and thought leader, a legendary keynote speaker who helped disrupt the format, and the bestselling author of more than 20 books, including Purple Cow, The Practice, and This Is Marketing. His brand new book, This is Strategy, is available now.Together, Seth and I discuss his delightful story about recumbent bikes. This "super-story" has found its way into Seth’s work repeatedly for over a decade. We discuss ‌the evolution of this story, how he conceptualizes status and affiliation, and why focusing on pedagogy as a storyteller is essential. Also in the episode: why the idea of your posture matters for storytellers, the role of the storyteller today (and why tiny stories make a big impact), and how can you make yourself, your work, and your stories truly stand out.RESOURCES:Learn more about Seth at his website and read his blogBuy a copy of Seth's new book, This Is StrategySubscribe to Jay's newsletter at jayacunzo.comJoin Jay's membership program for business storytellers and service providers, the Creator KitchenFollow Jay on LinkedIn, Instagram, or ThreadsProduced by Ilana NevinsCover art designed by Blake Ink***ABOUT JAY:ConsultingSpeakingContactBooksJay Acunzo is an author, speaker, and differentiation-and-thought leadership consultant on a mission to help you make what matters to your career, company, and community. He's an advisor to experts, execs, and entrepreneurs who want to resonate deeper with others, not just reach them. To do so, he helps you turn your expertise into IP and your IP into differentiated messaging, exceptional speeches, and celebrated creative projects, equipping you with the communication techniques and power of today’s top thought leaders—because he believes in standing out through substance and stories, not hollow hype.A leading voice in B2B content marketing for many years thanks to his roles at brands like Google and HubSpot, companies like Mailchimp, Salesforce, Wistia, and GoDaddy have turned to Jay to strengthen their storytelling, while dozens of individual authors, speakers, consultants, and service providers hire Jay as their dedicated thought partner and exec. producer to help develop their premise, IP, speaking, and shows.Jay lives in the Boston area with his family as a proud Yankees and Knicks fan. In the 60 seconds per week he's not creating stuff for work or making his kids laugh, he likes to shoot hoops, sip nice bourbons, cook with his wife, and daydream about telling stories like that of his storytelling hero, Anthony Bourdain.***JOIN MY VIRTUAL BOOTCAMP: Design My Signature TalkHappening this November, I'm leading a two-day virtual bootcamp to help you design, package, and pitch your signature talk—the speaking product you can reliably deliver virtually or in-person, to evangelize your message, continually speak and get invited to speak thanks to how brilliant you are in the room, and generate spin-out business from the talk as well.Some talks are blog posts with a runtime. Other talks stir hearts and engage minds. Whether you’re promoting a big launch or your overall business, your signature talk needs to be the latter.Learn more and see the full schedule at jayacunzo.com/signaturetalkSpace is limited. Register now.

This week, we’re joined by our first-ever recurring guest. The brilliant Ann Handley (WSJ bestselling author of Everybody Writes and globally touring keynote speaker) joins us for a very special episode of “Is This Anything?”, the mini-series, where friends and collaborators join me to work out new ideas, unproven drafts, and hidden ideas to see if it is, in fact, anything.But because it’s Ann, we’re renaming it Is This ANNything. Get it? Do you get it? (If you didn’t like that, you’re really not gonna like this episode…)First, we discuss a story we co-wrote on Threads, sharing back and forth posts to build on each others’ previous ideas. Read that story here (you need to click into the first Thread for the threading to make sense. Oh, Threads…)Then, we share drafts of our newsletters, each at different stages, and workshop improvements.It’s a refreshing look at two prolific writers and speakers (and one bestselling author!) in the middle of their process.Read Jay’s final newsletter version here. (Ann has not written the draft publicly as of this episode’s publish date.)Listen to Ann’s first appearance on How Stories Happen as she dissects a published piece: “How do we all sign our work?” - Episode 3 with Ann Handley RESOURCES:⚫  Learn more about Ann at her website and subscribe to her newsletter ⚫ Follow Ann on LinkedIn and Instagram⚫  Buy Ann’s book, Everybody Writes🔵 Subscribe to Jay Acunzo's newsletter at jayacunzo.com🔵 Join Jay's membership program for business storytellers and service providers, the Creator Kitchen🔵 Follow Jay on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Threads🟢 Produced by Ilana Nevins🟢 Cover art designed by Blake InkABOUT JAY:ConsultingSpeakingContactBooksJay Acunzo is an author, speaker, and differentiation-and-thought leadership consultant on a mission to help you make what matters to your career, company, and community. He's an advisor to experts, execs, and entrepreneurs who want to resonate deeper with others, not just reach them. To do so, he helps you turn your expertise into IP and your IP into differentiated messaging, exceptional speeches, and celebrated creative projects, equipping you with the communication techniques and power of today’s top thought leaders—because he believes in standing out through substance and stories, not hollow hype.A leading voice in B2B content marketing for many years thanks to his roles at brands like Google and HubSpot, companies like Mailchimp, Salesforce, Wistia, and GoDaddy have turned to Jay to strengthen their storytelling, while dozens of individual authors, speakers, consultants, and service providers hire Jay as their dedicated thought partner and exec. producer to help develop their premise, IP, speaking, and shows.Jay lives in the Boston area with his family as a proud Yankees and Knicks fan. In the 60 seconds per week he's not creating stuff for work or making his kids laugh, he likes to shoot hoops, sip nice bourbons, cook with his wife, and daydream about telling stories like that of his storytelling hero, Anthony Bourdain.