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About this lesson
Retelling real experiences you've had with real people is the beginning of great storytelling.
Quick reference
Where to Find Great Stories
You don’t need dramatic life experiences or literary skill to tell a great story. If you’ve solved a problem at work, you already have stories worth telling — especially in a business setting.
Great Stories Start With Real People
- The best source of stories is your own work life.
- Think about an annoying or difficult customer, colleague, or client.
- Ask yourself: What happened? What did they need? How did you help? What was the result?
- These real-world experiences are relatable and persuasive — perfect for presentations, pitches, and meetings.
You Don't Need to Be a Great Writer
- You don’t have to be Ernest Hemingway to tell a good story.
- Business storytelling isn’t about literary genius — it’s about sharing real, relevant examples.
- Focus on being clear and authentic, not clever or dramatic.
Storytelling Is a Learned Skill
- Nobody is born a great public speaker or storyteller — it’s something you build over time.
- TJ shares a story from age 12, when he gave his first speech to earn a better grade in handwriting.
- It wasn’t a great speech, but it showed him that simply standing up and speaking opens doors.
- The message: speak up, and you’ll grow — and opportunities will follow.
Why Stories Work
- Stories help people understand and remember your ideas.
- A story slows down the message and adds emotion, visuals, and impact.
- Saying “storytelling is a skill” is forgettable — showing it through a story makes it stick.
This Course Is for Business Communication
- The focus is practical, not performative.
- You’ll learn how to use stories in meetings, presentations, proposals, and other professional settings.
- This is about helping your audience remember what matters, not putting on a show.
- 00:05 Let's start off with a quick win.
- 00:06 People come to me all the time and say, TJ, where do I find these stories for my business presentations?
- 00:12 I want you to think of one annoying customer, client or colleague.
- 00:18 Surely there must be one.
- 00:20 Think of the last time this person called you, emailed you, text you about some problem.
- 00:26 What was it?
- 00:28 How did you help this person solve the problem?
- 00:31 What do they say to you, how are they feeling, how are you feeling, and how did it all get resolved?
- 00:37 That's your story in so many cases.
- 00:40 Whether you're pitching new business, trying to get a proposal approved, trying to get a budget approved, simply retelling real experiences with real colleagues, clients, customers, that's the source of your story.
- 00:57 You don't have to hire Hemingway and become a great creative writer.
- 01:00 Just retell experiences you have with annoying and annoyed people and you'll be in great shape.
- 01:09 There is no such thing as a natural public speaker or a natural storyteller.
- 01:15 It is completely a learned behavior.
- 01:18 I remember my first speech and I was only 12 years old.
- 01:23 I was a really shy kid.
- 01:24 I mean, I was probably bottom 10%.
- 01:28 I didn't need any extra counseling.
- 01:30 But I was always a quiet shy kid.
- 01:34 And one day my teacher came up to me.
- 01:36 Mrs. Strew, This was at Bruns Ave.
- 01:38 Elementary School in Charlotte, NC She kind of pulled me aside, almost whispered to me and said, Timmy, that's what I went by back then.
- 01:49 I'll make a deal with you right now.
- 01:52 You've got all good grades except for handwriting.
- 01:55 You've got a bad grade in handwriting.
- 01:56 Your handwriting is not very good.
- 01:59 I'll make a deal with you.
- 02:00 How would you like it if I gave you an A in handwriting?
- 02:04 All you have to do is give the welcoming speech to the elementary school graduation ceremony next month.
- 02:15 Now, I barely spoke in class, much less in front of all the parents and teachers and students.
- 02:21 I had no natural ability for that at all.
- 02:25 But I did like the idea of getting an A instead of a bad grade for public speaking.
- 02:30 So I said, sure, Miss Drew, I'll do it.
- 02:34 And I started preparing, and I wrote and rewrote the speech, and it was all printed out.
- 02:41 And I got up the day of graduation and it kind of went like this.
- 02:46 Welcome parents, teachers and students of Bruns Ave.
- 02:49 Elementary School.
- 02:53 On behalf of the students, I would like to welcome you to this graduation.
- 02:58 It was not a very good speech.
- 03:01 It didn't exactly get me a standing ovation.
- 03:05 But you know what?
- 03:06 I got through that speech that day.
- 03:09 Lions and tigers and bears didn't eat me.
- 03:11 I didn't faint.
- 03:13 I didn't collapse and I learned a very important lesson.
- 03:17 If you are just willing to stand up and speak, people will give you things.
- 03:25 You'll distinguish yourself.
- 03:26 Good things come your way.
- 03:29 And I've been speaking ever since and ideally getting a little bit better ever since.
- 03:35 OK, So what did I do there?
- 03:36 I just told you a little story.
- 03:38 Why?
- 03:39 To make the point.
- 03:40 I wanted to make the intellectual point that nobody's born a public speaker or born a natural storyteller.
- 03:48 It's a learned skill, but it only takes 5 seconds to say that point.
- 03:53 If you say it quickly, briefly, at the abstract level, nobody remembers it.
- 03:59 By telling a story, it makes the point more visual, it slows it down, it makes it more memorable.
- 04:08 Therefore, you're much more likely to have an impact.
- 04:13 One quick caveat, folks, This is a course for business people, people in government, politics, business, private sector, public sector on how they can use stories, how they can improve their storytelling abilities to help communicate important professional messages.
- 04:30 This is not a course on how to have a one man show, one woman show on Broadway.
- 04:36 It's not about how to embrace and star in the theater for that sort of professional storytelling where people are coming for an evening of entertainment.
- 04:49 Certainly a lot of the elements here are going to be used by those people.
- 04:52 But I want to stress this course is primarily for professional people who want to use storytelling skills to increase the odds that their audience remembers their important business or professional.
- 05:05 Message.
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