Stories Mean Business - Nick Warren

Psychologists talk about two types of consciousness – spotlight and lantern. I have a different chair for each. Can you get what they are for? Check out the podcast to find out. Show homepage at: https://StoriesMeanBusiness.com/podcast/705-Spotlights-and-lanterns

We can learn a lot from biology, not least the brutal reality of competition. In nature, when two species compete for the same resources, one of them will either be driven extinct or be forced to adapt. In other words, niching works well, as long as you have no direct competitors. Ants, like humans, have proven to be flexible, adaptable and agile. They're everywhere except Antarctica, and are esti...

I've talked a lot about the two stories that matter – the one the prospect tells about their life (if they buy what you are selling) ... and the one they tell themselves about you, and your ability to deliver on your promises. Until now, these have been two overlapping circles in my head. But this week, I got clearer about the relationship. In his Storybrand structure, Donald Miller makes it clear...

Homeostasis is one of the key concepts in biology – the idea that organisms and ecosystems work to stay in balance . (This is VERY similar to [[Robert Fritz]]'s idea that Tension Seeks Resolution.) We're no different. When your body temperature drops, your Hypothalamus sends the muscles an instruction to shiver. That's homeostasis in action. And it isn't just the unconscious, biological stuff. Des...

This is about the 7th time that I've tried recording this podcast, and in the end I'm changing the subject completely. I've had an insight this morning. You know the type of thing, when the difference between knowing something and REALLY GETTING IT, clicks in. This is really going to help me with the upcoming course, so I'm sharing it here in case it helps you too. Show notes at: https://StoriesMe...

A lovely treat for my 700th episode. I get to brag about my daughter, Abbey, who absolutely smashed her exam results – despite awful Aspergers-related insomnia over the last 18 months. Remember the last time you had less than three hours sleep. How did you feel? What about if it happened every night? As I've said before, it's a fantastic thing to be inspired by your kids. Abbey fought through and...

Today is A-level results day in the UK, and I’m sitting with the tension I felt right back in episode one of the podcast, waiting for my daughter to get her results. This is sitting with tension. Let’s do it.

Yesterday, I needed to clear up the studio where I worked. It was long overdue for an up and down vacuums ... especially the beams on the ceiling. And that meant tackling the spiders! My Dad always hated spiders, but that's not the problem I have. I hate hurting anything, to cleaning up is always a laborious job of carefully collecting the spiders and giving them new homes outside. And this is all...

In her fantastic books on story, Lisa Cron , talks about misbeliefs – the psychological flaw in a character that stops them becoming the person they need to be. For her – and for me – the subtext of the story... the way the protagonist changes is the part that really delivers. One of my misbeliefs, for example, was that I didn't have the ability to keep-my- arse -in-the-chair and write a novel. I...

In Episode 681 , I talked about Robert Fritz's principles of Structural Dynamics. But Fritz also said something else – which I learned from the guys at TinyLittleBusinesses.com ... ''Tension seeks resolution". When I first had that, I knew that it reminded me of something, and yesterday I found it inside Seth Godin's This Is Marketing . "At every step along the way, create and relieve tension as p...

So the new website went live a couple of days ago – yes, this one, you are looking at. You may notice the acres of white space, the simple design and ... I hope, the speed at which the pages load. I've very intentionally created a smart, slim platform that I can use for a while. Hopefully years. One of the challenges – which I talk about inelegantly in this podcast – is the menu on the homepage, w...

For a while now, I've been intentionally reducing the number of apps and services in my daily work flow. This occasionally comes at the cost of features that I might like, but increases clarity, calmness and overall productivity. Here's a quote that sums up this idea: The more complex a machine or procedure or set-up becomes, the less directly it applies its power. Simple forces applied intelligen...