***JOIN MY VIRTUAL BOOTCAMP: Design My Signature TalkHappening this November, I'm leading a two-day virtual bootcamp to help you design, package, and pitch your signature talk—the speaking product you can reliably deliver virtually or in-person, to evangelize your message, continually speak and get invited to speak thanks to how brilliant you are in the room, and generate spin-out business from the talk as well.Some talks are blog posts with a runtime. Other talks stir hearts and engage minds. Whether you’re promoting a big launch or your overall business, your signature talk needs to be the latter.Learn more and see the full schedule at jayacunzo.com/signaturetalkSpace is limited. Register now.

Why is candor essential for a good story? How brutally honest should you actually be in sharing a story with the world? The great Chase Jarvis brings us into his story of self-discovery, with the many twists and turns his professional career has taken, as he works through how to best tell that story ahead of his next book tour. Starting in second grade when his entrepreneurial spirit was snuffed by his teacher, Chase works to find acceptance by pursuing the “best” path forward, before realizing that maybe it’s not the best path for him. It’s a story that’s brutally honest, surprising, and carefully crafted so that listeners get an intimate look at the real Chase Jarvis and the themes of his book.Chase is an award-winning photographer, entrepreneur, and the author of “Never Play It Safe," and he's widely considered to be one of the leading voices advocating for the importance of creativity in work, life, and society today.Together, Jay and Chase extract the various blocks that create the flow of Chase's story, exploring what makes certain segments most compelling and how to best drive the story forward. They discuss how great stories are built, rather than experienced, and the importance of allegory versus illustration.Whether you’re an aspiring author, artist or entrepreneur, this episode will compel you to slow down, reflect, and connect to your own unique path forward and all the stories that have shaped you and your work. RESOURCES:⚫ Learn more about Chase at his website, or listen to his podcast, The Chase Jarvis LIVE Show⚫ Follow Chase on X and Instagram⚫ Buy Chase’s book, Never Play It Safe🔵 Subscribe to Jay Acunzo's newsletter at jayacunzo.com🔵 Join Jay's membership program for business storytellers and service providers, the Creator Kitchen🔵 Follow Jay on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Threads🟢 Produced by Ilana Nevins🟢 Cover art designed by Blake Ink***ABOUT JAY:ConsultingSpeakingContactBooksJay Acunzo is an author, speaker, and differentiation-and-thought leadership consultant on a mission to help you make what matters to your career, company, and community. He's an advisor to experts, execs, and entrepreneurs who want to resonate deeper with others, not just reach them. To do so, he helps you turn your expertise into IP and your IP into differentiated messaging, exceptional speeches, and celebrated creative projects, equipping you with the communication techniques and power of today’s top thought leaders—because he believes in standing out through substance and stories, not hollow hype.A leading voice in B2B content marketing for many years thanks to his roles at brands like Google and HubSpot, companies like Mailchimp, Salesforce, Wistia, and GoDaddy have turned to Jay to strengthen their storytelling, while dozens of individual authors, speakers, consultants, and service providers hire Jay as their dedicated thought partner and exec. producer to help develop their premise, IP, speaking, and shows.Jay lives in the Boston area with his family as a proud Yankees and Knicks fan. In the 60 seconds per week he's not creating stuff for work or making his kids laugh, he likes to shoot hoops, sip nice bourbons, cook with his wife, and daydream about telling stories like that of his storytelling hero, Anthony Bourdain.***JOIN MY VIRTUAL BOOTCAMP: Design My Signature TalkHappening this November, I'm leading a two-day virtual bootcamp to help you design, package, and pitch your signature talk—the speaking product you can reliably deliver virtually or in-person, to evangelize your message, continually speak and get invited to speak thanks to how brilliant you are in the room, and generate spin-out business from the talk as well.Some talks are blog posts with a runtime. Other talks stir hearts and engage minds. Whether you’re promoting a big launch or your overall business, your signature talk needs to be the latter.Learn more and see the full schedule at jayacunzo.com/signaturetalkSpace is limited. Register now.

