Russ Peterson Jr.Corporate Storytelling | Russ Peterson Jr.

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iSpeak teaches workshops on Professional Selling to help sales leaders gather the most important data and then use that information to create the right message. Are your sales presentations closing eyelids or deals?

Russ Peterson Jr. is the co-founder and Managing Director of iSpeak, Inc. – An award-winning professional development training company. Russ is a speaker, international trainer, and published author on Professional Sales Communication and Business Communication. He delivers workshops, keynotes, and personal communication coaching services to business professionals in the US and around the world. His leadership blog assists leaders in giving voice to their vision. You can connect with Russ directly through Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

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How and When to Use the “David and Goliath” Story Template

RPjr — Sun, 14 Apr 2019 11:02:00 +0000

Whether you’re Jewish, Christian or neither, you’ve probably heard the Biblical story of the shepherd boy destined to become a king. David was the shepherd boy who courageously accepted the fight-to-the-death challenge from the Philistine warrior Goliath, a man twice his size. It’s a classic tale of the underdog facing the champion.

If you’ve heard this story then you already know the outcome. If you haven’t heard this story, you can probably still guess how it turned out. Our shepherd boy, armed with only a few stones and a sling, was the champion of the day when he defeated the heavily armored and weaponized giant.

According to Malcolm Gladwell, in his book David and Goliath: Underdogs, misfits, and the art of battling giants, the best way to pull off the upset is to play by a different set of rules. In other words, be unconventional.

Do we truly love underdogs?

We love any story that fits the template of this classic tale. The underdog defeats the heavily favored champion! In a 2007 study published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, the researchers asked 71 participants to imagine two teams.

One was described as a strong champion, most likely to win. The other was described as the underdog. With only knowing the information of who was most favored to win, participants in the study were asked who they would rather see win. The underdog was chosen in every instance.

Or, do we just despise the most likely winners?

There’s seems to be something deep inside us that makes us want to see the underdog win. Or, according to one study by the Baylor College of Medicine, maybe we like to see winners lose because we’re envious of the teams that always win. This phenomena is called schadenfreude. Homer Simpson is a great example of someone who expresses this often.

Regardless of whether it’s a love for the unlikely hero or a joy for seeing the champions struggle, you can’t deny there’s something that attracts us all to the underdog stories. Maybe it’s that we can see ourselves as the underdog in these stories?

When to use this template in business

This type of story is used by leaders to inspire. When the team has to overcome tremendous odds to be successful, they need encouragement to press on. Leaders can use a David-and-Goliath story to give them hope and inspiration. If it’s been done in the past, we can do it now!

I’m not suggesting you tell the actual David-and-Goliath story, but instead, use it as a template to show your audience that nothing is impossible. Show them how their current situation is not impossible. It can be overcome!

How do I pick a story?

The closer your story is in relation to the actual situation they’re facing, the more impact it will have on the audience. In other words, just sharing a college basketball comeback story from March Madness may be exciting, but the audience can easily dismiss the story by saying, “Yeah, but that’s basketball! This is managed IT services we’re talking about here! It’s not the same thing.”

Try to find an underdog victory story that aligns closely with the current situation your team is facing. If it’s a tough business situation where you’d like to use the story, try to find another business story similar in scope. I recommend you use Paul Smith’s book on storytelling if your looking for stories you can use.

How do I structure the story?

The key to any David-and-Goliath story is to make sure your audience can see themselves as David. The audience needs to be invited into the story if you want to generate the feeling of encouragement and inspiration.

Give the landscape and characters for the story and do this quickly! This should also include the obvious problem (Goliath) that seems impossible to overcome.
Provide the thoughts of the underdog (David) by showcasing two things:
1. The underdog’s awareness of the challenge and the insurmountable odds he/she is facing.
2. The hope and faith to try anyway. This should point directly to the reason why it is still worth pursuing.
Describe the approach used to solve the problem. What did the underdog do to approach the problem? Remember, history has proven when the underdog wins, they tend to use unconventional methods. What is the unique approach they took? It’s important that this element be something within his/her control. Do NOT let this be a product of pure luck. If it is just a lucky break, your team can easily dismiss this as a fluke which is unlikely to occur again for them.
Describe the feeling of victory and what it meant to the team. This is the part of the story that gives the audience the deep sense of satisfaction. It should generate the feeling of a tough victory earned by fighting unconventionally to overcome amazing odds.

It’s time for you to go slay that giant and inspire your team.

