192. Quick Thinks: How to Supersize Your Stories

Summary

Podcast Summary: Think Fast Talk Smart Episode 192 – "Quick Thinks: How to Supersize Your Stories"

Introduction

In Episode 192 of Think Fast Talk Smart: Communication Techniques, host Matt Abrahams delves into the art of storytelling with renowned author and business thinker Dan Heath. This episode, titled "Quick Thinks: How to Supersize Your Stories," explores the critical elements that transform ordinary narratives into compelling and impactful stories. Drawing on real-world examples and expert insights, Matt and Dan unpack strategies to enhance storytelling for effective communication in both personal and professional settings.

The Power of Storytelling

Matt Abrahams opens the discussion by acknowledging his own insecurities about written communication and the role of storytelling in overcoming these challenges. He emphasizes that good stories offer both simulation and inspiration, serving as powerful tools to engage and motivate audiences.

Analyzing a Compelling Story: The Northwestern Memorial Hospital Example

A significant portion of the episode focuses on an example from Paul Suet's book Reset. Matt recounts a story about the inefficient package delivery system at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where it took an average of three days to deliver packages from the basement to the third floor. This seemingly mundane scenario sets the stage for illustrating universal themes of systemic inefficiency and the potential for transformative change.

Dan Heath (02:07): "One of the things that really impresses me in your work is not only do you talk about story and analyze story, but you're actually a really good storyteller."

Dan Heath commends Matt's ability to craft engaging narratives from ordinary situations, highlighting the story's intrinsic value despite lacking overtly dramatic elements like sex, violence, or celebrity involvement.

Elements of Compelling Storytelling

Matt breaks down the Northwestern Memorial Hospital story to showcase what makes it compelling:

1. Relatable Challenges: The story addresses common frustrations with systemic inefficiencies, making it relatable to a broad audience.

2. Curiosity and Stakes: Introducing Paul Suet as the protagonist who seeks to unravel the complexities of the package delivery system builds curiosity and invests the audience in the outcome.

3. Transformation and Impact: The narrative demonstrates tangible improvements, such as reducing package delivery time from three days to one, illustrating the power of effective problem-solving.

Dan Heath (03:59): "When you were describing the problem, you didn't just itemize the different things. You actually really reinforced it."

Dan appreciates how Matt doesn't merely list problems but reinforces them to magnify their significance, enhancing the story's impact.

Crafting and Delivering Stories

Paul Suet, a key figure in the discussion, elaborates on his storytelling process:

1. Identifying Core Messages: Suet emphasizes understanding the principles he wants to convey to the reader, ensuring that stories serve as vessels for these messages.

2. Sourcing Compelling Stories: Finding the right stories is likened to "panning for gold," requiring persistent effort and multiple conversations to uncover narratives that resonate.

3. Revisiting and Re-reporting: Suet discusses revisiting existing stories, such as the Northwestern Memorial Hospital case, to present them from fresh perspectives that highlight overlooked details.

Paul Suet (08:17): "Stories are just like a vessel to get messages across in a reader-friendly way."

Setting Clear Goals in Storytelling

A pivotal point in the conversation is the importance of having a clear objective before delving into storytelling. Matt explains that starting with a defined goal ensures that the story aligns with the intended message and effectively engages the audience.

Dan Heath (08:35): "I think a lot of people skip that step and they just try to jump to the information without having a clear goal up front."

This strategic approach differentiates effective storytellers from those who fail to capture their audience's attention by lacking focus and direction.

Engaging the Audience from the Start

Matt and Dan discuss techniques to maintain audience engagement throughout a narrative. By introducing relatable characters and meaningful challenges early on, storytellers can hook their listeners and sustain their interest.

Dan Heath (09:18): "It really sets expectations for what's to come, not just in terms of what you'll be talking about in the book, but how the reader or listener will be engaged."

Dan highlights the importance of setting expectations to guide the audience through the story, ensuring they remain invested from beginning to end.

Conclusion and Further Resources

The episode wraps up with Matt encouraging listeners to explore additional resources on storytelling through their "non-traditional Storytellers" miniseries (Episodes 170 and 171) and promoting further content available on their website, fastersmarter.io. Listeners are also invited to subscribe and engage with the podcast on various platforms for deeper insights into effective communication techniques.

Key Takeaways

• Relatability and Relevance: Even ordinary scenarios can become compelling when framed around universal themes and relatable challenges.

• Structured Storytelling: A clear beginning, middle, and end, with well-defined characters and stakes, enhance the effectiveness of a narrative.

• Purpose-Driven Stories: Aligning stories with clear objectives ensures that they serve their intended purpose and resonate with the audience.

• Persistent Story Hunting: Finding the right stories requires dedication and continuous effort, akin to searching for valuable nuggets in a vast landscape.

