What's Your Story?: Storytelling to Move Markets, Audiences, People, and Brands (Hardcover)

by Ryan Mathews (Author), Watts Wacker (Author)
Key Phrases: corporate story, corporate stories, business evolution, What's Your Story, Applied Storytelling, Second Life (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
"As usual these two future-finders have their fi ngers on the pulse of what's happening--and what we need to know about. In every business, in every organization, the seven most important words these days are: 'But wait! A story goes with it!' You need to read this book to fi nd out why." --Alan Webber, Co-founder, Fast Company magazine "A great story sparks our imagination, challenges us to think, and resonates with our collective conscience. Ryan Mathews and Watts Wacker's story about telling stories does exactly this. It is an essential guidebook for capturing and conveying the essence of corporate identities and enriching brands." --Paul A. Laudicina, Managing Officer and Chairman of the Board, A.T. Kearney Storytelling is the universal human activity.Every society, at every stage of history, has told stories--and listened to them intently, passionately. Stories are how people tell each other who they are, where they came from, how they're unique, what they believe. Stories capture their memories of the past and their hopes for the future. Stories are one more thing, too: They are your most powerful, most underutilized tool for competitive advantage.Whether you know it or not, your business is already telling stories. What's Your Story? will help you take control of those stories and make them work for you. Legendary business thinkers Ryan Mathews and Watts Wacker reveal how to craft an unforgettable story!create the back story that makes it believable!make sure your story cuts through today's relentless bombardment of consumer messages!and gets heard, remembered, and acted on.* THE TEN FUNCTIONS OF STORYTELLING Discovering what stories can do for your business *THE ABOLITION OF CONTEXT Telling stories when the past no longer defines the future*THE FIVE MOST IMPORTANT STORY THEMES Leveraging themes your audiences will understand and believe*APPLIED STORYTELLING 101 Storytelling for your industry, your company, your brand, and you*MASTERING YOUR STORYTELLER'S TOOLBOX Making your stories more compelling, more believable, and downright unforgettable Use Storytelling to Gain Powerful Competitive Advantage in Today's Increasingly Skeptical Marketplace *Leverage the incredible power of storytelling in marketing, sales, investor relations, recruitment, change management, and more*Indispensable techniques for every CxO, entrepreneur, and marketing, sales, and communications executive*The latest breakthrough book from best-selling futurists Ryan Mathews and Watts Wacker

From the Back Cover

“As usual these two future-finders have their fi ngers on the pulse of what’s happening--and what we need to know about. In every business, in every organization, the seven most important words these days are: ‘But wait! A story goes with it!’ You need to read this book to fi nd out why.”

—Alan Webber, Co-founder, Fast Company magazine

 

“A great story sparks our imagination, challenges us to think, and resonates with our collective conscience. Ryan Mathews and Watts Wacker’s story about telling stories does exactly this. It is an essential guidebook for capturing and conveying the essence of corporate identities and enriching brands.”

—Paul A. Laudicina, Managing Officer and Chairman of the Board, A.T. Kearney

 

Storytelling is the universal human activity.Every society, at every stage of history, has told stories–and listened to them intently, passionately. Stories are how people tell each other who they are, where they came from, how they’re unique, what they believe. Stories capture their memories of the past and their hopes for the future. Stories are one more thing, too: They are your most powerful, most underutilized tool for competitive advantage.Whether you know it or not, your business is already telling stories. What’s Your Story? will help you take control of those stories and make them work for you. Legendary business thinkers Ryan Mathews and Watts Wacker reveal how to craft an unforgettable story…create the back story that makes it believable…make sure your story cuts through today’s relentless bombardment of consumer messages…and gets heard, remembered, and acted on.

 

• THE TEN FUNCTIONS OF STORYTELLING
  Discovering what stories can do for your business
• THE ABOLITION OF CONTEXT
  Telling stories when the past no longer defines the future

• THE FIVE MOST IMPORTANT STORY THEMES
  Leveraging themes your audiences will understand and believe

• APPLIED STORYTELLING 101
  Storytelling for your industry, your company, your brand, and you

• MASTERING YOUR STORYTELLER’S TOOLBOX
  Making your stories more compelling, more believable, and downright unforgettable

Use Storytelling to Gain Powerful Competitive Advantage in Today’s Increasingly Skeptical Marketplace

• Leverage the incredible power of storytelling in marketing, sales, investor relations, recruitment, change management, and more
• Indispensable techniques for every CxO, entrepreneur, and marketing, sales, and communications executive
• The latest breakthrough book from best-selling futurists Ryan Mathews and Watts Wacker

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: FT Press; 1 edition (August 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0132277425
• ISBN-13: 978-0132277426
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #354,295 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Stories are an entrepreneur's best friend. Use `em and prosper, or don't use `em and starve., September 13, 2007

By	Jeff Lippincott "www.Jlippin.com" (Princeton, NJ USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This book was an enjoyable read. I thought it was pretty well written. It highlights the importance of storytelling in life, whether it be personal or business. It reminds us that truthful stories are the best ones, and they may or may not be filled with true facts. If you have problems agreeing with this statement, then make sure to read the book. It provides some good lists. For example, Chapter 3 is about the ten functions of storytelling. And Chapter 6 is about the five critical story themes.

At first glance one might think this book is not really dedicated to being about business. But it is! It tells us that the entrepreneur has to create a story when she puts together a business in order to qualify for a bank loan. It tells us that the entrepreneur has to create many stories when marketing her business' services and products. It tells us a business has to have a story if it expects to be able to recruit (and keep) employees. And a business has to have stories when it trains its employees.

A business has to be able to tell the story about the industry it exists in. And the business will have its own story, too. Often the leaders in a business will have their own story. And a product or service that is branded will have its own story. All in all, this book clearly informs us that if we run a business, then we better be good at creating, writing, and delivering stories.

What this book talked about was great. However, I would have liked it better if it had had a chapter or two telling the reader how to develop an ability to be a great story creator and teller. The easiest way I know to develop that skill is to join a Toastmasters club and do as many speeches there as possible. At Toastmasters if you participate you will quickly get a feel for putting together educational, entertaining, or inspirational talks. And when you get that feel, then read this book and see what you can do with your new skill or talent to make a business more successful. 4 stars!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you only read one book on marketing your brand this year...read this one, December 5, 2007

By	Steve "Paws for Disabilities.org" (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

We read 8 books this quarter on marketing and branding. This book clicked and changed how we market our non profit.
Telling who we are, what we do and why in a story format versus our old way has made a positive 200% change in our donations. We made our first page on our web site a brief story..It captures who we are quickly and simply.
This is a sensational book..you will not be sorry.
Steve Monahan, Founder, Meals Fur Pets.com

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Let me tell you a story here..., January 6, 2008

By	Othon Leon "Othon Leon" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

A book which now and then sparkles wisdom (less that I thought to be honest). The bottom line is simple: stories have accompanied mankind since the very beginnings (at some point they dare to state that there have been societies which did not make use of the wheel, but none has not had stories as part of their culture), and somehow, both authors explore the ways in which this (storytelling) phenomenon can bring either prosperity or ruin into your business... I think it's a good book, however, if it wasn't for that deep prologue (interesting theory there), I was going to rate it with three stars. There is social sciences at the bottom of their theories, unfortunately, I expected more of them to sustain their hypothesis...

If you are interested in going deeper into this creative way of interpreting success and / or failure (that's why I bought this book; I think the authors were brilliant in the sense that it's not easy to "unvail" new approaches to simple matters such as telling stories...) read it.