This is a speech I gave in 2010 for my Walker Talkers Toastmasters Club

1. Toastmasters Speech 5 (Dec 16, 2010)
Everyone has a story worth sharing. As a former submarine sailor, and newspaper crime
reporter, I perhaps have more than my fair share.
One of my strengths, I have recently realized is my ability to tell stories. Sometimes I use this
power for good. And sometimes I use it for not-so-good intentions, such as when I woo a young
lady with funny stories.
I believe that sharing stories is one way to establish a relationship with the people around me.
I'm not afraid to laugh at myself, especially if helps putting people at ease.
“That reminds me of a story” is often the beginning of some sea story that may or may not be
true, but more than likely ends with a laugh and a smile.
Lately, I have been thinking about the importance of storytelling to us personally and
collectively as a society. I have also been thinking about its importance to our businesses.
I have shared several of my stories with you in the past.
One story that comes to mind was when I told you about my first experience solo
backpacking in the Oregon Cascades and how it took me several attempts from the trailhead to
muster the courage to push alone into the wilderness, and how I went to sleep under the stars and
Douglas fir that night afraid I would be eaten alive by cougars and bears.
What prompted me that evening to quietly begin scribbling my last will into my waterproof
outdoor journal was the pulsating noise I heard outside me tent. Was it the heavy breathing of a
bear ready to attack?
brrrr
I learned the next morning that it was about half a dozen birds, finches perhaps about the size
of my thumb, that were fluttering back and forth from some nearby tree branches to an old fire
pit, looking for leftovers.
brrrr
I often tell that story for a couple of reasons. One is that it makes people laugh and shortens
the distance between them and me. Another reason is more personal. The story reminds me that
fear is often just this tiny voice, as Jeff mentioned a few weeks back, that can inhibit us from
accomplishing our dreams if left unchecked.
I was reminded of that story again last night when I attended a networking event for Search
Engine Marketing professionals. Now, I am not much of a search engine marketer, but I am
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2. Toastmasters Speech 5 (Dec 16, 2010)
adding the skillset to my resume. This was my first time attending the event, which was being
held in a downtown Portland restaurant.
As I entered the crowded room, I did not recognize anyone, though I don’t know why I
would or should, as I mentioned this was my first meeting.
The little voice of fear started wailing its siren as I signed my name on one of those “Hi, My
Name Is” stickers.
I slapped the sticker on my chest and just as abruptly turned around and walked right out of
the restaurant, ripping off the sticker and jamming it into a pocket as I walked back to my car,
already mentally kicking myself for chickening out.
As I began the drive back home, I was reminded of the story of those finches and asked
myself was I going to let that little voice of fear place a road block on my career.
As I idled in rush-hour traffic, I realized I didn’t want to let this career-building opportunity
to pass me by. I decided to turn around and start all over. I was going to jam that little voice of
fear into a pocket instead.
I am glad I did. I walked back into that restaurant, ordered an Oregon craft beer, grabbed a
new My Name Is sticker and began introducing myself to strangers.
The next two hours flew by, with me realizing that many of these folks were as nervous as
me, and similarly new to the event.
The right stories make people act. My ferocious finches story made me act. If our lives are a
series of stories, so it is true for our businesses.
“Meaning is the new money,” writes Daniel Pink, a best-selling author of the book, a Whole
New Mind, which I am currently reading.
In the book, Pink posits that a new Creative Age is upon us. He says we’ll need to use both
the logical and creative sides of our brains to be successful in the future. Among the six senses
he says we can use to develop our whole new mind, is the sense, or act of, storytelling.
“The essence of persuasion, communication, and self-understanding has become the ability
also to fashion a compelling narrative,” Pink writes.
What does that mean for a business?
Let me tell you a quick story about a college kid at Indiana University in the late 1990s.
There is an expression called the Freshman 15, which references the amount of weight
gained during a student’s first year in college. This can be attributed to all-you-can-eat cafeteria
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3. Toastmasters Speech 5 (Dec 16, 2010)
dining, fatty fast food, drinking alcohol, long hours studying or partying, and not enough
exercise. For this IU student, the Freshman 15 was more like the Freshman 150 pounds.
To combat his growing obesity, the student, whose name is Jared, started eating healthy, low-
fat sandwiches at his local Subway shop. Maybe you have heard of his story and his size 62
jeans?
Since Jared’s advertising campaign began about 10 years ago, Subway sales have more than
doubled to $8.2 billion. The chain reportedly saw a 10 percent dip in sales when it briefly
stopped using Jared’s story in its advertising in 2007.
The right story for your business will make customers act.
From cave paintings, to social media, from the eloquence of Shakespeare to glitz of
Hollywood blockbusters, we have depended on stories for vision, entertainment, and
information. I have them. Businesses have them. Customers demand them.
“As Alan Kay, an HP executive and cofounder of Xerox PARC, put it, “Scratch the surface
in a typical boardroom and we’re all just cavemen with briefcases, hungry for a wise person to
tell us stories.”
What is your story?
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