The Storytellers Network

From Convicted Murderer to Motivational Speaker, a Conversation with Poet Will Latif Little

Today’s guest is a mentor, activist, poet, author, inspirational Speaker who has appeared on the TEDx stage … and a man convicted of murder.

Will Latif Little grew up in a single-parent home with his four sisters in Philadelphia. Without his father, or any father figure, Will began to venture out, picking up bad habits and negative ideas on the street. Becoming a product of his environment, Will dropped out of high school in the 10th grade and got involved in the Philadelphia drug trade and other illegal activities. This ultimately landed Will in prison for 10-20 years on a murder conviction at the age of 19.

While in prison, Will decided to turn his life around, by first getting his diploma by way of a GED. He became a voracious reader. What began as a way to pass the time actually helped him become a man, a storyteller, and an inspiration to others.

“He stalked me before. He had guns out, and saw me at restaurants and places with my lady and my daughter. He said everywhere he went, ‘everyone loves you but I didn’t care, you killed my brother.’” - Will Little on meeting the brother of his shooting victim

Connect with Will

Facebook

LinkedIn

Will’s book Inner City Youth

Will’s TEDx Profile

1Life Fully Lived

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If you could only tell one last story, what story would that be?

Each episode, I ask my guest this question. The premise is that we’re all storytellers at our core, and that “last story” would probably be a big deal. Over 54 interviews, I’ve heard a different answer each and every time.

Each answer is not only different, but feels different in its nature. It’s been a lot of fun hearing from each storyteller what their “last story” might be, or might look like.

In part 2, we hear from seasons 3 and 4 of The Storytellers Network. Enjoy.

Season 3 Episodes - Video Creators:

S3E1: Niel Guilarte of Wildstyle Media Group (#30)

S3E2: George B. Thomas, Inbound Evangelist and Video Tutorial Jedi (#31)

S3E3: Kevin Romeo with Rhino, A Story Company (#32)

S3E4: Villy Wang, Founder of BAYCAT (#33)

S3E5: Rob Ciampa, Video Marketing Guru* (#34)

S3E6: Bill Krupka, Former CBS Affiliate Photojournalist (#35)

S3E7: Rick Cesari, Video Marketing Expert (#36)

S3E8: Rand Fishkin, Whiteboard Friday Creator (#37)

S3E9: Nick Nanton, Celebrity Branding Agency (#38)

S3E10: Sarah Hill, StoryUp Virtual Reality Storyteller (#39)

S3E11: Dominick Domasky, Motivation Champs (#40)

S3E12: Luke Rafferty, Visual Storyteller (#41)

S3E13: Mike Compton, Three Chairs Productions (#42 BONUS EPISODE)

S3E14: Ed Kengerski, Video Storyteller for the University of Michigan (#43 BONUS EPISODE)

Season 4 Episodes - Social Media Storytellers:

S4E1: Geraldine DeRuiter, @everywhereist (#44)

S4E2: Sam Mallikarjunan, @mallikarjunan (#45)

S4E3: Michael Stelzner, Social Media Examiner (#46)

S4E4: James Breakwell, @XplodingUnicorn (#47)

S4E5: Jeshua Lauka, a Social Attorney (#48)

S4E6: Scott Monty, @ScottMonty (#49)

S4E7: Alicia Smith, News Anchor @WXYZAlicia (#50)

S4E8: Stephanie Baiocchi, @stephbaiocchi (#51)

S4E9: Mike Adams, Sales Storyteller @MikeAdamsSales (#52)

S4E10: Park Howell, The Business of Story @ParkHowell (#53)

S4E11: Shawn Callahan, @shawncallahan @anecdote (#54)

If you could only tell one last story, what story would that be?

Each episode, I ask my guest this question. The premise is that we’re all storytellers at our core, and that “last story” would probably be a big deal. Over 54 interviews, I’ve heard a different answer each and every time.

Each answer is not only different, but feels different in its nature. It’s been a lot of fun hearing from each storyteller what their “last story” might be, or might look like.