Until next time,

Let’s connect…

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Your Best Source for a Story

RPjr — Sun, 20 Jan 2019 11:02:33 +0000

This comment seems to come up every time we discuss storytelling, “But I don’t have any stories!” I have but one response when I hear that comment (with both a smile and a wink.) “You’re wrong.” I’m usually not one to tell my students they’re flat out wrong, but this is one of those exceptions.

If you think you don’t have any good stories, maybe you’re not really looking or maybe you don’t really know where to look. Let’s help you with both.

First, HOW can you become better at looking for stories?
Second, WHERE is the best place to find the seedling of your next story?

First, Become an Observer

Daniel Kahneman has studied how we all think for most of his career. In his book Thinking Fast and Slow he explains how we all have two systems operating in our minds. He calls them System 1 and System 2. (I can’t help but think of Dr. Seuss and The Cat in the Hat with Thing 1 and Thing 2 every time I read that.)

The world of System 1 is the automatic. It’s in charge of directing your attention and making snap judgements. For example, System 1 is great at driving on a straight and empty highway, noticing a surface is hot when you touch it, or knowing that 2 + 2 = 4. This is the part of our brain that’s always on and always monitoring. It takes care of our day-to-day, mundane habits so we don’t have to bother the big thinker… System 2.

System 2 takes care of the heavy lifting. It gets involved when System 1 has prompted it into action. When you hear a loud “bang!” your System 1 will whip your head around to look. It will also notify System 2 to figure out the source, assess any damage, and figure out what to do next!

When we go through our day on autopilot (System 1 is in the HOUSE!) our System 2 stays calm and relaxed. In fact Kanehman points out that deep down we’re all a bit lazy. It’s hard work to activate System 2 and we don’t like doing it. We tend to select our actions based on the paths of least resistance (“If System 1 can handle it, then just handle it!”). Because of this, our System 2 tries to stay on the couch all day watching Netflix while System 1 is on the clock.

Second, The Unexpected Source

If you want to train your brain to notice more story sources, start taking notice of where System 1 draws your attention. Your best source for stories is something unexpected. By the way, that’s not a sentence meant to be a cliff-hanger before I tell you the unexpected source. THAT IS the source… the unexpected!

Any time you experience something unexpected, your System 2 will be required to pause BirdBox on Netflix and get off the couch. It’s required to look at the situation because System 1 doesn’t have this one in the playbook. It’s new. It’s different. It’s unexpected. This situation has never been encountered before, so System 1 doesn’t know what to do.

Don’t worry, you’ll do this naturally because we’re all wired this way. System 2 looks at the situation and attempts to make sense or rectify the situation. But it also develops a template for System 1’s future playbook. If System 2 can get the new play into the playbook for System 1… then maybe System 2 can spend more time with Sandra Bullock and Netflix!

This is our brain’s natural learning process. We experience a new situation. We reflect on the situation to learn from it. We file it away in the playbook for future reference.

These unexpected experiences happen all the time and they are the seedlings for your next great story!

Now,… Write it Down!

Here’s the problem… we all know how to handle many of life’s simple situations (filed away in the playbook for System 1’s future use), but if we’re asked, “Where did you learn that?” We might be at a loss because we’ve forgotten. We forgot the original learning experience. Once you experience the unexpected and learn from it, write it down!

A great suggestion from one of our Sr. Trainers, Todd Zwissler, is what he calls the Daily Homework. Each day write down one unexpected thing from your day. If you do this with a digital tool (Apple Notes, Evernote, OneNote), you can include key words or tags so you can easily search your story seedlings in the future.

For example, you might have the following experiences documented for the past three days:

The VP asked EVERYONE on one side of the dinner table to slide down a little, so I had more room at the end of the table. #leadership #service #courtesy
Visited Federal Hill in Providence and noticed the Italian colored stripe down the center of the road. #history #Italy #family
Talked to flight attendant and found out best place for food in Taiwan #travel #cuisine

With these recorded in your Notes tool, you can easily search them later by keyword or tag to find the seedling for your next story.

Here’s my challenge for you… Write down one unexpected thing you experienced today and what you learned from it.

Here’s something you can expect… I’ll see you next week.
Russ

Let’s connect…

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Has your leader used the “two paths” story to teach?