Notable Quotes

• Dan Heath (02:07): "One of the things that really impresses me in your work is not only do you talk about story and analyze story, but you're actually a really good storyteller."

• Dan Heath (03:59): "When you were describing the problem, you didn't just itemize the different things. You actually really reinforced it."

• Paul Suet (08:17): "Stories are just like a vessel to get messages across in a reader-friendly way."

• Dan Heath (09:18): "It really sets expectations for what's to come, not just in terms of what you'll be talking about in the book, but how the reader or listener will be engaged."

Final Thoughts

"Quick Thinks: How to Supersize Your Stories" offers valuable insights into the mechanics of effective storytelling. By dissecting real examples and sharing practical strategies, Matt Abrahams and Dan Heath provide listeners with actionable tools to enhance their communication skills. Whether you're a business professional, educator, or anyone looking to improve their narrative abilities, this episode serves as a comprehensive guide to making your stories more engaging, impactful, and memorable.

Transcript

[Matt Abrahams]

Hi Matt here. I need to let you in on a secret. I am incredibly insecure about my written communication. I get nervous when I write important emails and articles. That's why I and the thinkfast Talk Smart team use Grammarly when we write Grammarly, helps us find just the right wording based on audience and context, and works across more than 500,000 apps and websites. You too can write better and get more done with Grammarly. Download Grammarly for [e-mail] podcast that's Grammarly.com podcast good stories provide opportunities for both simulation and inspiration. I'm Matt Abrahams and I teach strategic communication at Stanford Graduate School of Business. Welcome to this bonus Quick Thinks episode of Think Fast Talk Smart, the podcast. During my recent interview with Dan Heath, he offered a masterclass in what makes for a great story by not only telling a great story, but helping me analyze it. Before we get started, I wanted to let you know that my first book, Speaking Up Without Freaking out, is now available as an audiobook on Spotify. The audiobook helps you manage symptoms and sources of anxiety, while also helping you handle blanking out, staying composed during Q and A, and so much more. Thousands of people have found value from the print version of Speaking Up Without Freaking Out. Now you can listen to it, check out Speaking Up Without Freaking out on Spotify, or go to Faster, Smarter IO. Speaking Up I want to come back.

[Dan Heath]

To storytelling because one of the things that really impresses me in your work is not only do you talk about story and analyze story, but you're actually a really good storyteller. Can you give us a little insight into your process? For one, thinking about the stories that you tell in your books and when you speak on your podcast, but also the process about how to craft and deliver those stories because that's equally as powerful.

[Paul Suet]

It is the heart of what I do and what takes the most time out of everything I work on as a writer. So maybe what I should do, let me just tell a story from the book and then talk a little bit about just gesticulate at it and tell tell what my intentions were in using it. So the very first story in Reset is about the receiving area at the Northwestern Memorial Hospital. So this is the part of the hospital that takes in packages, gets them delivered to their ultimate destination, and at the point when the story starts, it takes them an average of three days to get packages delivered within the hospital. UPS might get some medicine across the country in a day or two, and then to get the package from the basement to like the Third floor takes another three days. So it's just crazy, but it's been crazy as long as anyone can remember. It is something that everyone's adapted to. They're not dumb people. They're not lazy people. They have just always lived in a system where it takes three days to get these packages out. So this is expensive. They're having medications expire in the box. They're having people over order because they want to dodge this chaos of the receiving area. They have people trying to make side deals with FedEx drivers to come directly to the third floor and bypass the receiving area. So into this mess comes a new person named Paul Suet. And if we just freeze there for a second. So what is this story doing? Number one, just observe that there is nothing naturally compelling about this topic area, right? There's no sex, there is no violence. There are no celebrities. It is the most boring imaginable domain. And yet there are universal themes here that kind of get us on the hook. Like, these were the pariahs of the hospital. All of a sudden, implicitly, we're rooting for them. Right? And then this new guy comes in, and you wonder, what is he going to do? There's a detective story element. What is he going to do to untangle this mess?

[Dan Heath]

Yeah, you build that curiosity. But also, when you were describing the problem, you didn't just itemize the different things. You actually really reinforced it. I love the point where you said, hey, UPS can do it in a day or two. That really adds a magnifier to what's coming. So I appreciated that part.

