dramatic storytelling for the entrepreneur 1-6 by joshua cooper darlington
TRANSCRIPT
Dramatic Storytelling for the Entrepreneur
By Joshua Cooper Darlington 2016
PART 1Persona Driven Storytelling
Focus: Check out the content to better understand the use of
a main character. While reading/watching, think:
● What elements are essential to a main character?
● What main characters exists in the marketplace?
● What conflicts exist in the marketplace?
● What main character should I employ to tell my story?
Persona Driven Storytelling
Once we have that foundation
in place we will explore the
application of these powerful
technologies to real world pursuits.
What Makes:
Persona Driven
Storytelling
The two main mechanics
of "Dramatic Storytelling
for the Entrepreneur"
are character and crisis
(or personae
and pain point).
Example of world class Dramatic StorytellingFirst, let's start with an example of world class Dramatic Storytelling by a successful entrepreneur. Try and absorb it through osmosis. We will explore some of his dramatic storytelling mechanics a little later. For now, sit back and enjoy the show.
Key Take Away: Always have a main character.
Why?
Your main character is the focal point of your story.
Your main character is the heart of your story.
Key Take Away: Always have a main character.Why? Your main character grabs your audience’s attention with
animal attraction.
Best Practices:
1. Your main character should be a real
person.
You and your audience care more about real things than made up things. One specific person provides more animal attraction than a character made up of an abstraction or generalization. Emotional memory of a specific person makes your story more powerful to you as a storyteller and to your audience.
Best Practices:
2. Your main character should be family or like part of
your family.
Family members provide more animal attraction. People
that feel like family provide more animal attraction.
Best Practices:3. Your main character should
have a heart of gold.
You want your audience
to care about your main character.
Aristotle Says: FIGHT!!!
Aristotle's Poetics (335 BCE)
is the earliest surviving
work on Drama.
It's key observation is that:
Successful dramas
have a good guy
and a bad guy
that fight.
Good Guys = Human BeingsTwo archetypal main characters are Hamlet and Oedipus. What do these good guys have in common?
They have human flaws. They have some unpredictable dimensionality to their character and actions. If they are good guys, why is this important?
Story = Personal ChangeOne way of understanding story
is that it's the
summation
of a main characters
change
over time.
Perfect Characters = Boring Story
If a main character starts off as perfect, there is no journey of personal
discovery and change.
Size Matters: Big Personal Growth = Big StoryThe audience uses the main characters personal change to measure the importance of the story.
Hard Choices = Better Story
Another way of understanding story is that its summation of a main character’s choices over time. In order for the audience to feel the importance of the choices, they must be hard choices.
In order for them to be hard choices the main character must have existing passions that pull the decision in another direction.
Attribution BiasA main character focuses a narrative. Why? How? It's because humans explain and
understand problems through their
relationships with other people. Here
is a quick run down of a few social
psychology theories on how humans
do this.
Personae vs Main Character
The link between the personae used in business theory and the main character used in stories is important. Let’s explore this a little bit.
Personae vs Main Character2002 Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman
led a revolution in understanding of market behavior.
His background in psychology led him to think beyond the prevailing rational homo economicus model of decision making and to look at the observed irrational emotional side of human behavior.
Just as dramatic works
use a main character
as an emotional focus,
businesses have discovered
the use of personae in customer-centric marketing,
and user-centric design
as a way to focus on the emotional dynamics
around their product and marketplace.
When market segmentation analysis narrows down key customers to certain demographic segments, it can be useful to focus that information through a personae.
Personae vs Main Character
When that customer personae looks outward at their environment, how do they experience our product?
When that user personae experiences our product, how do they feel?
Pseudo Kinship
What is it and why is it an important part of
storytelling?
Pseudo Kinship
It's important for the audience to like the main character of your story. You want the audience to identify with them and go with them on an emotional journey.
One immediate way to build empathy with an audience
is by piggybacking on human instinct for favoring family.
Pseudo KinshipHuman society is based off of this mechanism which is why:
countries have founding father myths
and bikers call each other brother.
Character introduction
The most important moment in a story is when your main character is introduced. You only get one chance to make a first impression. This is where you need to focus all of your best practices.
best practice
1. Introduce your character
in the world of your story.