What is a super-story? And how can you flex yours to fit different audiences, mediums, or conclusions? That’s what we dive into today with powerhouse storyteller, Laura Gassner Otting.Laura takes us into a small story about her first time decorating a Christmas tree with her husband’s family. Initially horrified by the chipped ornaments and tattered boxes, she grew to love these mismatched decorations. It’s a story about finding meaning in often unexpected, imperfect places—and it's full of callbacks and insights helping LGO serve thousands of attendees at events across the globe where she speaks.Laura is a bestselling author, keynote speaker, and executive coach. She’s a regular contributor to Good Morning America, the TODAY Show, Harvard Business Review, and Oprah Daily. She also served as a Presidential Appointee in Bill Clinton’s White House, founded an international search firm, and has a superpower in seeing others’ greatness and reflecting it back to them. Together, Jay and Laura discuss her effective use of "the specific," finding wisdom in frameworks, and how LGO draws from her time in politics to imbue her speaking with musicality. Plus, they talk about the importance of having rounded edges to end in stories, how to immediately become relatable to your audience, and the art of using callbacks.Whether you’re an aspiring author or keynote speaker, executive coach or entrepreneur who teaches through content, this episode will motivate you to resonate more deeply with your stories as you show up to any audience, in any medium. RESOURCES:⚫ Learn more about Laura at her website and watch her viral TED Talk⚫ Follow Laura on TikTok or Linkedin⚫ Buy Laura’s books, Wonderhell, Limitless, and Mission Driven 🔵 Subscribe to Jay Acunzo's fortnightly newsletter at jayacunzo.com🔵 Join Jay's membership program for business storytellers and service providers, the Creator Kitchen🔵 Follow Jay on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Threads🟢 Produced by Ilana Nevins🟢 Cover art designed by Blake Ink***ABOUT JAY:ConsultingSpeakingContactBooksJay Acunzo is an author, speaker, and differentiation-and-thought leadership consultant on a mission to help you make what matters to your career, company, and community. He's an advisor to experts, execs, and entrepreneurs who want to resonate deeper with others, not just reach them. To do so, he helps you turn your expertise into IP and your IP into differentiated messaging, exceptional speeches, and celebrated creative projects, equipping you with the communication techniques and power of today’s top thought leaders—because he believes in standing out through substance and stories, not hollow hype.A leading voice in B2B content marketing for many years thanks to his roles at brands like Google and HubSpot, companies like Mailchimp, Salesforce, Wistia, and GoDaddy have turned to Jay to strengthen their storytelling, while dozens of individual authors, speakers, consultants, and service providers hire Jay as their dedicated thought partner and exec. producer to help develop their premise, IP, speaking, and shows.Jay lives in the Boston area with his family as a proud Yankees and Knicks fan. In the 60 seconds per week he's not creating stuff for work or making his kids laugh, he likes to shoot hoops, sip nice bourbons, cook with his wife, and daydream about telling stories like that of his storytelling hero, Anthony Bourdain.***JOIN MY VIRTUAL BOOTCAMP: Design My Signature TalkHappening this November, I'm leading a two-day virtual bootcamp to help you design, package, and pitch your signature talk—the speaking product you can reliably deliver virtually or in-person, to evangelize your message, continually speak and get invited to speak thanks to how brilliant you are in the room, and generate spin-out business from the talk as well.Some talks are blog posts with a runtime. Other talks stir hearts and engage minds. Whether you’re promoting a big launch or your overall business, your signature talk needs to be the latter.Learn more and see the full schedule at jayacunzo.com/signaturetalkSpace is limited. Register now.