RPjr — Mon, 14 Jan 2019 11:02:50 +0000

How to teach a lesson by offering two alternatives

The new hire stood to be better heard, “If you were to give us any advice on how to be successful in our new sales role, what would you tell us?” The young woman had raised her hand on the first day of the sales new-hire training class. The tenured Sales Manager had just finished presenting a “What to expect in your first 6 weeks” presentation.

He has several choices for his response. He could offer a laundry list of “to do” items. He could pontificate about how important attitude will be for them. He could also simplify it by boiling it down to a quote from a great sales guru like Zig Ziglar. But, he chose to go a different route. He chose to offer the group something much more memorable.

The Two Paths Story

This template is a simple template which showcases two different individuals on two different paths. The paths are different because of the choices made by each individual. The audience will naturally contrast the choices made, the experience on each path, and the end results.

The first path usually sounds reasonable and right. The choices made fall in line with the choices most reasonable people in that position would make. The audience can relate to the experience.

The second path contains a surprise for the audience. The second path can flip normal thinking on its head. It is the unknown or the unexpected that gets their attention.

The story invites two things:

The audience will inject themselves into the story. Were they the type who would have chosen the first path? Would they rather be on the second path?
A comparison between the two paths and the associated outcomes. This is the learning element. It teaches the lesson through the story and since they have already placed themselves into the story, they will remember this lesson far longer than just telling them to do something.

What did the Sales Manager say?

Here’s the story the Sales Manager gave to the new sales representatives so they could learn to focus on the customer instead of just on the products being sold.

It’s interview day 12 years ago and I’m a new Sales Manager doing my first set of interviews. Back then I was working with a different company and we had been given a script on what to ask our sales candidates. One of the questions was actually not even a question. It was a command. At the end of the interview we were instructed to hand our pen to the candidate and tell him or her, “Last thing before you go… sell me this pen.”

The first candidate to hold my pen looked a little confused at my request, but then I could see the confidence come back to his face. He began by pointing out some of the unique features of the pen, like the black and silver styling, which would go with both formal attire and casual. The benefit of that being I will always look good and be prepared to take notes! He continued with a few more Features, Advantages, and Benefits of the pen before closing the sale and asking me if I’d like to buy the pen. Classic FAB selling done very well.

The second interview ended the same way, with me handing over my pen. This time I got a longer, more puzzled look at first. She thought for a moment, offered a half smile that verged on a smirk and she raised her eyes to meet mine. Her next comment surprised me. “Why do you want to look at pens today?” For the next 5 minutes, she continued using questions to uncover my need. She successfully uncovered the pain I was trying to eliminate with the purchase of a pen. I had self-diagnosed my need for a pen to solve my issue, but before she began selling me anything, she wanted to uncover the problem I was trying to solve.

You might be thinking the second candidate got the job while the first didn’t and you’d be wrong. They both got the job. But within 2 years, the first candidate was reporting to the 2nd candidate. What she did differently was focus on customer’s need and not the product we’re selling.

You want advice on how to be successful in your new role? Focus on the customer, not the product.

Why does this story template work?

Our brains love to play games and the two paths create a simple game of comparison for the audience to play. You’ve been playing this game since you were very young. If you used to watch Sesame Street on PBS (am I showing my age?) then you remember the little sequence called “Which of these kids is doing his own thing?” Since a very early age, we’ve all loved to compare items to each other to see what we can learn.

If you can provide a comparison game for your audience, along with a lesson to be learned, they will love it! It’s much more memorable than just telling them to focus on customers more than products.

I challenge you to try the two paths story this week! Let me know how it goes.

Until next week,
Russ

Let’s connect…

The post Has your leader used the “two paths” story to teach? first appeared on Russ Peterson Jr..

A Simple Template to Create a Persuasive Message…

RPjr — Sun, 06 Jan 2019 11:02:26 +0000

It was the start of the day and I had just asked my Storytelling class what they wanted to learn today. The Sr. Manager spoke up, “I want to learn how to get people to do something.” As a coach myself, I couldn’t help but respond with…

“Can you tell me what you mean by that?” His eagerness to learn more about persuasion was both common and understandable among the leaders I’m privileged to serve. He answered me, “When we need to get something done as a team, I want to be able to use stories to help motivate them all to get it done… even if they don’t really want to do it.”

One method for persuading a group toward action is with a template I call “The Leader’s Lesson” where the focus is on two key areas:

a tough situation from the past and…
an opportunity for the future.

