01.
Better Stories
are transformational.
All stories need a structure or an OUTLINE (eg. Poetics, Hero’s Journey, Sparkline, Kishotenketsu, Freitag or Minto's Pyramid, Beats etc). At their core, stories are about a journey where someone (or something) is transformed for better (or worse).
01.1
4 Words & 5 Lines.
In 2022 I spent a week in Boston studying JFK's speeches at the Presidential Library. After reading his notes and seeing his last minute edits of famous speeches, I sat in his chair to learn more about his process "4 Words & 5 Lines" - the approach favoured by his speechwriter Ted Sorensen. [8 mins]
01.2
Story Structure.
There are dozens of different story structures that you could use to tell your story. Before you worry about which structure is best, just choose one and see how you get on. I made this PDF to get you started, featuring 15 of the best story structures which seem most suited to business stories. I wrote a brief Linkedin post about them here. [15 page PDF]
01.3
"Outline".
"Tell me everything I need to know about the OUTLINE of great stories in 10 minutes or less?" Challenge accepted! Here's a script I wrote to answer that challenge, along with a visualisation of the script created by one of the AI Storytelling Assistants that I use to analyse my stories. [PDF - 3 pages]
01.4
Stories Solve Problems.
"Become a Better Problem Solver by Telling Better Stories". An excellent whitepaper from MIT Sloan School of Management about the power of persuasive storytelling using simple frameworks. It's called "The Quest Narrative" and was conceived by: Arnaud Chevallier Albrecht Enders Jean-Louis Barsoux [5 min read]
01.5
"Story" in One Cartoon?
Grant Snider is an illustrator, cartoonist and "visual problem solver" who created this cartoon for the New York Times Book Review back in 2013. In one little cartoon, Grant breaks down what some books on storytelling take 200 pages to get across. Print it out and stick it in your notebook! [JPG]
01.6
Presentation Canvas.
How do you create an outline that gives a presentation some structure and makes it memorable? Check out this Speakery Presentation Canvas from Marcus John Henry Brown which might help you kick-start your next presentation. [LINK]
01.7
The Writer's Journey.
Christopher Vogler's book on the transformational structure of stories is a masterclass in itself. As a story analyst for Disney, Vogler wrote a seven-page memo that changed Hollywood. This book will help you improve the way you communicate at work. I recorded a short video about it here. [492 pages]
01.8
Save the Cat.
If you go to film school to study storytelling Save the Cat is probably one of the first books you'll read. It teaches you to break stories down into "Beats". This structure works well for longer business presentations. Got a 90-minute workshop to write? Sounds like the length of a movie... [195 pages]
01.9
Kurt Vonnegut.
In 2004 the SlaughterhouseFive author gave a lecture about the art and science of story structure. He opens with the suggestion, "There’s no reason why the simple shapes of stories can’t be fed into computers.”
That quote from two decades ago seems slightly prophetic today, given that I am now spending most of my time teaching story structure to AI models, so that business leaders can spend more time focused on their audience. If you like this clip, you can watch the full lecture here. [4 mins]
01.10
Harmon's Story Circle.
Dan Harmon is an American screenwriter and producer best known as the creator and producer of the NBC sitcom Community and Rick & Morty. He noticed that many of the directors he worked with claimed that they were unable to write plots for TV, so he simplified Joseph Campbell's structure into a circular eight-step process that would reliably help people produce coherent stories. [8 mins]
01.11
Duarte's Sparkline.
No one has inspired me more to chase the career I have more than Nancy Duarte. (I always wanted to be Sam Seaborn from Aaron Sorkin's The West Wing but since he's a fictional character he probably doesn't count). Watch Nancy's TED talk about Story Structure and you'll see why I love her. [18 mins]
01.12
Freytag's Pyramid.
Freytag's Pyramid is a narrative structure that breaks the story arc of a drama into five distinct sections. Gustav Freytag was a 19th century novelist and playwright who wanted to collate centuries of storytelling thinking into a simple structure. By codifying the work of Greek dramatists and playwrights such as Shakespeare, he distilled their thinking into a five-act narrative structure. [6 mins]
01.13
Hero's Journey's.
The Hero's Journey, popularised by Joseph Campbell and made famous by George Lucas (it's the OUTLINE for all Star Wars films) is often taken out of content in business. But it's the best story structure we have, so it's important to understand the rules. So that you can break them. [10 mins]
01.14
Rhetoric.