Character introduction best practices.
2. Introduce them as family or like family.
Character introduction best practices.
3. Introduce them as
lovable human beings.
Character introduction
In silent movies there was a classic trope called
"pet the dog/kick the dog"
where the hero and villain were introduced in acts of kindness or villainy. Introduce your main character petting the dog.
PART 2Conflict and Crisis
Focus: Check out the content to better understand the
underpinning principles of crisis and conflict. While
reading/watching, think:
What elements are essential to a conflict or crisis?
What crisis exists in the marketplace?
What conflicts exist in the marketplace?
What elements of crisis and conflict should I employ to tell
my story?
“I like simple stories and complex characters.”
Oscar-winning screenwriter Billy Bob Thornton (Sling Blade)
Conflict and Crisis: Key Take Away
Always have conflict. Why?
Conflict
(the opposition of characters wants and desires)
is the engine of drama.
Conflict and Crisis: Best Practices
Your conflict should be between people.People are social animals. 99.99% of the time they want a story about people (regardless of what Aristotle says).
Conflict and Crisis:
Your conflict
should be about choices.passive/reactive characters
are boring.
Your story
should be
about
something
important.
Respect people's time.
"Show me a hero and I'll write you a tragedy."
- F. Scott Fitzgerald
What Makes: A Crisis
Now that you've introduced your main character, what
happens next?
Crisis, pain, anguish, pathos, total failure and a happy ending.
William Shakespeare did his best work when he had to compete with gladiatorial bear fights in the next theater over. His solution?
Knife fights between kings and queens.
TroubleDramatic story is based on crisis.
People get into trouble. People get out of trouble.
A structure that I recommend for entrepreneurs is:
1. The main character tries all the normal ways
to solve a problem and fails.
2. The main character tries a new way to solve
the problem and wins.
Pain points and User Stories
In an age of empathy where business executives are looking to monetize emotional experiences, business and dramatic technology are well aligned.
The user test that uncovers a pain point also uncovers a dramatic crisis.
Pain points and User StoriesThe agile user story:
"As a <role>, I want <feature> so that <reason>."
Is remarkably similar to a dramatic set up:
"<Main Character> wants <goal> but <obstacle>."
ABC plots
ABC plots = the most useful story mechanic for entrepreneurs to learn.
ABC plots
A-plot is a big crisis that hits all of society.
ABC plots
B-plot is crisis that hits the main character’s
family or a falling out with their closest friend(s).
ABC plots
C-plot is personal crisis experienced by the main character.
ABC plots Dramatic stories frequently have sub plots. This may sound familiar and mundane to fans of hour long TV dramas.
However, there is a hidden power to this approach.
ABC plots
Layered plots are used by dramatists to explore themes.
By layering plots, a story can build a stronger story foundation and reach higher emotional heights.
ABC plots The same crisis can be illustrated simultaneously across multiple scales.
If you are using the scale of a single customer personae/pain point to illustrate a crisis in a market segment or if you are aligning a startup pivot to fit a market need/crisis, your story can use layered plots.
Dramatic rocket boosters
Here are some dramatic storytelling techniques that will
heat up your conflict and make your work more
engaging.
Dramatic rocket boostersHigh stakes - a story is more exciting if you are in a life or death situation.
When founders talk about jumping off a cliff and building an airplane on the way down, they are using high stakes to communicate urgency.
Dramatic rocket boostersTicking Time Bomb - the use of hard deadlines to increase tension.'We are now having a very innocent little chat. Let's suppose that there is a bomb underneath this table between us. ... the public knows it, probably because they have seen the anarchist place it there. The public is aware the bomb is going to explode at one o'clock and there is a clock in the decor. The public can see that it is a quarter to one. .... The audience is longing to warn the characters on the screen: "You shouldn't be [fighting] about such trivial matters. There is a bomb beneath you and it is about to explode!"' - Alfred Hitchcock
Dramatic rocket boostersRed light, green light - Alternating and contrasting success and failure. After an extreme failure, success is twice as sweet. After tasting sweet success for a moment, a fall into an abyss is twice as dramatic.
PART 3Audience
Focus: Check out the content to better understand the underpinning
principles of Dramatic Storytelling for an Audience. While
reading/watching, think:
What elements are essential to dramatic storytelling for an audience?