Go inside the development of a brand new TED Talk, as Jay offers notes to friend Simone Stolzoff on his v1 draft. Simone is the author of The Good Enough Job and a journalist whose writing has been featured in The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, and more. This is the first episode of a new bonus episode of How Stories Happen called "Is This Anything?" which we'll occasionally run in our off weeks. During this miniseries, you'll hear Jay and friends actively develop and work through new material for stories, speeches, and other projects. In this miniseries debut, Simone shares an 8-minute TED Talk draft as he prepares for the big day, and Jay offers some notes to strengthen the content, insert callbacks and other framing devices, and tighten the talk track. Simo responds in-kind with vulnerable sharing, piercing questions about what might make more sense, and brand new ideas brainstormed on the fly. It's all in the name of actively developing the speech from raw material into something special. Because that's how stories happen. (Whispers) hey that's the name of the show!RESOURCES:⚫ Learn more about Simone Stolzoff and join his newsletter at simonestolzoff.com⚫ Follow Simone on Instagram or LinkedIn⚫ Buy Simone's book, The Good Enough Job: Reclaiming Life from Work🔵 Subscribe to Jay Acunzo's fortnightly newsletter at jayacunzo.com🔵 Join Jay's membership program for business storytellers and service providers, the Creator Kitchen🔵 Follow Jay on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Threads🟢 Produced by Ilana Nevins🟢 Cover art designed by Blake Ink***ABOUT JAY:ConsultingSpeakingContactBooksJay Acunzo is an author, speaker, and differentiation-and-thought leadership consultant on a mission to help you make what matters to your career, company, and community. He's an advisor to experts, execs, and entrepreneurs who want to resonate deeper with others, not just reach them. To do so, he helps you turn your expertise into IP and your IP into differentiated messaging, exceptional speeches, and celebrated creative projects, equipping you with the communication techniques and power of today’s top thought leaders—because he believes in standing out through substance and stories, not hollow hype.A leading voice in B2B content marketing for many years thanks to his roles at brands like Google and HubSpot, companies like Mailchimp, Salesforce, Wistia, and GoDaddy have turned to Jay to strengthen their storytelling, while dozens of individual authors, speakers, consultants, and service providers hire Jay as their dedicated thought partner and exec. producer to help develop their premise, IP, speaking, and shows.Jay lives in the Boston area with his family as a proud Yankees and Knicks fan. In the 60 seconds per week he's not creating stuff for work or making his kids laugh, he likes to shoot hoops, sip nice bourbons, cook with his wife, and daydream about telling stories like that of his storytelling hero, Anthony Bourdain.***JOIN MY VIRTUAL BOOTCAMP: Design My Signature TalkHappening this November, I'm leading a two-day virtual bootcamp to help you design, package, and pitch your signature talk—the speaking product you can reliably deliver virtually or in-person, to evangelize your message, continually speak and get invited to speak thanks to how brilliant you are in the room, and generate spin-out business from the talk as well.Some talks are blog posts with a runtime. Other talks stir hearts and engage minds. Whether you’re promoting a big launch or your overall business, your signature talk needs to be the latter.Learn more and see the full schedule at jayacunzo.com/signaturetalkSpace is limited. Register now.

Telling stories about your life feels fraught. How do you weave together a story that is deeply personal to you and others, contains the right amount of tension without being too dramatic, and feels both gripping and accessible for your audience? In the case of our guest today, Nat Eliason, his story is about the moment he went from investing hundreds of dollars to having $10 million of his own money on the line, plus more than $100 million of others under his purview, when the whole system was hacked.Nat recently published his first book, “Crypto Confidential: Winning and Losing Millions in the New Frontier of Finance,” and in this episode, he dissects the choices he made writing his prologue (which he shared with more than 20 people to get right).Together, Jay and Nat dissect Nat’s thrilling story, unpacking how he grounded the drama, making it feel authentic and relatable, while still embracing the primacy and recency effects in storytelling. Plus, they discuss strategies for getting more valuable feedback on your creative work, Nat’s decision to focus on such a dramatic moment for his prologue, and how to effectively combine educational or technical concepts into a story in a way that doesn’t lose or bore readers.Whether you are an aspiring author, give keynotes, write articles, or record multimedia content, this episode will make you look a bit closer at how your favorite stories are told—from the very first hook to a perfectly placed detail to the closing line that makes you realize that although the story was specific … it was profoundly universal.Resources:⚫ Follow Nat on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nateliason/⚫  Follow Nat on X: https://x.com/nateliason⚫ Visit Nat’s website: https://www.nateliason.com/⚫ Subscribe to Nat’s Substack: https://blog.nateliason.com/🔵 Work with Jay to develop and differentiate your IP and stories: https://jayacunzo.com/🔵Join his Creator Kitchen membership: https://creatorkitchen.com/ 🔵 Follow Jay on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayacunzo/🔵 Follow Jay on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jacunzo/🟢 Produced by Ilana Nevins:https://www.ilananevins.com/🟢 Cover art designed by Blake Ink: https://www.blakeink.com/🟢 Find and support our sponsors: https://jayacunzo.com/sponsors***JOIN MY VIRTUAL BOOTCAMP: Design My Signature TalkHappening this November, I'm leading a two-day virtual bootcamp to help you design, package, and pitch your signature talk—the speaking product you can reliably deliver virtually or in-person, to evangelize your message, continually speak and get invited to speak thanks to how brilliant you are in the room, and generate spin-out business from the talk as well.Some talks are blog posts with a runtime. Other talks stir hearts and engage minds. Whether you’re promoting a big launch or your overall business, your signature talk needs to be the latter.Learn more and see the full schedule at jayacunzo.com/signaturetalkSpace is limited. Register now.

