DeepSummary
The episode features an interview with Matthew Dicks, a bestselling author, teacher, and storytelling expert. He discusses the importance of storytelling in business and provides practical tips for becoming a better storyteller. One key concept is the 'five-second moment' - the singular moment of transformation or realization that every good story revolves around.
Dicks emphasizes the power of storytelling for making your message memorable and connecting with your audience. He shares techniques for adding stakes, suspense, surprise, and humor to stories to keep people engaged. He also recommends building a 'vault' of personal stories through his 'Homework for Life' exercise of documenting meaningful moments daily.
The conversation covers advice for overcoming nerves when public speaking, integrating personal vulnerability into business storytelling, and adopting a mindset of saying 'yes' to opportunities. Dicks provides specific strategies for becoming funnier, dealing with nervousness before presentations, and crafting compelling narratives in professional settings.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Identify the pivotal 'five-second moment' of transformation or realization that every good story revolves around.
- Build a personal 'vault' of stories through the daily 'Homework for Life' exercise of documenting meaningful moments.
- Integrate elements like stakes, suspense, surprise, and humor to keep audiences engaged during stories.
- Start stories by vividly establishing the location to activate the listener's imagination.
- Embrace opportunities to say 'yes' as paths to personal growth and extraordinary experiences.
- Approach storytelling from a place of vulnerability by relating personal anecdotes.
- Listen to recordings of yourself telling stories to internalize them and smooth transitions.
- Adopt a mindset that most nervousness dissipates once you start speaking, not during.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “If you don't tell stories as part of your business, whether you're looking for investment or speaking to your people or speaking to customers or clients, anything. If you're not telling stories, the good news is you're just like everybody else. The bad news is you're mediocre, just like everybody else.“ by Matthew Dicks
- “The reason we say yes to everything is if you don't say yes, what you're essentially saying is, I am so presumptuous that I understand what's on the other side of that door already, even though I've never set foot beyond that door.“ by Matthew Dicks
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Episode Information
Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career
Lenny Rachitsky
12/15/23
Matthew Dicks is a best-selling author, columnist, blogger, podcaster, playwright, and teacher. He wrote my all-time favorite book on storytelling, Storyworthy. He is an elementary school teacher by day and by night teaches storytelling and public speaking to individuals, corporations, universities, religious institutions, and school districts around the world. He’s taught storytelling at Yale, MIT, Harvard, and Purdue, along with Amazon, Salesforce, Slack, Lego, and others. In this conversation, Matthew shares insights and techniques for effective storytelling, including:
• The benefits of good storytelling in business
• The five-second moment and why it’s so important
• Why you should start every story at the end
• How to build a vault of stories that can be deployed in business situations
• Tips on how to be funnier
• His life-changing “Homework for Life” practice
• Advice for dealing with nervousness in public speaking
• The power of saying yes
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Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/how-to-tell-better-stories-matthew-dicks-storyworthy/
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Where to find Matthew Dicks:
• Website: https://matthewdicks.com/
• X: https://twitter.com/MatthewDicks
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-dicks-84a95711/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4K0fcEJkzJLso5h6CN00LQ
• Storyworthy: https://www.storyworthymd.com/
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Where to find Lenny:
• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/
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In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Matthew’s background
(04:27) The five-second moment
(10:29) Kn...