In 1999, Sung-il Kim – a professor at the Brain and Motivation Research Institute in Korea – ran a fascinating experiment. He wanted to understand what made stories engaging. He asked his subjects to read short stories (that he had prepared) and rate their engagement. Here's an example: A newlywed bride had made clam chowder coup for dinner and was waiting for her husband to come home. Although sh...

Stories are proven to hold attention, and one reasons why is the constant need to make predictions about what happens next. This is a super important survival skill, and 'story' is the purest form of training because, in a well-told story, everything that happens matters . There's no noise in a well-told story, it's ALL signal. Yesterday, I was typing into my phone and smiling as the Autocomplete...

Last week, a friend put me onto his favourite clothing brand L'Estrange , and said something that got me interested. "They have a really interesting ethos." Full disclosure. I'm not into clothes. I standardised on jeans and black t-shirts a while ago, but I went to the website to see what story [[L'Estrange]] was telling. Turned out of be very interesting. To summarise... "Fast fashion has created...

Most people claim that advertising doesn't work on them – perhaps mostly because the majority of the ads we see are not 'for' us. But I want to talk about a particular time it did work on me – 20 years ago. I was on a train reading a magazine, and I came across an ad for Hugo Boss Cologne. The ad was a 'scratch-and-sniff' thing, and it smelt good, but the copywriter didn't try to sell me on the sm...

The sea feels like the ultimate metaphor for consistent, relentless action.

In episode 686 , I talked about the difficulty of endings, and how hard it can be to deliver on our (implied) promises. In fiction or drama, the ending needs to feel surprising, complete and satisfying. But business storytelling isn't like that. We don't want our audience to file our story away, we want them to act! Action – as we know – is driven by emotion, and emotion is driven by change. Not j...

Three weeks ago I started a trial fasting practice – limiting food to the evenings between 6pm and 10pm. Expecting discomfort, I prepared in a 'stoic-light' way, by writing through my conflict. (Real Stoics would sometimes go without food or sleep or money, just to armour themselves against the fear of losing everything.) My solution is easier, I write a story that shows the conflict AND how I'll...

I've talked a lot about how we create and resolve tension in stories ... how opening up gaps can pull our prospects into our world. But what happens next? Every 'list post' headline is leveraging curiosity... every website is offering an 'ethical bribe'. But, that's the easy part. As I said in the final Mad Men episode ... the hardest part of any story is the end – how we deliver on that tension....

Yesterday, an article on [[Narrative Fallacy]] caught my eye, and reminded me why we need to focus on showing our uniqueness. Narrative fallacy – you'll remember – is our propensity to create [[Cause and Effect]] connections where none really exist. An example that applies equally to ancient humans and our dog, Tala, would be the assumption that thunder in the sky indicates the anger of some divin...

I've been sitting on Zoom a tonne today, which of course can be crazy draining . But this wasn't like that. Both the people I talked to were funny, enthusiastic and deeply passionate about their subject. (THANK GOD and all the little fishes.) We talked, we laughed, we went off on wild tangents that led to gold. Time flew by. The lesson here is obvious ... but it's definitely NOT common sense. If y...

I was chatting to a potential client who was READY TO GO!!! He had the seed of an idea, and was ready to put a logo on it, write a tagline and get it out into the world. He was ready... but the idea wasn't. It was one of those situations where he wanted to pay me, but he wasn't ready. Thankfully, I've not had to take that kind of business for a long time. I bring story and copywriting to my client...

I've talked before about the value of creating a true 'mythology' around your business and brand. These tales revolve around your Origin Story and your Value Proposition, but speak to both your audience (marketing) and your employees (culture). But perhaps nature is a better model for this analogy. Perhaps a tree. Each story – each leaf – is presented in a unique way and captures a unique sliver o...

In which we link Robert Fritz 's three foundational principles to the power of storytelling. To summarise: 1. Energy follows the path of least resistance (ha, like humans). 2. The path of least resistance is defined by the underlying structure. 3. You can CHANGE the underlying structure. And of course, story is all about underlying structure. Stories are a simplification of the real world... that...