What should you include or omit to ensure your stories carry your message, resonate with others, and deliver something that could only come from you? That’s the challenge we encounter today. In this special episode, Jay is joined by a favorite client, Susan Boles, to work through a draft of a signature story, which emerged on the back of their months-long work together developing Susan’s premise of “calm is the new KPI.” They apply Jay’s Align-Agitate-Assert structure, and they find the two biggest opportunities to improve the story.Susan is the founder of Beyond Margins and host of the podcast of the same name. She teaches entrepreneur clients how to optimize their business for quality of life, not just profit margin, by making calm their focus and their literal KPI.In the episode, Jay and Susan dissect her emerging, signature story involving Rand Fishkin, founder and CEO of SparkToro and, previously, founder and CEO of Moz. When one piece of the story runs too long, Jay shares some pointers for how to shorten it without sacrificing the story’s power, and the duo figure out what insights can be extracted and delivered from the story to teach and inspire Susan’s audience.Whether you’re crafting your next keynote or fine-tuning your leadership communication skills, this episode will have you immediately elevating your storytelling in ways that illuminate insights others remember, share, and apply to their work or lives.Resources:⚫ Follow Susan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thesusanboles ⚫ Listen to Beyond Margins: https://podcast.beyondmargins.com/ ⚫ Subscribe to Beyond Margins Newsletter: https://beyondmargins.ck.page/21380f9bae 🔵 Work with Jay to develop and differentiate your IP and stories: https://jayacunzo.com/🔵Join his Creator Kitchen membership: https://creatorkitchen.com/ 🔵 Follow Jay on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayacunzo/🔵 Follow Jay on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jacunzo/🟢 Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/🟢 Cover art designed by Blake Ink: https://www.blakeink.com/🟢 Find and support our sponsors: https://jayacunzo.com/sponsors ***JOIN MY VIRTUAL BOOTCAMP: Design My Signature TalkHappening this November, I'm leading a two-day virtual bootcamp to help you design, package, and pitch your signature talk—the speaking product you can reliably deliver virtually or in-person, to evangelize your message, continually speak and get invited to speak thanks to how brilliant you are in the room, and generate spin-out business from the talk as well.Some talks are blog posts with a runtime. Other talks stir hearts and engage minds. Whether you’re promoting a big launch or your overall business, your signature talk needs to be the latter.Learn more and see the full schedule at jayacunzo.com/signaturetalkSpace is limited. Register now.

