3 Types of Signature Stories to Develop and Bring With You Everywhere
One of the nerdiest thing I've done was look into the sciences to understand the concept of resonance I talk about constantly. That's where I dug up this little nugget:
It's an energy transfer.
De. Lish. Us.
Delicious!
That just tickles the brain in the best way, doesn't it? That's exactly what it feels like to experience a message, a moment, a story, or even a person who resonates with you.
What I could glean from my research is this: when two frequencies are aligned, they are considered resonant frequencies. When you apply the first system to the second, they become amplified. In other words, you increase its amplitude, or the distance it moves from equilibrium.
It looks kinda like this:
Our equilibrium might be how we feel on a typical day, or the average of all days. If we want to go further from that norm, break free from the typical, we need extra energy. Said another way, if YOU want to make ME take an action that I haven't already taken with you (or maybe at all), you better impart some serious energy to me first. That's what I need to take the action that you want me to take.
We rarely think about this. We just tell others to care about our message or offerings and demand them to act. We literally describe these as "CALLS to action." Not inspire-to-act. Not show-me-why-I-should-act. And definitely not impart-the-necessary-energy-to-me-which-I-need-first-to-then-act. Nope. Call to action. CTA. We run around the world demanding others care.
That is the opposite of De. Lish. Us. Because we make it all about US. We fail to recognize others need something first, and we simply don't offer it. We don't give them the energy to act. That's what happens if and when we resonate.
Resonance: the energy to act we give to others when a message or moment aligns so closely with them, their thoughts, feelings, and abilities feel amplified.
If they don't act, we don't see results. From resonance comes results.
That's the role of a storyteller. We don't just grip people. We MOVE them. Stories are the ultimate way to spark action because stories are the ultimate way to align with others first. As Ishiguro said, "Stories are like one person saying to another, 'This is how it feels to me. Can you understand what I'm saying? Does it also feel this way to you?'"
[Here is my recent video rendition of this quote.]
Through our stories, we first align with other people ("Can you understand what I'm saying? Does it also feel this way to you?"), which means we are two resonant frequencies. This helps amplify their thoughts, feelings, and even their abilities, all of which increases the odds they act.
Forget call-to-action. Imagine whispering. Storytellers don't need to demand action. They know how to inspire it.
In our travels online and off, I think we can rely on three trusty types of stories everywhere we go. As with all stories, these can be developed. They aren't experienced so much as built. You experience life, then put your butt in the chair and craft your memories, moments, observations, and conversations into stories—about yourself and, more crucially IMO, about others.
The three types of stories I'd suggest you develop are...
Lead stories
Supporting stories
Framing stories
Let's define each and examine the benefits they bring.
Lead Stories
As the name implies, your lead stories take charge. These are more like end-to-end narratives used to illustrate a point. "Here," you say to others, "let me SHOW you what I mean..."
Lead stories are literal, not metaphorical, and used to illuminate either your overall premise (the big idea or change you're here to share and argue for) or a key, supporting idea. Given my premise of "resonance over reach," I can share a lead story that speaks to what it looks like when you go from NOT embracing that idea TO embracing it. But I can also share illustrative stories about supporting ideas, like my perspectives on storytelling or public speaking. Lead stories are meant as linchpin examples.
You can also structure a lead story in a simple but powerful way: matching the beats of the argument you've made prior to sharing the story.
Whether in a speech, an article, or an episode, let's say I've made the following points en route to asking you to think of something differently (i.e., I've argued for a change you should make):
You have this goal...
And typically, you try to achieve it this way...
But here are some problems with that...
And here's the root cause, the illness you need to cure...
To do so, make this change. Embrace this new way of thinking and/or doing. (In other words, here, I share my premise, the defensible assertion I'm making.)
Your logical next question might be, "Okay then, I think I get it, but what does this look like?" I can respond with, "Here, let me SHOW you..." and share a lead story. That lead story can match the same structural beats as above:
Meet Mike. Mike does XYZ for work. Mike has a similar goal to you.
And Mike also did all the typical things to achieve it.
But then Mike encountered some problems. They sound like yours.
Here's this turning point where he was forced to address the underlying root cause, the illness...
...and embrace a change. It's the same change I'm here to argue we all make: a new way of thinking and/or doing.
(And I can go on to share what happened since Mike made that change, followed by a few lessons we might learn.)
Those are just stiff, skeletal beats. I'd flesh things out to make it more creative, more emotional, and more ME. But regardless, a lead story is the story meant to illuminate something important, end to end. This means, of course, that the details of the person and the story should be reasonably well-understood and not too niche or technical. I don't want you to trip over the basic details. I want you to snap into flow with me and the protagonist, so I can illuminate an insight.
This means I have lead stories about (A) people—because logos can't walk, talk, think, feel, fall down, stand up, and succeed—(B) who occupy jobs and industries I don't need to explain at length, who (C) aren't so famous as to create objections in the audience's minds, and who (D) went through an experience that rhymes with the audience and where they'd like to go next.