The Leader’s Lesson Story Template

This template generates two emotions in your audience. The emotional piece is important and shouldn’t be overlooked. While we all like to think we make our decisions based on logic and data, science says otherwise. All of our decisions require a feeling element before we act upon them. In fact, Mel Robbins points out in her book The 5 Second Rule: Transform your Life, Work, and Confidence with Everyday Courage, that we don’t keep our New Year’s Resolutions for one simple reason… we don’t feel like doing them anymore!

So how do you get the team to do something? They will need to feel like doing it. This is why the emotional element is so critical. The first emotion focuses more on the negative side (anxiety, nervous, scared, etc.) while the second emotion focuses on the positive (inspired, intrigued, curious, empowered, etc.).

The Negative

Start with an experience from your past and then draw the audience into the story. Let them look at the tough situation through your eyes. Let them see themselves in your role. What does this sound like?

I was 2 months into my new role as Sr. Project Manager and my supplier for the 40 web servers told me he would be 6 weeks late on delivery to our data center. My project update meeting with our executive sponsors is in 20 minutes. I’m about to walk into a meat grinder…

Invite them In

Next, you invite the audience into the story by placing them in the situation. This is where they need to feel the emotion of the tough situation. What does this part sound like?

We’ve probably all been there before… What do I say in this meeting? How do I address this issue? … What would you say? How do you handle a situation like that? We all face situations like this more than we think…

Show Vulnerability and The Lesson

Next, let them know how you handled it, how you failed, and what you learned from the experience. What might this part sound like?

I started my presentation and began with an update of the bad news I had just received. I’m immediately interrupted by the COO when she says, “Stop. Where is this in your handout I have here?” I began to respond, “Well, I didn’t have time to update the handout or the slide deck so…” She interrupted again, “STOP. This meeting is over. I expect you to be prepared when you’re speaking to this group. Please come back tomorrow at the same time when you’re better prepared.” I learned a lot that day…

Share the Challenge / Opportunity

At this point, the audience understands what you learned through failure. You’ve got their attention because they’ve experienced the emotion of a stressful situation. You’ve shown your own vulnerability, which helps the audience relate to you better, and they also know how you solved the situation.

The next step is to share the current challenge or opportunity the team is facing. They need to see the similarity between the story you’ve just shared and what you learned so they’ll be open to solving it. When they know similar tough situations have been solved successfully in the past, they’re more eager to play the protagonist role of the hero in this new story. What does this part sound like?

Our current reporting situation with our customers is very similar. We don’t have a timely method for updating our project status to each of them. While they may not speak to us in the same manner as my former COO, I can imagine what they’re saying about us after we get off our weekly calls. There’s a way we can improve our project updates. We just need to find the right solution and implement it.

Inspire them to Solve It

This is where you turn the challenge over to them without solving it for them! Avoid your urge to step in and solve the issue! Don’t let the message turn into a command and control message. When the leader takes command and attempts to control exactly what the team should do next, they’ll feel less than inspired or encouraged. In social psychology of persuasion we call this compliance but not commitment! Rather than just doing it, we want them to want to do it! What does that sound like?

Imagine your next call with Acme Corporation. Imagine when they ask you for the status on a change request given to you only 15 minutes earlier. You already have it built into the project plan and you can show them exactly how it affects the delivery timelines. Think about how you’d feel after that call compared to how I felt after my meeting with the COO many years ago. I know we can fix this. Let’s see how we can make this a reality. Let me know what you come up with and we’ll discuss it next week at our team meeting.

Make it so…

Giving your audience the opportunity to solve a problem, overcome an obstacle, rise to a challenge… is motivating. It’s inspirational and it feels empowering to the audience. Remember, we can all logically agree with what we should do (eat better, exercise more, etc.) but if we don’t feel like it… it won’t get done. Help your audience feel better about their challenges when you want them to do something!

Until next week,
Russ

Let’s connect…

The post A Simple Template to Create a Persuasive Message… first appeared on Russ Peterson Jr..

The “Who Am I?” Story

RPjr — Sun, 16 Dec 2018 11:02:19 +0000

And When to use it…

You’ve finally got the promotion you’ve been looking for at work. In this new position you will be leading a team of 12 people who have never met you before. Your manager suggests calling a team meeting where she will introduce you to your new team. “Then you can take over the meeting and introduce yourself. You know… just tell them more about yourself. It’ll be fun.”

That all sounds great, but now you start to feel some anxiety creeping in because this will be your first presentation to your team! What will you say? What will they think of you? How will they react to you?