Storytellers often face a paradox: to connect deeper externally, you have to turn deeper internally. You have to know yourself and get more honest with how you think and feel than others might be comfortable doing themselves. That often means we have to stop caring what people think of us quite as much.In this episode, we meet Brook Cupps and Ryan Hawk, coauthors of the book The Score That Matters. We talk about how they collaborated on their book together and how they use stories to inspire and lead others. Brook is the head boys basketball coach at Centerville High School in Ohio, while Ryan hosts the popular podcast, The Learning Leader Show.What makes their partnership one of a kind—and what you'll hear in this episode—is the blend of practical coaching wisdom, deeply personal ideas, and storytelling finesse.The story we dissect comes from Brook, who shares how he transformed his coaching approach after a pivotal moment with his daughter, which shifted his entire philosophy. Ryan chimes in with insights from his own journey, emphasizing the importance of inner growth, values, and deliberate practice.It's a refreshing look at storytelling and the tough things we need to embrace first, which then allow us to become more effective communicators and leaders.BONUS: Hear Jay and Ryan on Ryan's podcast, discussing the art and science of hosting great interviews: https://learningleader.com/episode/330-deconstructing-the-art-science-of-interviewing-with-jay-acunzo/⚫ Check out Ryan Hawk’s podcast, The Learning Leader Show: https://learningleader.com/⚫ Learn more about Brook Cupps and Blue Collar Grit: https://www.bluecollargrit.com/about-us.html⚫ Get Ryan and Brook's book, The Score That Matters: https://www.amazon.com/Score-That-Matters-Excellence-Yourself-ebook/dp/B0CGZ8HRXD🔵 Follow Jay on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayacunzo/🔵 Subscribe to Jay’s newsletter: https://jayacunzo.com/newsletter🔵 Learn about Jay’s coaching and consulting: https://jayacunzo.com/🟢 Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/🟢 Cover art designed by Blake Ink: https://www.blakeink.com/ ***JOIN MY VIRTUAL BOOTCAMP: Design My Signature TalkHappening this November, I'm leading a two-day virtual bootcamp to help you design, package, and pitch your signature talk—the speaking product you can reliably deliver virtually or in-person, to evangelize your message, continually speak and get invited to speak thanks to how brilliant you are in the room, and generate spin-out business from the talk as well.Some talks are blog posts with a runtime. Other talks stir hearts and engage minds. Whether you’re promoting a big launch or your overall business, your signature talk needs to be the latter.Learn more and see the full schedule at jayacunzo.com/signaturetalkSpace is limited. Register now.

How do we compress our lifetime into their runtime? When we’re asked to explain our backgrounds and bios, we need a structure, some practice, and a few anecdotes at the ready. Because our story has to pull triple-duty: clarify who we are, build credibility, and teach whatever it is we’re there to teach.In this episode, author, PR agency founder, and friendship expert Danielle Bayard Jackson reveals the simple way she responds to that simple question: “How’d you get here?” Together, we break it apart into component pieces and re-build certain aspects, spotting ways to customize the story to the specific audiences Danielle speaks to as a speaker and service provider.You’ll walk away with a new framework for crafting your own gripping answer to the personal background question (“MBAS” – Mission, Background, Anecdote, Summary), and you’ll get a glimpse into the craft of two communicators reaching geeky levels of appreciation for what it takes to resonate with our words.Danielle is the author of the new book, Fighting for Our Friendships: The Science and Art of Conflict and Connection in Women's Relationships.Resources:⚫ Follow Danielle on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellebayardjackson/ ⚫ Follow Danielle on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thefriendshipexpert  ⚫ Visit Danielle’s website: https://www.daniellebayardjackson.com/ 🔵 Subscribe to Jay’s newsletter: https://jayacunzo.com/🔵 Join the Creator Kitchen membership for storytellers: https://creatorkitchen.com/ 🔵 Follow Jay on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayacunzo/🔵 Follow Jay on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jacunzo/ 🟢 Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/🟢 Cover art designed by Blake Ink: https://www.blakeink.com/🟢 Find and support our sponsors: https://jayacunzo.com/sponsors ***JOIN MY VIRTUAL BOOTCAMP: Design My Signature TalkHappening this November, I'm leading a two-day virtual bootcamp to help you design, package, and pitch your signature talk—the speaking product you can reliably deliver virtually or in-person, to evangelize your message, continually speak and get invited to speak thanks to how brilliant you are in the room, and generate spin-out business from the talk as well.Some talks are blog posts with a runtime. Other talks stir hearts and engage minds. Whether you’re promoting a big launch or your overall business, your signature talk needs to be the latter.Learn more and see the full schedule at jayacunzo.com/signaturetalkSpace is limited. Register now.

