Carla Johnson is a world-renowned storyteller. Over the last two decades, Carla has helped architects and actuaries, executives and volunteers, innovators and visionaries leverage the art of storytelling to inspire action.
In this episode, Carla provides several successful examples of B2B companies using interesting formats and methods to tell better stories. She describes in great detail how Emerson and Lincoln Electric have taken seemingly boring products and transformed them to create heroes.
Carla then provides her formula she uses to structure better stories. She uses the same structure that Pixar uses to create hits like Cars, Toy Story and WALL-E.
Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. Until one day ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.
“Once upon a time,” sets up the context for the hero.
“And, every day” defines the every day life of the potential hero.
“Until one day,” adds conflict and tension to the story that the hero must overcome.
“Because of that,” describes the action or change the hero implements in order to change the outcome.
“Until finally” describes the outcome and victory.
Questions During Podcast
- Why the focus on Storytelling?
- Any specific brands that are telling good stories? Who tells a better story?
- Do you follow a certain structure or formula to tell stories?
- How can we stand out from the competition through the art of Storytelling?
- Where can we look for new innovative ideas?
- What is the story your friends ask you to repeat?
- Who or what do you listen to or read to get inspiration?
- If you didn’t have any responsibilities at home or work next week what would you do with your time?
Links and Mentions
- Kathy Button Bell
- Emerson
- Lincoln Electric
- Craig Coffey
- Arc Magazine
- Nick Offerman
- Jessi Combs
- Buzzfeed lays of 15% of its employees
- TED – The Clues to a Great Story
- Tim Washer is the creator of Cisco’s ‘The Perfect Gift for Valentine’s Day’
- Podcast – Curious Minds