The art of influence and persuasion; an essential skill for any communicator. Rhetoric has a bad rep, mostly because of the way it is (mis)used in politics but it's a powerful tool. Especially the Five Canon's of Rhetoric which provide the outline of the persuasive process. TRIVIUM is a simple guidebook which breaks it all down in a fun way. [410 pages]
01.15
Intention & Obstacle.
Aaron Sorkin (Jobs, The West Wing, Social Network, Moneyball, A Few Good Men) is one of the best screenwriters of our generation. His OUTLINES always start with intention and obstacle. Here's a short audio clip of him explaining how you can use this in your stories. [9 mins]
* Sidenote: Not all narrative structures need a "conflict" though. I'm looking at you Kishotenketsu!
01.16
Pillars of Story Structure.
Peter von Stackelberg (Professor of Journalism & Transmedia Storytelling) developed Pillars of Story Structure as a way for students in his storytelling classes to quickly compare a number of different story models. This helpful graphic incorproates Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey, Dan Harman's Story Circle and Chris Vogler's Inner & Outer Journey. [Click image for PDF]
01.17
AI in Storytelling.
An interesting read from McKinsey about an MIT Study where researchers used AI models to analyse the emotional arcs of famous stories, featuring Disney's UP as an example. Using a metric called "Visual Valence" MIT's Lab for Social Machines programed computers to assess the emotional impact of stories. This article is from 2017, but is useful backgrond about how we are using AI today, by training them on story structure to create better stories, faster. [9 min read]
01.17
Cicero's Five Canons.
According to Roman philosopher Cicero, the outline of a great speech contains five canons, or tenets, of rhetoric: Invention, Arrangement, Style, Memory, and Delivery. Although these canons were originally created with a focus on oratory, or public speaking, most are also applicable to the writing process stages of prewriting, drafting, and rewriting. [PDF Download]
01.18
Kishōtenketsu.
Not every story needs to contain a conflict, a villain or an obstacle that hinders to hero's journey. Some stories call for contrast, not conflict, especially stories that are about an on-going journey of transformation. Favoured by many Eastern storytellers (especially in Japan, China and Korea), Kishōtenketsu can be provide a wonderful alternative to a traditional "Western" narrative. [7 min Read]
01.20
Wilder's 3-Act Structure.
Billy Wilder was a six-time Oscar winning Hollywood film director who made such classics as Sunset Boulevard and Marilyn’s Some Like It Hot. His films were known for their tight plots and memorable dialogue. Wilder believed that no matter how talented the actor, the result would be better if you bent the script to their personality, rather than force a performance beyond their limitations.
Wilder was a big fan of a simple 3-act structure in his movies, and often encouraged his students not to over-complicate their stories with elaborate story structures. Great advice for business leaders ~ because not every story needs to be a "hero's journey". [PDF]
01.21
Story Brand.
Donald Miller's StoryBrand is a 7-part outline of a branded story, with it's roots in a traditional hero's journey. I love using it because it's fast and effective, making it a useful outline for business leaders to use when they don't have much time and they have to move fast. [PDF Download]
01.22
Poetics.
Aristotle is the Greek god of Storytelling. Despite being written in 335BC, "Poetics" remains the outline that all other story structures are measured by (and the reason why most stories have 3 "acts").
Screenwriters such as Aaron Sorkin, Shonda Rhimes, Lin-Manuel Miranda and David Mamet all believe storytellers should be "evangelical" about Poetics. This 22-minute video is a great explainer if you want a deeper dive. [Transcript]
01.23
Pyramid Principle.
Created by McKinsey consultant Barbara Minto in the 1960's, her "Pyramid Principle" has stood the test of time. Variations of this upside-down storytelling format (because it starts with the ending) is still used by the world's top consulting firms. It works because it's a simple framework which gets straight to the point, making it the ideal outline for any business communicator who needs to get their point across quickly. [10 mins]
01.24
Beat Mapper.