In part 1, we hear from seasons 1 and 2 of The Storytellers Network. Enjoy.

eason 1 Episodes - Writers:

Season 1, Episode 1: David Meerman Scott (#001)

Season 1, Episode 2: Alison Kramer (#002)

Season 1, Episode 3: Dan Miller (#003)

Season 1, Episode 4: Aaron Walker (#004)

Season 1, Episode 5: Marcus Sheridan (#005)

Season 1, Episode 6: Al Getler (#006)

Season 1, Episode 7: Joe Dean (#007)

Season 1, Episode 8: John Liberty (#008)

Season 1, Episode 9: Danielle Rhodes (#009)

Season 1, Episode 10: Tammy Chupp (#010)

Season 1, Episode 11: Jennifer Luitwieler (#011)

Season 1, Episode 12: Tammie Ortlieb (#012)

Season 1, Episode 13: Shawn Smucker (#013)

Season 1, Episode 14: Derek Champagne (#014)

Season 1, Episode 15: Erik Weihenmayer (#015 BONUS EPISODE)

Season 2 Episodes - Podcasters:

Season 2, Episode 1: Kevin Miller - The Ziglar Show (#016)

Season 2, Episode 2: Dr. Joey Faucette - Faith Positive Radio (#017)

Season 2, Episode 3: David Hooker - Prezi's The Narrative (#018)

Season 2, Episode 4: Dave Jackson - The School of Podcasting (#019)

Season 2, Episode 5: Jeff Large - The Jeff Large Show (#020)

Season 2, Episode 6: Danny Peña - Gamertag Radio (#021)

Season 2, Episode 7: Tom Schwab - Podcast Guest Expert (#022)

Season 2, Episode 8: Douglas Burdett - The Marketing Book Podcast (#023)

Season 2, Episode 9: Jaime Jay - Stop Riding the Pine (#024)

Season 2, Episode 10: Kim Moffat - For Love of Show, Kim Knows Nothing (#025)

Season 2, Episode 11: Wally Carmichael - Men of Abundance (#026)

Season 2, Episode 12: Southwest Michigan's Fake Radio Show (#27)

Season 2, Episode 13: Jordan Harbinger - The Jordan Harbinger Show (#28 BONUS EPISODE)

Season 2, Episode 14: David Mead of Start With Why (#29 BONUS EPISODE)

Putting Stories to Work: Mastering Business Storytelling

Shawn Callahan, a sought-after keynote speaker, international business consultant and executive coach, works with global organizations such as Mars, Danone, Allianz, SAP, Tesco and Shell. He is the founder of Anecdote, the world's largest business storytelling company, where they help leaders and sellers around the world to find and tell oral stories with impact.

He's also the award-winning author of Putting Stories to Work: Mastering Business Storytelling.

Interesting trivia: this guy holds a bachelor's degree in geography and archaeology from the Australian National University.

And Shawn loves giving away “the secret” to storytelling so much, that he even gets pulled aside at presentations to be scolded!

“He came up to me, grabbed me by the arm, pulled me in close and says ‘I resent what you’re doing here.’ Then he pulled me in closer and said, ‘Because you’re giving away my secrets.’” - Shawn Callahan on the power of story

Storytelling with Business Storyteller Park Howell

Get any Point Across With the Applied Science and Bewitchery of Story

Podcaster, brand story strategist, keynote speaker… and STORYTELLER Park Howell joins the show on Season 4, Episode 10.

Park is the president of Park & Co, a Phoenix-based brand consultancy that has ignited the growth of purpose-driven clients for 20 years. Park & Co uses its proprietary Story Cycle process to create abundance for the greater good. Park created and teaches his Story Cycle curriculum in the Executive Masters for Sustainability Leadership program at Arizona State University. His podcast, Business of Story, connects business leaders and communicators with top story artists, authors, screenwriters, and others ranks among the top business podcasts on iTunes.​

From great businesses to classic music, Park sees story inspiration everywhere.

