To persuade, you have
to communicate your idea
0:01
in a way that's engaging,
compelling, and relevant
0:03
to others.
0:07
This is where
storytelling comes in.
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In a recent PWC survey,
hundreds of CEOs
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named storytelling as one of
the most important business
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skills of the 21st century.
0:19
Master storytellers know that
facts and numbers by themselves
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don't persuade anybody to think
differently or take action.
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Dan Kahneman won the Nobel
Prize for economics for his work
0:31
on decision making.
0:34
And he said, "Nobody ever made
a decision because of a number."
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The philosopher
Alasdair MacIntyre
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said human beings were
storytelling animals who
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used their stories to
distinguish wrong from right.
0:46
In short, people need
stories to make decisions.
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What this means for
business is that anybody who
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needs to motivate others to
make a decision and act on it,
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CEOs, entrepreneurs,
military leaders,
1:01
anybody who needs to work
with and through others,
1:05
needs to know how
to tell a story.
1:08
Stories are the
basis for action.
1:10
You might be thinking,
but I'm a business person.
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I'm interested in facts.
1:17
Sure, but there
are lots of facts.
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Your job is to get
others to focus
1:22
on the right facts
in the right way
1:24
and to feel excited
about your idea
1:26
for dealing with those facts.
1:28
Effective leaders,
like Steve Jobs,
1:31
use stories to position
facts as a springboard
1:33
to set the stage for
the adventure that's
1:37
about to happen.
1:39
Those leaders set the
scene for a challenge
1:41
and get others engaged right
from the start in tackling it.
1:44
As you develop your
storytelling skills,
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you will turn your listeners
into not only supporters
1:52
of your idea but passionate
advocates who will
1:54
partner with you throughout the
journey from idea to execution.
1:58
So how do you tell a good story?
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There's a lot to learn from
Hollywood, where pitching ideas
2:07
have been honed to a fine art.
2:10
When the well-known director
David Lynch pitched his idea
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to ABC in 1999 for the TV
show Mulholland Drive, he
2:16
and his partner Tony
Krantz told a story.
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They met with the
producer, Steve Tau,
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at his office in Hollywood.
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While Lynch was drinking
coffee, Krantz led off.
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Darkness.
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Distant sounds of
freeway traffic.
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Then the closer sound of a car.
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Its headlights illuminate an
oleander bush and the limbs
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of a eucalyptus tree.
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Then the headlights turn.
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A street sign is
suddenly brightly lit.
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The words on the sign
read Mulholland Drive.
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The car moves under
the sign as it turns,
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and the words fall
again into darkness.
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Krantz pauses, then continues.
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The car is a black
Cadillac limousine.
3:03
The driver stops and pulls a gun
on a beautiful brunette sitting
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behind him.
3:10
Seconds later, another car races
around the corner and slams
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into the limo.
3:16
The woman staggers
out of the wreckage
3:17
and weaves down the
hill into Hollywood.
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Lynch picks up from
here, describing
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how the woman, Rita,
wanders into a parking lot
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and discovers $125,000
in cash in her handbag.
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She's lost her
memory in the crash,
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and does not even
remember who she is.
3:38
Another woman, Betty,
appears at this point
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and takes Rita up
to an apartment.
3:45
The two women start to
piece together the situation
3:47
as in other parts of the
city, police officers
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and two shady-looking
men separately
3:54
start looking for Rita.
3:56
Lynch stopped here
and lit a cigarette.
3:59
He stared at his feet.
4:02
"What happens next?"
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Tau said.
4:05
"You have to buy the pitch for
me to tell you," Lynch replied.
4:06
ABC bought the pitch.
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Usually, a pilot sells for a
few hundred thousand dollars,
4:13
but the Mulholland Drive
pitch fetched $4.5 million.
4:17
After the meeting,
Steve Tau said,
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"It was the best kind of
pitch, the kind where you're
4:26
on the edge of your seat."
4:29
Krantz and Lynch told
a really good story,
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and it paid off to the
tune of $4.5 million.
4:35
Let's step back for a
minute and take a close look
4:40
at how the Mulholland Drive
pitch was constructed.
4:43
Just about all
storytelling frameworks
4:48
go back over 2,000 years
to ancient Greece, back
4:50
to the philosopher Aristotle.
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Aristotle said a story has three
parts, or acts, a beginning,
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a middle, and an end.
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Simple.
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The beginning
creates the context.
5:05
And as the novelist
Kurt Vonnegut said,
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the beginning should
be as close as
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possible to the
end of the story.
5:12
Notice how Krantz
and Lynch begin.
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Right away, you
know you're in LA.
5:17
Two women are trying to figure
out where $125,000 came from.
5:19
And two men are looking
for one of the women.
5:23
In a minute or two, you can
tell where this story is going
5:26
and how it might end.
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You're also eager to hear more.
5:31
All great stories, Star
Wars, Lord of the Rings,
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the Wizard of Oz,
start in this way.
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Luke Skywalker's aunt and uncle
are killed and Luke rockets off
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with Obi Wan.
5:44
Bilbo Baggins leaves his
comfortable life in the Shire
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and heads off on a long journey.
5:50
Dorothy is whisked up
into the sky by a tornado,
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leaving her boring life at
home and finding herself
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far from Kansas among strange
creatures like the Tin
5:58
Man and the Cowardly Lion.
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The middle is about an action
or event that raises a question
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or creates tension.
6:10
In the story that
Krantz and Lynch told,
6:12
there are questions about the
$125,000 and the scary men
6:15
looking for the women.
6:19
In The Lord of the Rings,
you wonder why and where
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Bilbo is going.
6:24
In a similar way,
in The Wizard of Oz
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you wonder how Dorothy will
get back home to Kansas.
6:28
The end of a story
answers the question
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or resolves the tension.
6:35
You can imagine how
the Lynch and Krantz
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story will answer the questions
raised in the beginning.
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In Star Wars, Luke
destroys the Death Star.
6:43
In The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy
kills the wicked witch
6:47
and unmasks the wizard.
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Now, how do you take this
basic beginning, middle, end
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structure and make
it simple enough
6:57
to use it every day at work?
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Think of the way the
movie-making folks at Pixar do.
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They say every successful
film has the same structure.
7:05
Once upon a time, blank.
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Every day, blank.
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One day, blank.
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Because of that, blank.
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Until finally, blank.
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Notice how this simple
template captures the wisdom
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that centuries of storytellers
have passed down to us.
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Beginning, once upon a time.
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Every day, middle.
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One day, because of that.
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End, until finally.
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