While everyone scrambles to learn the new trends and act like a futurist, it’s the folks who understand what parts of this work are timeless – because they’re based on human nature – that are most powerful of all. Storytelling is one such thing. It’s been a constant throughout the history of humanity. Why? Because although the world changes in many ways, human nature is one thing that doesn’t change much at all.So says our guest today, Scott Monty, and it’s part of what makes Scott such an inspiring storyteller – and a leadership advisor, consultant, and coach who has worked for and with brands like Ford, Google, IBM, Adobe, and Walmart. In fact, thanks to his work helping pioneer all things social media at Ford Motor Company, The Economist named Scott #1 on its list of social business leaders.In this episode, we hear Scott dissect a signature story piece by piece, taking us into the executive team meeting from his time at Ford and how storytelling helped him thwart – then win over – his archnemesis, the curmudgeonly CFO at the time. After hearing the story, we identify the three tentpoles that help it stand up, plus identify details that could improve – and we hear why the moments that don’t seem to advance the action are actually the most important pieces for this story to resonate deeper.Scott’s brand is about the idea of timeless leadership – and he effortlessly quotes philosophers and leaders from centuries past to help make his points, both on the show and everywhere he shows up.Resources:⚫ Follow Scott on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottmonty/⚫ Subscribe to Scott’s newsletter, Timeless & Timely: https://www.timelesstimely.com/🔵 Follow Jay on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayacunzo/🔵 Subscribe to Jay’s newsletter: https://jayacunzo.com/newsletter🔵 Learn about Jay’s coaching and consulting: https://jayacunzo.com/🟢 Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/🟢 Cover art designed by Blake Ink: https://www.blakeink.com/🟢 Find and support our sponsors: https://jayacunzo.com/sponsors ***JOIN MY VIRTUAL BOOTCAMP: Design My Signature TalkHappening this November, I'm leading a two-day virtual bootcamp to help you design, package, and pitch your signature talk—the speaking product you can reliably deliver virtually or in-person, to evangelize your message, continually speak and get invited to speak thanks to how brilliant you are in the room, and generate spin-out business from the talk as well.Some talks are blog posts with a runtime. Other talks stir hearts and engage minds. Whether you’re promoting a big launch or your overall business, your signature talk needs to be the latter.Learn more and see the full schedule at jayacunzo.com/signaturetalkSpace is limited. Register now.

How do we craft a metaphor that works? More importantly, perhaps, how do we ensure the metaphors we use pivot to the audience to teach them something in their lives or work, without them getting lost? Do we overtly explain the lesson? Imply it? Some combination? It’s a delicate dance, and few do it like Tucker Bryant.Tucker isn't just a keynote speaker; he's a poet who has taken the stage everywhere from corporate boardrooms to major conferences, importing what he knows from the world of verse to the world of business innovation. After working at Google, Tucker transformed his own unique perspective and skill as a poet into keynotes that grip audiences by the thousands, leaving lasting impressions on everyone from marketers to HR pros to C-suite executives.In this episode, we dive into Tucker's signature story about a young poet named Robert. We find a macro-level shape to the metaphor and apply it back in the audience’s more literal world, before re-working some of the story to add some drama, tension, and lessons — all to make Tucker’s message feel inescapable and irresistible to audiences. We talk pacing, pivoting, and probably a third-P (and why lists of three really matter when we list examples.) (For real, that’s in there.)Whether you're looking to deliver a powerful speech, tighten your brand's message, or inspire action in your next conversation or piece of content, this episode is for you.Resources:⚫ Follow Tucker on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tuckerbryant/⚫ Tucker’s site: https://www.tuckerbryantspeaks.com/🔵 Follow Jay on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayacunzo/🔵 Subscribe to Jay’s newsletter: https://jayacunzo.com/newsletter🔵 Learn about Jay’s coaching and consulting: https://jayacunzo.com/🟢 Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/🟢 Cover art designed by Blake Ink: https://www.blakeink.com/🟢 Find and support our sponsors: https://jayacunzo.com/sponsors ***JOIN MY VIRTUAL BOOTCAMP: Design My Signature TalkHappening this November, I'm leading a two-day virtual bootcamp to help you design, package, and pitch your signature talk—the speaking product you can reliably deliver virtually or in-person, to evangelize your message, continually speak and get invited to speak thanks to how brilliant you are in the room, and generate spin-out business from the talk as well.Some talks are blog posts with a runtime. Other talks stir hearts and engage minds. Whether you’re promoting a big launch or your overall business, your signature talk needs to be the latter.Learn more and see the full schedule at jayacunzo.com/signaturetalkSpace is limited. Register now.