When to Use the Model

You’ve got a lot on your mind, but we can help with a simple storyline (narrative) template called the “Who Am I?” Story. Your situation is a perfect time to use this story template. Any time you need to introduce your authentic self to a group, this model works great.

What Your Audience Does NOT want

I’m guessing you’ve all seen this before, when someone stands to speak in response to the request, “Hey, why don’t you tell us a little about yourself?” Most people respond to this with a chronological list of their resume. We all start to go a little numb when we realize you’re walking down your timeline year by year telling us about each of your pit stops along the way.

It’s a laundry list of company names and job titles which tells us nothing about the real you. We want to know the authentic you! To do that, you’ll need to take us back to a moment in time when you had to make a decision. We learn about other people when we watch them react in a situation.

Someone who knows how to tell more about himself without giving a timeline of events is Michael Dell. In his autobiography he tells several stories about his past. This one is a story from his childhood, but it tells us about how Michael Dell leads today.

One of Michael Dell’s “Who Am I?” Stories

The father of my best friend was a pretty avid stamp collector, so now naturally my friend and I wanted to get into stamp collecting, too. To fund my interest in stamps, I got a job as a water boy in a Chinese restaurant two blocks from my house. I started reading stamp journals just for fun, and soon began noticing that prices were rising. Before long, my interest in stamps began to shift from the joy of collecting to the idea that there was something here that my mother, a stockbroker, would have termed “a commercial opportunity.”…

I was about to embark upon one of my very first business ventures. First, I got a bunch of people in the neighborhood to consign their stamps to me. Then I advertised “Dell’s Stamps” in Linn’s Stamp Journal, the trade journal of the day. And then I typed, with one finger, a twelve-page catalog… and mailed it out. Much to my surprise, I made $2,000. And I learned an early, powerful lesson about the rewards of eliminating the middleman. I also learned that if you’ve got a good idea, it pays to do something about it.

What Do We Learn?

Stephen Denning, the author of The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling, does a fantastic job of breaking down Michael Dell’s story. Denning points out how we learn some very important things about Dell in this story, and I bet you can even pull more from it.

Michael Dell is entrepreneurial and bold
He’s aggressive and direct
We learn his perspective on his own actions from when he was young
Seeing where he was then and where he is now gives you the sense he will continue to follow that trend line

How do I build a “Who Am I?” Story?

What’s the formula for you to build your own story? It’s actually quite simple. Even after you construct the story, don’t forget to rehearse it a few times. Just knowing the story is very different from delivering the story!

Focus on a turning point in your life, maybe a fork in the road where a decision had to be made
Try to keep your story focused on the positive. If the turning point generates a negative feeling, leave the audience with positive at the end showing how you overcame it.
Inject a little humor when appropriate
Don’t focus too much on your good qualities. You don’t want to appear like you’re bragging.
Bring the story back to relevance for the audience.

It can take some practice but your audience will love this much more than you providing the timeline of jobs and titles you’ve had in the past.

Until next week,
Russ

Let’s connect…

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The Springboard Story

RPjr — Sun, 02 Dec 2018 11:04:55 +0000

How to inspire your audience into action

The audience was loud and boisterous as they funneled out of the convention center. Their final speaker for the day left them all inspired and chattering about possibilities. “We could start by talking to our customers and ask them!” Then someone else responded, “I think we should figure out how we could scale this beyond North America!” They were all working on building a new future.

This moment of inspiration and collaboration was created by an average speaker using a powerful tool. She didn’t deliver her story with the sights and sounds of an entertainer, nor did she use eloquent words like Hemingway. Instead, she used an often overlooked, but powerful tool for creating inspired audiences.

This tool is part of the Corporate Storytelling arsenal and it can be used by anyone. It involves three main elements: The Setup, The Failure, The Possibility.

The Setup

This first phase introduces the audience to a success from the past. While I wasn’t there when Steve Jobs asked the engineers at Apple to start working on the iPod, we can use the technology as an example since I’m sure you’re all familiar with the iPod. I can picture his setup going something like this…

The problem for music lovers has always been twofold, portability and choice. We all want to take our music selections with us. Portability was first solved with the 8-track tape in cars and the cassette tape in a walkman. But the choice was limited with either program buttons or a linear rewind to get to the song you wanted. The CD was invented and solved both issues. Now you had portability and direct access to the exact song you wanted.

