The Storytelling Lab

"The best of the writers know structures are important. And then they forget that they've been intuitively following a structure and tell the world you don't need structure. The rest of the people think they don't need structure and realize by the hundredth page they don't know what the story is going to be." —Anubhav Srivastava What if there was one place where you could brainstorm your story, bu...

"A narrative lives or dies on the conviction of the most senior authorized leaders of the organizational system. The story is the strategy. A company without a story is usually a company without a strategy." — Michael Margolis | Storied, Inc. What if your organization's stories were the new code base? In this episode, Rain sits down with Michael Margolis, founder of Storied, Inc., and one of the m...

Pre-Order The Chief Storytelling Officer HERE: https://amzn.to/4eihvql "Commercials interrupt people. Shows invite them into the story world. That is the difference between traditional marketing and storytelling." — Rain Bennett Your marketing campaign strategy is perfectly executed... and it still flops. The visuals are crisp, the copy is tight, and nobody cares. In this solo episode, Rain breaks...

"A good day is when the flow starts to happen and you kind of lose yourself in it. But you cannot count on those days. So I'm a real believer in grinding — just get in there and take what the defense will give you." — Steven Pressfield ORDER THE ARCADIAN HERE: https://amzn.to/4nYHV5e Steven Pressfield is your favorite writer's favorite writer. But years before his best-selling hits like Gates of F...

"Sometimes you write a character that asserts himself—something you didn't plan. It's like he wanted to come back, and he brought his own story with him. It was kind of my job as a writer to ask myself what that story was." — Steven Pressfield ORDER THE ARCADIAN HERE: https://amzn.to/4nYHV5e Steven Pressfield is your favorite writer's favorite writer. And in this episode, Rain sits down with him i...

"AI was going to get better at technical skills like coding and data analysis much faster than storytelling, because it's much easier to objectively define what is correct code. With storytelling, it's much more ephemeral. AI researchers have called it absurd, trying to quantify what good storytelling is." — Joe Lazer When ChatGPT launched, the headlines were brutal. Storytellers were cooked, crea...

"A living story is immersive, embodied, agentic, responsive, and social. It's stories that we get to be in and experience and live — as opposed to dead stories." —Charlie Melcher Charlie Melcher has been on the cutting edge of storytelling for decades—from designing books with J.J. Abrams and Al Gore to building an app that Steve Jobs fell in love with to producing a 6,000-person immersive storyte...

"Your product is not the features, the specs, it's not what you ship. The product is the experience, the transformation that your customer goes through. It's the change in their lives. That's what you're selling." — Rain Bennett You can have a bold vision, a clear mission, and a brand people believe in... and still fail. Because none of it matters if your product doesn't deliver. In this solo epis...

"CQ — the character quotient — is who you are at the core of your values, and how consistently people can trust you to be that person. That to me is the exponential topper." — Bill Blankschaen Every person has a story no one else has. The problem is most people either don't know how to tell it or don't believe it's worth telling. Bill Blankschaen, author of Your Story Advantage and founder of Stor...

"I wasn't processing and dealing with my own stuff. Somehow I made my way back to storytelling. And that was really, if I could point to two things—my wife and story—those pulled me out." — Ret. Lt. Col. Scott Mann Scott Mann spent nearly two decades as a Green Beret, but the most powerful weapon he ever wielded was his story. In this episode, Scott breaks down rooftop leadership, the concept he c...

"When you live in alignment with your values, you cause yourself as little suffering as possible in the long term. And that one just always sticks with me because it's really challenging in the short term. But if you have faith in your values and who you are and how you want to show up in the world, then ultimately you're creating a path that's going to serve you for the long term." — Jon Bregel W...

"If you think the world could be better and you want to change it, you're going to have to come up with a better story and know how to tell it better." —Joseph Romm What happens when a physicist with a PhD realizes that data, charts, and credentials can't change a single mind, but a story can? Joseph Romm spent years working in climate science and clean energy before arriving at an uncomfortable t...

"Marketing might be how you get the first date. But to get the second and third date and hopefully form into a relationship, you have to have a brand." — Rain Bennett Brand isn't your logo, your color palette, your fonts, or your tagline. Brand is the story others tell about you. And in this solo episode, Rain breaks down exactly how to influence that story before it gets told without you. As part...