Got a 90-minute workshop or seminar to give and you're not sure which outline will work best for you? I've already mentioned Blake Snyder's "Save the Cat" outline, favoured by filmmakers and screenwriters, but this FREE resource is brilliant. The "Beat Sheet Mapper" is an interactive site which helps you to structure the pages of your story (or the slides in your PowerPoint deck), and will help to capture your audience's attention for an extended period of time. [Interactive Microsite]
01.25
9 Questions.
Based on the "9 Principles of Better Stories" these are 9 of the most common questions that I ask when I'm trying to help business leaders to strengthen their stories. This cheat sheet (with book recommendations) is a good reminder to keep by your desk. [PDF Download]
01.26
Adding Spice.
How do you tell a story about a "boring" topic that gets millions of views? In this short Masterclass (full interview here) MrBeast's video director Dan Mace talks about his process; helping to generate billions of views from MrBeasts 259M YouTube subscribers, who generate $700M+ per year! [8 mins]
01.27
Quantum Storytelling.
When you look behind the scenes at really great presenters (especially when they're telling a highly technical story to a non-technical audience) you can learn a lot from them. I love to share examples like I did on this Linkedin post about IBM Research Director, Dario Gil. Click the graphic for a 10-minute tutorial that goes a little deeper behind the scenes of one of Dario's presentations. [10 mins]
01.28
The Princess Bride.
The Princess Bride is the perfect template for how you pitch a story. When William Goldman was first attempting to turn his book into a screenplay 50 years ago, it took over 10 years of pitching the movie before it was eventually picked up.
His successful 10-minute pitch contained 1,200 words, 19 "beats"and 15 plot points. As a result, he created "The 10 Commandments of Pitching" which contain great advice for any business presenter. [10 Mins]
01.29
Outline Your Day.
You might not realise it, but with 7 hours 20 minutes sleep per day, the average person has 1,000 minutes each day to get things done. Thats's just 100 "blocks" of 10 minutes. I wrote a short post about the concept here. When I think of all the famous storytellers and business leaders who I have spent time with, and asked them how they manage to get so much done in a day, it often comes down to them having a system for their daily routines. [PDF Download]
01.30
45 Quotes.
I curated this short book of my favourite storytelling quotes for anyone to steal when they are waxing lyrical about the art and science of storytelling. Sometimes great presentations are just missing a great quote to open or close the talk. So this could be just what you're looking for. [PDF Download]
01.31
Top 51 Ted Talks on AI.
I analysed top top 51 TED Talks on AI and collated all the transcripts into this 268-page (93,029 words) PDF. This PDF is useful for two reasons. Not only does it reveal some interesting outlines and story structures, but it can also be used to train large language models. I have used this PDF to train Meta's Llama-3 LLM when I am looking for outline ideas for keynotes I'm writing about AI. [PDF]
01.32
AI Storytelling.
My focus in 2024 has been to build AI assistants which help business leaders to tell better stories. This is just one example of how I'm helping leaders save many hours each week, by training AI models to create the structure of a story and then tailor it to the personality type of the presenter and their audience. [3 Mins]
01.33
Joe Rogan & Guy Ritchie.
Guy Ritchie & Joe Rogan talking about outlines and the craft of storytelling is 11-minutes of fast-paced thoughtful wisdom you didn’t know you needed. They discuss purpose, philosophy, how to survive at work, where to get your energy from, and how to think about building your own narrative. You can watch the full episode here. Kudos to After Skool for this visualisation. [11 Minutes]
“I’m a storyteller. If I’m in the business of story, I need to understand story.” Guy Ritchie 🎥
01.34
25 AI Speeches.
I curated this short document analysing 25 of the most influential speeches on AI for two reasons.
-
These are people you need to know.
-
Great storytellers learn from great storytellers.
For anyone who has to give highly technical presentations, simplify complexity, or make seemilgly dull presentationms more interesting, these 25 speeches will serve as inspiration. [PDF Download]
01.35
Talking Obama...
To celebrate the launch of my friend Terry Szuplat's book "Say It Well" we had a chat about the power of speechwriting, how to craft a good outline and what it was like to be Barack Obama's speechwriter. [55 mins]
01.36
The 50:25:25 Rule.
"Say It Well" by Terry Szuplat is the best book on public speaking I've ever read. And I don't say that lightly. I particularly like the 50:25:25 Rule which states that however long you have to give a talk, 50% should be spent researching and creating your outline, 25% should be writing the talk, and 25% practicing and rehearsing. [LINK]