The Failure

At this point in the story, the audience is tracking with the speaker. They’re actually waiting for the fork in the road. There’s been nothing but a description of a landscape so far. This feels like a simple history lesson. What’s the issue here? In the example we’re using with the iPod, the audience of Apple engineers is waiting for the problem. If we have portability and direct access… then what’s the big deal?

This is when the speaker drops the problem on the audience. It’s a moment when the audience will choose to either get on board or discount the issue completely. Back to our fictitious Steve Jobs springboard message, it may have gone something like this…

But now there’s a new problem… the music lover wants more. One minute I’m in the mood for Van Halen, but the next I want to hear Neil Diamond or Katy Perry. I never know what music my mood will request so now my challenge is the quantity of CDs I need to carry. The solution can’t be more suitcases for holding 100 CDs. Why can’t this quantity issue be solved with technology?

Boom. The failure (problem or opportunity) has been identified. Now the audience is thinking something like “It shouldn’t be that way.” or “We could fix that.” or “Why haven’t we already started working on this already?”

The Possibility

Without overdramatizing the delivery, I’d recommend the speaker gives the audience a healthy pause right here. Now there’s only one step left for the speaker. Give the audience the prompt they need to get started on the issue.

The verbal prompt will tap into the audience’s imagination. This is the fertile playground in the brain for taking action. All humans love games and puzzles. We like to work on creating something. This third step doesn’t need to be lengthy or dramatic. It’s just the prompt to get started. Back to Steve Jobs…

Isn’t that what we do? We improve life with technology. We can solve this. Just imagine a day when a jogger can carry over 10,000 songs in her hand while running and still be able to call up the exact song she wants to close out the race strong. I can’t wait to meet you there on that day.

While some may feel the speaker should provide the answer, the vision, the ending to the story… that won’t always be the most effective with the audience if the goal is to move them into action. When the speaker leaves the possibility hanging in the air without a solid path to get there, the audience will take ownership and begin to build that bridge.

And when the audience builds the bridge to that possible future, they are much more likely to buy into the overall strategy and vision. They are co-creating the strategic plan as they leave.

“	… the question becomes: how is a CEO to make effective use of storytelling? —STEPHEN DENNING

Steve Jobs was known by many as a great presenter, speaker and storyteller. While my Steve Jobs iPod example above is purely fictional, I certainly hope it does his memory justice. We all know a great storyteller in our life. Let’s all learn from them and inspire the world to imagine a better future.

As we wrap up this blog post, I just have one question for you…

What kind of future could you help create by inspiring your team with story?

See you next week,
Russ

Let’s connect…

The post The Springboard Story first appeared on Russ Peterson Jr..

Do You Want Your Data To Tell a Story?

RPjr — Sun, 04 Nov 2018 11:02:58 +0000

Borrow this one storytelling technique to make that happen!

What is the most exciting part of any story? What’s the one thing that creates movement in a story? How do Hollywood directors like Spielberg and Howard make it impossible to look away? They do it by creating a sense of flow in the storyline. This sense of flow can be created with many techniques, but it’s most often done with this one simple tool…

Decisions! Remember… “No Decisions = No Movement.” If there is nothing for the main character to consider or decide, then we’re really just looking at a landscape. It’s like looking at a picture or a painting of a lake with some trees. There’s no decision to be made. There’s no movement. It’s still. It could be beautiful, but there is no movement. If your goal is to create movement in the audience, then you’ve got to present more than just a beautiful landscape.

We Love the Fork In the Road

Think about it… when someone is giving you information, you’re waiting for the decision moment. If someone were to say, “I left my house around 8:30 and started driving toward town. I passed several busses, a few trucks, and some cars on my way. There had to be at least 5 stoplights I had to sit through. It was fairly cloudy too. The sun wasn’t shining at all.”

I think your eyes would be glazing over as you’re wondering, “Exactly where is this tale is going anyway?” If he stopped talking right there you’d probably respond by saying, “…and then what?” You’re waiting for something else in the story, but what is it? You’re waiting for the fork in the road! That’s the moment. That’s the catalyst you need to move this story along!

A fork in the road is the one critical moment when something unexpected happens and the main character is forced to make a decision. Stories don’t get exciting until the main character is forced to make a decision.

For us to connect with a story, we need to place ourselves in the story. As audience members, one of the most common ways we do this is by focusing on the decisions a main character is faced with. Then, we immediately start thinking, “What would I do in that situation?” NOW you’ve engaged your audience.