What audiences do I have?
What stories do I have for each of my audiences?
What elements of storytelling should I employ when I speak in front of
my audiences?
Dramatic Storytelling for an Audience
Best Practice: GO... SLOW...
Your audience requires
time to absorb the
emotional content
of your speech.
"Brevity is the soul of wit"- Shakespeare
Story design and storytelling are two different arts.
Oral storytelling uses narrative language, facial expression, body language, voice and creative collaboration with the audience as a medium.
Story design and storytelling are two different arts.
Oral storytelling builds on a relationship with an audience.
Oral storytelling feeds and empowers the dynamic needs of the audience.
Story design and storytelling are two different arts.
Oral storytelling is intimate.
Oral storytelling is immediate.
Oral storytelling
has the urgency
and sudden
death
of live performance.
Story design and storytelling are two different arts.
Storytelling is an existential act. It's important to be focused and present in your immediate situation.
Your most important story
is the one you are telling right now.
Start your Engines!
Start with stories that you want to tell.
If you hate a story, the audience can tell from your body language.
You story should be practiced more than memorized.
You story should be practiced more than memorized.
Pure memorization can be rigid and brittle. If you crack under pressure your concentration can be shattered.
If you practice telling a story in front of various friendly audiences you also practice the experience of storytelling (making small adjustments based on audience chemistry).
If a story gets tired
flip it, twist it,
and spice it up
If a story gets played out,
set the it aside.
and work on another story.
Build a repertoire
of dramatic performances
to match your
range of audiences.
Best Practice:
2. Respect your audience's interest.
Be exciting. Be entertaining. Be fascinating.
Whisper.
Scream.
Make funny voices for the characters in your story.
Pantomime what you are saying.
Grimace and make funny face.
-Or at least know that these tools are available for the right audience.
3. Be passionate.
If you are interested it's more likely for your audience to be interested.
Customers are an opportunity to practice telling your stories every day.
This is your chance to see what works and what doesn’t work.
This is your chance to learn how to read your audience and learn how to play with your audience. Use this experience to fine tune your material, and choose the best repertoire.
Customers
Customer are also
a valuable source
of market fitness
information for your
product.
When you talk to your customers,
it's your chance to identify commonalities in your users and create personas.
Customers
Customer service is an important tool. It's your chance to ask about / learn about pain points in their environment.
CustomersWhen you are ready, your A B C brand narrative will help the customer understand that their pain is your pain and you are on a mission from god to destroy their problem and bring peace to the universe.
InvestorsYour A B C founder inspiration story will demonstrate that you, your team
and your customer are a singularity event that will invert the universe.
Your biggest investors are your co-founders and early team members.
They are on your team because they have super powers.
Investors
Your biggest investors are your co-founders and early team members.
They are on your team because it's their destiny.
Your biggest investors are your co-founders and early team members.
Remember that this is a valuable part of your heroic mythology.
InvestorsYour other biggest investors are your first 100 customers.
Know them personally.
Their story is your story.
The Press are megaphones that can amplify your voice ***if you do your job right and give them an awesome story.***
The Press
Connect your best heroic founder A B C plot to the mission you’re a publicizing.
Best Practice: 1. Respect your audience’s time.
Don't waste a single word.
PART 4Founder’s Story
Focus: Check out the content to better understand the underpinning
principles of crisis and conflict. While reading/watching, think:
What elements are essential to a founder inspiration story?
What crisis exists in a founder inspiration story?
What conflicts exist in a founder inspiration story?
What elements of crisis and conflict should I employ to tell my founder
inspiration story?
Founder Story
Founder stories are the most powerful narrative tools in a entrepreneurs communication repertoire.
Founder Story
They communicate the alignment of leadership, team and product.
Your company uses the founder stories for inspiration and information about the mission.
Founder Story
Potential investors use the founder story to measure a company's viability and fit to market.
Founder Story
The press loves founder stories to focus their insight into the marketplace and society at large.
secret sauce
This is the story of your super power AKA your
founder inspiration (a-ha moment) story and
how you discovered your secret sauce.