[Paul Suet]

So Paul Suet comes in. He's our protagonist. We talked about simulation and inspiration, right? So now we're walking in Paul Suet's shoes. First thing he does is he says, what problems can I solve for you? What's getting in your way? And so the team's giving him a laundry list of complaints and obstacles, some of them quite mundane, like, well, the wheels on the carts that we push around are sometimes real stuck and jangly. So Suet says, instantly, we'll get you new carts, new wheels, whatever you need. He's trying to just show them that he's on their team. He's not the know it all coming in to, quote, unquote, fix things. And he invites them into the detective work. So every day for an hour a day, 12 days in a row, they stop what they're doing and they just walk the line from where the packages come in, through all the stations to the eventual destination. They're noticing Things, what's delaying operations, what's blocking us? The number one thing that pops out of this process is they have unwittingly used batch processes where they are not needed. We all use batch process. Nobody runs a single sock in the washer and dryer, and nobody runs a single spoon in the dishwasher. So we get the value of batch processes. But they were doing this to a fault. So the idea was, let's wait until a bunch of packages build up on the receiving dock, and then we'll do the scanning into inventory all at once. Like, that'll be quote, unquote efficient. But what Suet helped them realize is that there was no natural, organic reason to have these delays. That, as he said, the system should flow like a river and we should be able to take a package and have it flow along, and we should be removing friction, removing obstacles from its way. And so it's like this, aha. Experience. They set about completely changing the way they work. Within 12 weeks, they're delivering 90% of the packages in one day. Something nobody thought imaginable, much less practical. People start visiting the receiving area to learn what they've done. And so, again, if you zoom out of the story for a second, there is zero of natural intrinsic value in any of these details. I mean, I said the phrase batch processes and you didn't immediately go to sleep. Right? Which is. That's the power of story. Right? Is once we see a protagonist and a challenge and some stakes that matter, like, we're in it.

[Dan Heath]

But with that batch processing, you did something I think, which is very masterful, is you didn't define it.

[Matt Abrahams]

You didn't say, here's what a batch process is.

[Dan Heath]

Because many people know what it is, but they don't know that term. But you just said, we don't wash one sock. We don't put one spoon in the dishwasher. That was a great way of explaining something without actually breaking it down and saying, now I'm explaining it. You do a great job of hooking us in and diagnosing and describing for us what you do. I'm curious, how do you find these stories? How did you find Paul Hewitt? Did you know him? Did somebody point you to him? Did you? Were you in that hospital? How did you find that story?

[Paul Suet]

This is the most frustrating and rewarding aspect of the work, is the majority of the way I spend my time as a writer is finding stories like that. I spend a lot of time figuring out, what am I trying to say to the reader? How am I Going to arm them with principles to make their life or their work better. That's part one. And then part two is how can I hang those principles on stories that are more compelling than me just yammering on about systems and operations and so forth. And it is like panning for gold. I mean, you've probably experienced this too. There is no reliable process for finding great stories. It is just you gotta go shake the trees every day and then the next day you wake up and you do it again. This particular story was written up in a business school case and there was a very heavy operation spin on it. But there was so much that was interesting in the details that my team and I, we decided to re report the whole thing. So I, one of my colleagues actually flew to Evanston and met with Paul Seward and saw the operations and took pictures. And in that case it was like taking a different spin on a story someone else had already spotted. And in a lot of other cases in the book, it was just a byproduct of you have 10 conversations to get down to that one story that really connects.

[Dan Heath]

I like though that you start with an idea, a goal of what you're trying to achieve, and the goal is to really help people and to clearly explain it and then find stories and other tools that can help get that across. And I think a lot of people skip that step and they just try to jump to the information without having a clear goal up front.

[Paul Suet]

Yeah, for me, stories are just like a vessel to get messages across in a reader friendly way. So it's like what that Northwestern story did for me at the start of the book. Was it just. It brought to bear a bunch of themes that even people that are not in hospital receiving areas can recognize. What is it like to be part of a system that's stuck? And what is it like to endure subpar performance but feel like you're powerless to affect it and have other people in the hospital judge you? The pariahs of the hospital was a quote that came out. And what is it like to be able to undo that by finding leverage points in complicated systems and seeing how things can change actually surprisingly quickly if you find the right places to push.

[Dan Heath]

So it really sets expectations for what's to come, not just in terms of what you'll be talking about in the book, but how the reader or listener will be engaged and how we set our audience's expectations up front can really make a big difference. One of the things that frustrates me so much is speakers or people who run meetings who start by saying I want this to be very engaging and get you all involved and then they talk at you for 45 minutes. What you do in your books and in this example is you get us engaged from the get go and that brings us along with you.

[Matt Abrahams]

Thank you for joining us for a quick thanks episode of Think Fast Talk Smart the podcast to learn more about storytelling. Please listen to our non traditional Storytellers miniseries in episodes 170 and 171. This episode was produced by Ryan Campos and me, Matt Abrahams. Our music is from Floyd Wonder with special thanks to the Podium podcast company. Please find us on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. Be sure to subscribe and rate us. Also follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram and check out fastersmarterio for deep dive videos, English language learning content and our newsletter. Please consider our Premium offering for extended Deep thanks episodes, Ask Matt Anythings and much more at fastersmarter IO Premium.