The StoryBrand Podcast

Why do some companies stay young, agile, and competitive, while others get bogged down and decline? That's the big question that this week's guest, Chris Zook, set out to answer. After years of research, he and his team at Bain Insights found three key elements that showed up in successful companies, and they called them "The Founder's Mentality." On this episode, Donald Miller sits down with Chri...

Why do leaders fail? It's not because they don't know what they're doing. It's usually because they've failed to listen to and develop their staff. They've failed to respect and communicate well with them. Basically, they've failed at people skills. To help us master the fine art of people skills, Lee Cockerell, the former Executive VP of Operations for Disney, joins Donald Miller on this episode...

Motivation is overrated. If you want to accomplish the things that will grow your life and your business, you can't rely on it. And today's guest on the Building a Story Brand podcast, Mel Robbins, is with me on this notion that motivation isn't the key to success. More than that, she's discovered a simple mental strategy we can use to bypass motivation in order to make wise decisions that grow ou...

Why are most meetings so awful? A lot of us leave every meeting feeling like we've wasted our time and gotten nowhere on a problem -- only to get back to our desks farther behind on our "real jobs." But with a little intention, we can make meetings not just productive, but also energizing and fun. On this episode of the Building a Story Brand podcast, Donald Miller sits down with Daniel Tardy the...

There's nobody like Elon Musk. As the founder and CEO of both SpaceX and Tesla (among other ventures), he is arguably the world's most visionary entrepreneur. And on the podcast this week, Donald Miller interviews Ashlee Vance, the man who wrote Musk's definitive (and bestselling) biography. As entrepreneurs ourselves, what can we learn from a pioneering leader like Elon Musk? Listen to this inter...

Why do leaders crash and burn, taking their companies and families down with them? Is it the inevitable result of pressure or a character flaw? Or can it all be prevented? In this episode of the Building a Story Brand podcast, Donald Miller sits down with leadership expert Stephen Mansfield to talk about the 10 warning signs of a leadership crash -- and how to fix them. The list will surprise you....

If you're trying to start and grow a business, you know it's not an easy road. Rewarding, yes. Eventful, yes. But easy? Not at all. But like any journey, you're better off if you've equipped yourself properly for it. And that's why I am so honored to have Carrie Green joining us on the Building a Story Brand podcast. She's the founder of the wildly successful Female Entrepreneur Association, and i...

According to Greg McKeown, the author of Essentialism , most of us have been living under the assumption that we can have it all -- we just have to cram it all into our lives. As a result, we end up busy (not necessarily productive) and stretched too thin at work and at home. We're chained to our smartphones, hopping from disjointed task to disjointed task, not really focused on (or even clear abo...

For business leaders, public speaking skills are critical. Whether you're delivering a major keynote or simply leading a staff meeting, you've got to be able to engage your audience and communicate powerfully. That's why public speaking expert Mike Pacchione is joining Donald Miller this week on the Building a Story Brand podcast. As a part of the communications consulting firm Duarte, Mike gives...

As business leaders, we often get so focused on the details of our company that we forget to step back and understand things from our customers' perspective. As a result, we talk over our potential customers' heads in our communication and marketing. Feeling confused, they take their business to another company -- not necessarily a better one, but one they understand. But when we learn how to comm...

We're passionate about growing our businesses, aren't we? But that doesn't mean it's easy. In fact, the path of scaling a company is lined with landmines and pitfalls, both personal and professional. This week on the Building a Story Brand podcast, Donald Miller talks with massively successful entrepreneur Chalene Johnson about the five things we can do this year to dramatically scale our business...

As a business leader, you'd never start a year without a working budget or a sense of your profit margin, would you? But most of us don't have the same kind of awareness and discipline when it comes to our personal finances. That's why we've got Rachel Cruze joining Donald Miller for this week's episode of the Building a Story Brand podcast. She is a personal finance expert and bestselling author....