Make it a Tough Choice

As a speaker, you can’t just present any fork in the road and expect your audience to stay engaged. The decision to be made must be something out of the ordinary. The choice needs to be difficult. If it’s an easy answer to select, it won’t compel the audience to engage. But when it’s a tough choice, we’ll start to think, “Now… what would I do?”

Think about your next presentation. Do you want your data to tell a story? Then paint the scene with the data but take the audience to the fork in the road. This is where the decision needs to be made. What is the data telling you? Does the data present options to choose from? Which direction should we go in? What makes the most sense for our next step? What are the decisions you and the audience need to make? Why these choices? Why now? Why us?

The tougher the decision, the more compelling and engaging the message. When we have no idea what we would do and we’re waiting to see what our speaker suggests, we’re engaged!

Don’t Forget the Risk

Some of your friends are great storytellers and you love to hear them spin a yarn. Others… maybe not so much. While there are many techniques for telling better stories, presenting decisions (forks in the road) is one of the most fundamental tools and also one of the most effective. If you want to make your decisions even more compelling, make sure you expose the risk in either choice.

In other words, show the potential consequences if either of the decisions doesn’t turn out well. What is at stake here? What is the risk and what is the consequence if this choice goes South on us?

“	Choices with consequences create movement in stories.

This is what we love about movies like Die Hard, Star Wars, or Raiders of the Lost Ark. Our heroes are placed in impossible situations and they need to make a choice. What is your next move? How will you play this? What is at risk if you choose wrong? I’m reminded of C3-PO in the Star Wars movies constantly offering the odds of survival in every dire situation.

How risky is the choice to Han Solo? 34 million to 1 (nearly impossible)

What is the consequence if you choose wrong? Death

Talk about making the audience aware of the risk in a decision! We’re drawn to watch the “high-risk, high-consequence” forks in the road.

How can you apply this in business?

I’m not asking you to overdramatize your business presentations, but if you want your data to tell a story, take a lesson from Spielberg. You need to create forks in the road. What are the tough decisions in your message? Tell the audience what you decided on and where that decision took you next.

Every fork in the road… every decision to be made… when tied to the level of risk and the consequence if you’re wrong, will create movement in your stories.

Now go let your data tell a story!

Until next week…

Let’s connect…

The post Do You Want Your Data To Tell a Story? first appeared on Russ Peterson Jr..

What’s More Important… Logic or the Feeling?

RPjr — Sun, 28 Oct 2018 11:02:29 +0000

... and one tip on how you can engage in your next presentation

“Do you recommend starting with a statement or a story?” We had just introduced 4 different ways to grab your audience’s attention and one of my students wanted to know how best to select the right one for your audience. “How do I know which one will be best for my audience?” He was on the right track with his questions because the answer always lies there… with the audience!

We definitely have choices for how to engage our audience from the very start. Depending on your audience and the situation for you speaking, one method may be more effective than the other.

You Could Go With The Data Option

My business customers have no lack of data when it comes to presenting to their audiences. All of my students have mountains of information, research, and data to pull from when presenting their update or their persuasive message.

Logical arguments are great, but as much as I want to believe every choice I make is based on logic, research studies continue to show we make all of our decisions based on feeling. Then we use logic to justify and support the decision.

Feelings Are Important

In one sense, you could say we all make statements “because we felt like it” instead of it logically being the best choice. Angela Duckworth, in her book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, she points out how feelings are the basis of almost every decision we make. In fact, in one study, participants had suffered brain trauma and through corrective surgery had lost the part of their brain responsible for feelings. Unfortunately, they were human robots with no emotions.

As neuroscientists studied these patients they all had something else in common besides the inability to feel emotions. None of them could make a decision. Even the most simple of decisions and they could not select something. It’s obviously a sad situation, but also completely fascinating. Further proof that emotions play a huge part of every decision we make.

The Feelings Option

Knowing that feelings play a huge part of any decision your audience is going to make, my question to you would be… What kind of a feeling will your presentation generate in your audience? If you think about so many of the presentations you’ve sat through at work, my guess is that the feeling generated by many business presentations is one of sleepiness or boredom!

While I’m sure you grab the audiences attention with your logical arguments, supported by data. It is important to consider the feeling you’d like to generate and then make sure you are incorporating the delivery tools to make that happen.

One of the best ways to generate feelings in your audience is with a story. It works so much better than just presenting the statistics.

You tell me what sounds more engaging to you:

“Every night in the greater Houston area, over 300,000 children go to bed hungry at night because they can’t afford enough food.”