The hardest question to answer when we show up publicly might be the simplest question we receive: “Tell me about yourself.” Who are you? How’d you get here? What’s your story?We then face a choice: we can make the story about us, or we can make it about the thing we’re there to say. We can make our own stories about the audiences we wish to serve, and we can do so without feeling like we’re bragging and even without any newsworthy moments in our past.Meet Rand Fishkin, cofounder and CEO of two companies (audience research platform SparkToro and indie video game maker Snackbar Studio). He’s an entrepreneur who’s navigated the roller-coaster of startup life, written an incredible book about it (Lost and Founder), and gone on the journey with hundreds of thousands of professionals following his every move. Rand has spoken at countless events, sharing his (often difficult) journey with audiences ranging from fresh-faced founders to seasoned veterans.In this episode, Rand shares his personal story as he’d present it from the stage, illustrating for us the power of stories the more “strategic” thinkers among us might think unwise to share: stories of failure, struggle, and genuine emotional turmoil. You’ll hear the power of having an "enemy" to galvanize your cause and attract your tribe, and why sharing failures and other difficult experiences can forge stronger connections and teach more valuable lessons than sharing wins and case studies.Rand’s style is a breath of fresh air in communities that rarely get so real, and it’s a big reason he resonates deeper than most.Jump into the conversation: (01:14) Meet Rand (10:43) Rand’s Story (18:46) Dissecting the StoryResources:⚫ Follow Rand on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/randfishkin/⚫ Follow Rand on Threads: https://www.threads.net/@randderuiter⚫ Visit SparkToro: https://sparktoro.com/⚫ Visit Snackbar Studio: https://snackbarstudio.com/🔵 Follow Jay: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayacunzo/🔵 Subscribe to Jay’s newsletter: https://jayacunzo.com/newsletter🔵 Learn about Jay’s coaching and consulting: https://jayacunzo.com/🟢 Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/🟢 Cover art designed by Blake Ink: https://www.blakeink.com/🟢 Find and support our sponsors: https://jayacunzo.com/sponsors ***JOIN MY VIRTUAL BOOTCAMP: Design My Signature TalkHappening this November, I'm leading a two-day virtual bootcamp to help you design, package, and pitch your signature talk—the speaking product you can reliably deliver virtually or in-person, to evangelize your message, continually speak and get invited to speak thanks to how brilliant you are in the room, and generate spin-out business from the talk as well.Some talks are blog posts with a runtime. Other talks stir hearts and engage minds. Whether you’re promoting a big launch or your overall business, your signature talk needs to be the latter.Learn more and see the full schedule at jayacunzo.com/signaturetalkSpace is limited. Register now.

When so many people are excited to create a higher volume of content, shouldn’t we think more about what gives our work greater power? That’s what our guest today understands better than most, and she draws that power from everyday moments she hunts out, like a squirrel finding nuts in the yard.Meet Ann Handley—she’s a best-selling author, a pioneer in content marketing, and a popular B2B speaker with a knack for imbuing ordinary moments with extraordinary meaning.Ann reveals her morning routine, her idea capture system, and most importantly, her process and practice of becoming a word-class noticer of stories during a time when so many people simply stuff a screen in their face or turn to cheat-sheets to produce generic content.In this episode, we dissect a signature story shared to her newsletter, Total Annarchy, which she sent to just over 50,000 readers. We zero in on a pivot point in the middle that makes the work resonate, and we find plenty of existential debates that unfolded in her writing process.Together, we discover how to connect with an audience on a more personal level and leave a lasting impression, ensuring your stories aren’t just heard but felt. The best part? You don’t need to experience anything groundbreaking for your words to hit hard. But you do need to become a notice.Jump into the conversation: (04:48) Meet Ann (19:36) Ann’s Story (26:21) Dissecting the StoryResources:⚫ Follow Ann on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annhandley/⚫ Check out her website and subscribe to her newsletter here: https://annhandley.com/⚫ Read Ann’s book, Everybody Writes: https://annhandley.com/everybodywrites/🔵 Follow Jay: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayacunzo/🔵 Subscribe to Jay’s newsletter: https://jayacunzo.com/newsletter🔵 Learn about Jay’s coaching and consulting: https://jayacunzo.com/🟢 Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/🟢 Cover art designed by Blake Ink: https://www.blakeink.com/🟢 Find and support our sponsors: https://jayacunzo.com/sponsors ***JOIN MY VIRTUAL BOOTCAMP: Design My Signature TalkHappening this November, I'm leading a two-day virtual bootcamp to help you design, package, and pitch your signature talk—the speaking product you can reliably deliver virtually or in-person, to evangelize your message, continually speak and get invited to speak thanks to how brilliant you are in the room, and generate spin-out business from the talk as well.Some talks are blog posts with a runtime. Other talks stir hearts and engage minds. Whether you’re promoting a big launch or your overall business, your signature talk needs to be the latter.Learn more and see the full schedule at jayacunzo.com/signaturetalkSpace is limited. Register now.