If you're good at marketing, you know how to make people understand what you offer. But if you're good at branding, you know how to make people feel a certain way about it. When you master this, you can create exponential value for your business. (For example, branding is what allowed Starbucks to sell a 50-cent cup of coffee for $4.) This week on the Building a Story Brand podcast, Donald Miller...

A lot of us believe that killer negotiators are born, not made. But that's not true. When you know a few key strategies, you can become a great negotiator and land great outcomes for your business. Best of all, you can do it while treating others with respect. In this episode of the Building a Story Brand podcast, Donald Miller sits down with negotiation coach and expert John Lowry. John walks us...

Welcome to 2017! If you're wondering how to make this year more productive and meaningful, try the 30-day process we walk you through in this week's episode. This system won't take you more than a few minutes each day, but it will unlock new levels of energy and focus you didn't know you had. Listen now and discover how to develop new habits, become more productive, overcome procrastination, and c...

Get our best wisdom from 2016, compressed into a single episode! As we close out the year, we've selected clips from 10 conversations we've had on the podcast and highlighted our biggest takeaways from them. If you're traveling over the holidays, this is a great way to find helpful episodes you may have missed or revisit your favorites for fresh insights. Thanks to everyone for listening this year...

As good as your gut may be about your customers, there are some aspects of your business that are too important to guess at. That's why I'm thrilled to have David Kinnaman joining us on this episode of the Building a Story Brand podcast. He's the owner of The Barna Group, a market research firm that's helped thousands of companies better understand their customers through survey data. He's got 10...

2017 is right around the corner. How can you set yourself up for a great year in your job? What if I said you should fire yourself? It sounds crazy, but it's exactly what our CEO, Nigel Green, does every year. It gives him the perspective and energy he needs to embrace whatever challenges the new year brings. In this week's episode of the Building a Story Brand podcast, we share exactly how you ca...

If you're trying to run and grow a business, you know you're going to need smart marketing tactics to get you to the next level of success. The trouble is, there is SO MUCH information out there. And not all of it can be trusted to actually work for you. So I'm thrilled to have Amy Porterfield joining me on the Building a Story Brand podcast this week. She's an actual expert on all things digital...

Can we be real with each other? Leading a business packs a big emotional punch. The stress of the day-to-day. The immense pressure to succeed. The isolation at the top. The strangeness of managing an image. It's a heavy burden to carry around -- and it takes a toll on us. That's why it's critical to care for your inner life and develop your emotional intelligence. If you do, you can forge a great...

Entrepreneurs, listen up. If you want to bust through that revenue plateau, you've got to get good at selling -- even if you don't think of yourself as a salesperson. We're pleased to have Nicole Walters of The Monetized Life joining us on this episode of the Building a Story Brand podcast. She quit her job as a top-selling corporate exec and built a million-dollar lifestyle business in a year. (W...

As business leaders, we throw the word "grit" around a lot. It's hard work, resilience, and toughness all rolled into one. But where does grit come from? And how can we tap into it to improve our companies and our lives? In this episode of the Building a Story Brand podcast, I sat down with Jon Gordon to talk about it. He shared four principles with me to help us develop more grit. And this guy kn...

What do you offer your customers? Sure, you've got a product or service. But really, you offer your customers some kind of transformation. And when you fully understand this "before" and "after" journey of your customers, you can reach them on a whole new level. In this episode of the Building a Story Brand podcast, we learn exactly how to map out our customers' transformation. Donald Miller talks...

Did you wake up this morning and ask, "What am I going to get done today?" Or did you say, "How can I use my time today in a way that makes tomorrow better?" If we really want to accomplish our big goals while keeping our priorities straight, we need to be asking the second question -- and working toward it every day. This week on the Building a Story Brand podcast, Donald Miller sits down with Ro...

Starting a business comes with plenty of challenges. And women face a unique set of them as they become entrepreneurs. To help, Donald Miller sat down with Christy Wright, founder of Business Boutique. And we're kicking off the third season of the Building a Story Brand podcast by discussing 5 game-changing insights for entrepreneurial women. Christy sees the most common struggles women face in bu...