I have lead stories about a coffee company founder, a business strategist, a marketer, a barber, and more. None are so nichey or techie that it requires specialized knowledge to understand or lots of runtime for me to explain. But all of them are literal stories which nicely illuminate the premise I share or a key supporting idea I want to impart.
To find your own lead stories, consider a few sourcing tactics:
Consume the industry media around you and modify those generic stories to your specific premise. Others around you, both industry media and big brands who ship lots of industry content, typically lack a distinct premise or perspective, so you get a lot of stories and interviews that feel like commodity content. While those can be tough to consume, they make for great story-sourcing tools for those of us who understand how to take a story and reshape it to better illuminate what WE have to say about something. Of course, there's a deeper level to doing that...
Interview others on a consistent basis to find and develop your stories further. I've always benefitted from hosting podcasts. That's a great place to put folks who previously appeared on industry podcasts in a more generic way. I can ask them more specific questions and craft a more tailored story based on what I'm hoping to learn about my premise or a key supporting idea. You don't need to host a podcast (maybe you prefer video or writing), but I do find that the best storytellers often have a vehicle to actively curate and craft stories by interviewing others. Because they can't just disappear for six months to develop their work. They need their content to pull double-duty: working out new stories AND driving marketng results. Speaking of results...
With permission, you can also create lead stories out of your clients or customers. This is a delicate dance. I do NOT suggest adding yourself anywhere into the story. Their turning point can't be, "And then they just hired ME!" Nobody likes receiving that, unless they came looking for a case study. No, the more important use case for a lead story is to ensure your audience sees things the way YOU do. The sole purpose is alignment, which later means they might come your way. I don't think stuffing mentions of yourself and your work into a story meant to teach is a good idea. Bring some calm confidence to your stories, speeches, and content. Don't turn good material into ways of sneak-selling others. Everybody can tell. Nobody likes it.
Lead stories are the most important type of signature story to have in your bag, well-developed and ready to go, but there are two others kinds of signature stories we might develop.
Supporting Stories
Like lead stories, these are literal (not metaphorical) and meant to illustrate something. Unlike lead stories, they may not be tales of end-to-end transformation so much as specific instances and examples. These supporting stories support your teachings. For instance, if you teach a methodology which contains three steps, maybe you want a supporting story to illuminate each step. You won't tell their entire backstory, nor will you share everything they thought or did end-to-end, but you can zoom into one piece of your methodology and use the story to make it more clear.
This is where you can also shine as a servant to others who gave you their platform, like a podcast host or an event manager. Unlike my lead stories, I routinely customize or swap in or out my supporting stories. Maybe I'm talking to a group of B2B marketers from the stage today. I can use a B2B example later in the talk. Maybe I'm being interviewed on a show covering the creator economy. I should swap out the corporate examples for a creator of course. Or maybe I'm writing to you in my newsletter, who I imagine is the perfect fit for my bootcamp or my client services. I'm going to use independent consultants and other indie service providers as my supporting stories.
So supporting stories are your quick examples that may not be delivered in the vivid detail and narrative style of a lead story (though bonus points if you can bring out those emotional bits), but they still serve to illuminate something in literal fashion.
Then there's my favorite kind of story of the three. These are much more metaphorical.
Framing Stories
Framing stories are used as openers, closers, or callbacks in an experience, whether written or spoken.
They're my very favorite because I adore metaphors, and when a metaphor is delivered as a story, that's an allegory. And I REALLY love allegories. Both metaphors and allegories convey a theme indirectly. They both frame our understanding, though metaphors and allegories are slightly different things.
A metaphor is a quick comparison suggesting two unrelated things are the same. ("In your career, you should write your own script" suggests building a career is the same as writing a script.) An allegory isn't a quick comparison to share an insight. Instead, it's a metaphorical story that takes audiences on a journey TO the insight.
The Matrix is a famous allegory in our time, which was based on Plato's allegory of the cave. The six blind men and the elephant is another well-known allegory. Lord of the Flies and Animal Farm are famous examples from literature, while most children's books, fables, and nursery rhymes are allegorical too.
I currently have three allegories in rotation as my go-to framing stories. I tell the story of my family's homemade sauce recipe, which I can use as an opener to provide a framing device to the rest of the talk OR as a callback at the end to finish with a flourish. I also love the story of Myrtle the turtle, which I wrote about at length and currently use to close my keynotes. Myrtle narrowly edged out my story of pestering the waiter at Sally's Apizza, formerly my speech's closer. I've told all of these across my platform and as a guest elsewhere, not just in my speeches, and I have five or six more that sit in my bag too. There's no correct way, but I prefer to use my own life a source of metaphor and stories about others as my lead and supporting stories, i.e. my literal examples.
Lead stories, supporting stories, and framing stories. Like all of this work we do, these are practiced. These don't just happen to you. Life happens to you. The good news is, life happens to you all the time. Almost anything you experience or observe can be turned into a story. You just need to give yourself permission to tell it.