“I’d like you to meet Emma. Emma is 4 years old and she lives with her single mother in the 7th Ward area of Houston. Emma’s mom is currently working for Houston Metro during the day and a local bar as a waitress in the evening. Emma’s father left them both at home when Emma was only 3 months old…”

So What’s Next?

Consider using a story to supplement your persuasive argument the next time you present. Your audience will feel like giving you a Corporate Ovation when you’re done!

Until next week…

Let’s connect…

The post What’s More Important… Logic or the Feeling? first appeared on Russ Peterson Jr..

One Question to Guide Your Career

RPjr — Sun, 21 Oct 2018 11:02:11 +0000

A Tool for Forecasting Your Future Satisfaction

Have you ever thought about leaving your current job? Have you ever switched jobs just to find out you’re back in the same situation again? There is always an inherent risk in making a job change. Will you be better off? Or, should you just stay where you are for now? Is there any way to know for certain before you make the switch?

My Student’s Wake-Up Call

Jerry stepped to the front of my classroom and began sharing his story. He was a student in my storytelling workshop.

Jerry was at home working on his laptop and preparing for his next trip to the airport. Both of his daughters approached him holding a piece of paper close to their chest. “Daddy we drew you a picture!” He finished typing his email and then looked up from his laptop with a smile, “You did? Show it to me!”

The two girls proudly laid the picture on his lap and began to explain the picture. “This is me.” quickly followed by “And THIS is me!” They were both competing for his attention. Then they added, “And here’s you Daddy.” His smile began to fade as he gazed at the portrayal of his family through his children’s eyes. The picture needed no further explanation from his daughters. Jerry was speechless.

On one side of the drawing his daughters were standing with his wife by the house. On the other end of the page Jerry was standing next to an airplane with a computer and a suitcase, waving back to his family as he left for another business trip. There was something about the picture that struck a deep chord inside.

It was a realization of the life he was missing when he was gone. It was a picture of how his daughter’s would remember their life with him as they were growing up. It was the realization he would never get this time back again… ever. It was the forecasted pain of his future self looking back on a life full of business success but always wondering if he had failed at home.

In his own heart and mind, he wondered which was the most important right now. At this point in his life… where can he make the greatest impact? Is it with his family? Is it at work and in business? Is it possible to impact both? In the end, he knew he needed to make a very tough decision.

Finally Happy?

That day he turned in his resignation and began looking for another job, closer to home and with less travel. Luckily as a consultant with great relationships, it didn’t take long. Within a few weeks he ended up working for one of his consulting clients. Why didn’t he make this change before? Was he finally in the place where he’d be happy?

Nope.

While this job had much less travel and afforded him more time at home, he found himself dissatisfied at work. He felt like he was just going through the motions. That unsettled feeling came over him again. He couldn’t shake it. Once again, Jerry began looking for a new career opportunity. It was time for another change, but this time he’d approach the decision more methodically.

Jerry took more time to define his own professional skill set, the challenges he enjoys, all in a position with little travel required. That’s how he ended up with the job he has now and he couldn’t be happier.

As he finished up his story, he paused for a moment. Then he shared the moral of his story with us all. Everything Jerry learned from this experience could be boiled down to one question we can all use to predict our future satisfaction.

The One Question To Predict Your Future Satisfaction

While none of us has a crystal ball, we’d all like to make better choices and avoid the bad ones. Here’s the one question we can all use to do just that. It’s so simple, but yet so profound.

Are you running away or running toward?

With Jerry’s first move he realized he wasn’t running toward a better life and career choice. He was only running away from his current situation. This became clear to him when he lost all job satisfaction in his new role and he started to question his first move. Jerry knew his career and family satisfaction required him to run toward a better tomorrow, not just run away from his current situation.

If you’re jumping into a new role because you’re trying to escape your current situation, you may find a life boat for now, but you may not be satisfied for long. Imagine if you were on a sinking ship, you’d gladly jump into any life boat just to get away. But after a few weeks on the open sea in a small life boat, you’d be ready jump again!

The Point is This…

If your primary motivation is to run away from something, you may end up in a less-than-ideal destination. True… it could serve as a life boat, but is that really what you want? You’ll take just about anything when you’re just trying to get away.

But, if you’re running toward something, something that truly inspires you, something that gives you purpose, then you’re moving in the right direction.

Don’t live a life just running away. Live a life running toward!

Still trying to run toward…

See you next week,
Russ

Let’s connect…