A founder inspiration story ideally begins with the same "<customer> wants to <goal> but <pain point> " …
… except, now it's the dramatically enhanced version: "<FOUNDER> wants to <goal> but <pain point>" such that goal/pain point is the biggest most important battle in the founders life.
The story of the battle is
1. Tried all the obvious solutions first.
2. Horrible failure and a walk through the valley of shadows
3. Tried something crazy and new and started winning
(discovered that the super power was within the founder the whole time.)
Your company founder heros
were all individually tracking
down the same 8 headed dragon
problem but were all defeated
one by one...
but by combinging
strengths victory at last!
In which case: "<FOUNDERS> all want to <goal> but <pain point>" such that goal/pain point is the biggest most important battle in the founders lifes.
The story of the battle is:
1. Tried all the obvious solutions first.
2. Horrible failure and a walk through the valley of shadows
3. By teaming up and trying something crazy and new, they started winning (discovered that the super power was within the founders the whole time but had to be unlocked by team work.)
Market Disruption as Dominance Reversal
One of the most
dramatic stories
is when David
defeats Goliath
or when the Prince
and the Pauper
trade places.
It's a primal story that ethologists even see in hierarchical animals like baboons.
Underdog Inspiration Stories
This success story has a valley of darkness, where the founder starts from rock bottom before rebounding and hitting a grand slam home run.
Which story is more dramatic?
Which story has more emotional power?
How could the Tinder story be dramatized?
What crisis and dramatic
tension could be added to
this story to make it more
compelling and engaging?
Founders have a natural advantage for designing narratives with dramatic highs and lows
PART 5Company Mythos
Focus: Check out the content to better understand the underpinning
principles of heroic myth. While reading/watching, think:
What elements are essential to heroic myth?
What heroic myth exists in my company?
What elements of heroic myth should I employ to reinforce my
company culture?
Heroic Myth
"Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it." - Dwight D. Eisenhower
Every organization has stories that it tells itself.
Shaping and designing your company's heroic mythology is a way to influence to your company's culture and values.
Founders start out doing all of the work, but as time goes on they become more
and more successful and they scale up.
Depending on the business model this can mean the founder(s) are doing 1/10th
of the work, 1/100th of the work, 1/10,000 of the work and etc.
Influence becomes more important than
control.
One way to pass along the founders voice to the
100,000th employee is a slogan like:
"Move fast and break things. Unless you are
breaking stuff, you are not moving fast enough." - Mark
Zuckerberg.
Another way to communicate core company values and work ethic is through story.
SOUL POWER
These stories function as your company mythology communicating the soul of your organization.
Like other dramatic stories
they have a main character or hero.
They have a pain point.
They involve facing a problem
and failing hard,
and then turning that failure into a victory.
Compare the soul of Uber to the soul of Amazon.
What are the subtleties, nuances, vibes, subtexts, and embedded messages?
Read between the lines.
The following resources will enrich your understanding of heroic myth.
How Chiefs Became Kings (Links to an external site.)
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin (Links to an external site.)
MORPHOLOGY OF THE FOLK TALE (Links to an external site.)
Lord Raglan - The Hero (Links to an external site.)
The Ancient Greek Hero in 24 Hours (Links to an external site.)
PART 6A Vision for the Future
Focus: Check out the content to better understand the underpinning
principles of designing speculative narratives set in the future. While
reading/watching, think:
What elements are essential to designing conflict or crisis set in the
future?
What crisis exists in the future marketplace?
What conflicts exist in the future marketplace?
What elements of crisis and conflict should I employ to tell my story
about the future?
A Vision for the Future
Speculating about the future is important for business forecasting.
"I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has
been." - Wayne Gretzky
It can take 5-10 years for a startup to scale to a mature company.
Market valuations of a company often consider a company's
market position and future earnings 10+ years out.
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How to Get Startup Ideas - Live in the future, then build what's missing
Live in the future and design what’s missing
2500+ ideas and inventions from Science Fiction Stories
Pro Tip: A science fiction genre known as "dystopian" is focused on the pain points of future forecasts.
It's a good place to look for interesting speculation about holes in the market place.
Resources:
The following resources will enrich your understanding of the future.
Next Big Future Blog (Links to an external site.)
h+ Magazine (Links to an external site.)