“When you start to look at things through the lens of story, it helps you appreciate and process what’s going on.” — Corey Rosen What makes someone lean in when you tell a story instead of tune out? In this episode, Rain sits down with Emmy-nominated TV writer, Moth champion, and brand storytelling expert Corey Rosen to break down the real tactics behind stories that actually land. This is not a f...

“You can’t even begin to talk about results or impact until you actually put something out into the world.” — Kristen Sweeney What if the real problem with your content isn’t execution, but alignment? In this episode, Kristen Sweeney, founder of Every Little Word, breaks down the invisible work behind great communication: messaging frameworks, internal clarity, operational discipline, and the codi...

“There is no version of storytelling that does not become therapy.” — Spade Robinson What if the difference between an average story and a great one has less to do with talent or skill and more to do with self-awareness? In this episode, screenwriter and story consultant Spade Robinson breaks down why structure isn’t the enemy of creativity—it’s the foundation that allows it to thrive. We explore...

“The real story is always in the subtext.” — Tal Lazar Most people lose their audience the moment they start explaining. In this episode, cinematographer, educator, and author Tal Lazar breaks down why the real story is always in the subtext, and why emotion beats information when you’re trying to persuade, pitch, teach, or lead. We talk about why leaders default to “feature lists,” how filmmakers...

“Vision is what inspires your people. Mission is what activates and organizes them.” —Rain Bennett What good is a bold vision if you don’t have a mission to back it up? In this solo episode, Rain Bennett breaks down why mission is the most misunderstood and most essential piece of a brand’s storytelling system. Using examples from WeWork’s collapse and Airbnb’s legendary collaboration with Pixar,...

“Your stories are building bricks of belief in your brand." — Shane Lukas How do you sell something your customer can’t see, touch, or fully understand? Shane Lukas has spent decades helping professional service providers do exactly that by using story as a tool to create trust, clarity, and emotional resonance. In this episode, Rain and Shane explore how narrative makes “invisible” value tangible...

“Everybody in your organization has to be aligned… or it all starts to break down.” — Jensen Savage If you’ve been muscling your way through growth and wondering why it still feels so hard, this episode is for you. Jensen Savage, founder of Savage Growth Partners, breaks down the true cause of stagnation in business: misalignment. In this conversation, we explore why brute force can’t scale and ho...

“Every time you press upload, you’re telling the universe this is your part in the grand scheme.” — Elton Anderson, Jr. What if your content wasn’t just a creative outlet, but a mirror for your transformation? In this episode, Rain Bennett sits down with Elton Anderson—a photographer, storyteller, and founder of L10 Media—for a deep, vulnerable conversation on using storytelling to break free of t...

“If your company doesn’t know the story that it’s helping to tell, no marketing campaign is going to save you.” — Rain Bennett Most businesses mistake their vision for a quarterly goal or a financial target, but that’s not a story anyone wants to join. In this solo episode, Rain Bennett unpacks the critical difference between vision and mission, showing how your vision acts as the narrative N...

“I was made from mistakes . I was promoted, protected, loved, and perfected by them.” — David Meltzer After losing $100 million and hitting rock bottom, David Meltzer rebuilt his life and his business around a mission to empower over 1 billion people to be happy. In this episode, Rain Bennett sits down with David to explore how storytelling became the vehicle for that transformation. David opens u...

“It’s not just about keeping the lights on—it’s about building a relationship with the people at the end of the line.” — Krystal Phillips, JO-EMC Storytelling isn’t just for trendy brands or startups. In this episode, Rain sits down with Krystal Phillips, Communications and Community Relations Manager at Jones-Onslow EMC, to explore how a rural electric co-op built a storytelling culture that woul...

“A shared narrative means everyone in the organization is speaking about the story in the same way.” — Salvatore Manzi If every person on your team is telling a different version of your brand story, you don’t have a marketing problem—you have a clarity crisis. In this episode, communication strategist and author Salvatore Manzi joins Rain to break down how to build a shared narrative that aligns...