“You find, especially when you’re pulling apart great pieces like Beethoven and Mozart wrote… you couldn’t help, even like a math ditz like me, seeing how math plays into… the rhythm of the piece… that really helped me as a writer.” - Park Howell on the rhythm of writing

Engineer turned salesperson, Mike Adams taught himself storytelling 'on the job' while selling and managing sales teams in the United Kingdom, Russia, India, China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Australia for international corporations Schlumberger, Siemens, Nokia and Halliburton. Since 2014, Mike has been helping companies find and develop their own stories through his storytelling consulting practice.

His book Seven Stories Every Salesperson Must Tell helps those who sell, tell. The book takes readers on a high-stakes sales journey, using stories to establish rapport and trust, deliver insight, inspire action and close the deal, and in doing so win new friends and collaborators. Sharing more than 50 stories from around the world, Mike draws on his diverse international sales career to teach and demonstrate the power of storytelling -- from first hello to signed contract.

Mike is married with three sons and lives in Melbourne, Australia… and today Mike Adams shares with The Storytellers Network his storytelling craft, successes and stumbles… in other words, his story.

“[Sales people] are in a category, that if you make up a story, you blow your credibility. You don’t have the credibility to tell a mythical story or fable.” - Mike Adams on honesty in sales storytelling

She’s a natural storyteller who’s changing the world of marketing.

“To say I'm passionate about inbound would be an understatement. Whether it's creating inbound marketing content, enabling my inbound sales team, delighting customers or merging account based everything with the inbound methodology, I use HubSpot and bleed orange.“

Stephanie Baiocchi is the Director of Audience Engagement & Community at IMPACT and absolutely loves connecting with people and building relationships. She has been using HubSpot for 6 years across a variety of industries on the client and agency side.

Stephanie is also a co-leader of the Chicago HubSpot User Group. She is a Carthage College graduate with a B.A. in Public Relations and German. She also owns a highly coveted HubSpot bicycle! You can catch Stephanie co-hosting IMPACT's weekly Facebook live show or engaging with the community in Elite.

”I think you have to tell a story in order to connect with people. And so much of my job is connecting with people.” Stephanie Baiocchi on community/audience engagement

Get ready to hear from a major metropolitan news desk. Alicia Smith is the weekday co-anchor of “7 Action News This Morning” on Detroit’s ABC affiliate WXYZ from 4:30 until 7:00 every morning. She joined WXYZ in January 2007 as an anchor/reporter/multi-media journalist and is a cheerleader of Channel 7's #earlyrisers on Twitter and Facebook.

I’ve admired Alicia’s social media usage over the years. Her authenticity and willingness to share the behind the scenes stories helps make news real. She’s also an award-winning storyteller. Alicia is a three-time Emmy winner who has been recognized for both her anchoring and her reporting. Today, you get to hear Alicia’s story.

He’s a keynote speaker, advisor and strategy consultant; husband, dad, voice over artist, golfer and man about town. He’s a natural storyteller, as well as one professionally. Scott Monty is a corporate executive steeped in digital.

Scott was ranked by The Economist as number one atop the list 25 Social Business Leaders and by Forbes as one of the top 10 influencers in social media. Alan Mulally, the CEO of Ford Motor Company, called him "a visionary."

Scott ran Ford’s social media and digital communications from 2008 until 2014. During his leadership, Ford was the first company to reveal a vehicle on Facebook, and the first brand to join the now defunct Google+.

He also has another decade and a half of experience in communications and marketing agencies. Scott's clients have included Walmart, IBM, McDonalds, Coca-Cola, and Google.

When I think of lawyers doing any kind of marketing or advertising, I think of the big, ugly billboards along the highway that scream at you to call am 800-number the next time you’re in a crash. Or I think of terrible jingles on the radio reminding you that the next time you’re caught driving drunk, you don’t have to pay the price.

Now, I have friends who are attorneys and I don’t think they’re all bad. I was still impressed with Jeshua Lauka, who uses social media to share stories and inspiration in order to develop relationships, which just might lead to new business. Imagine, using social media… to be social!

Jeshua Lauka from Grand Rapids, Michigan is incredibly talented at using social well, and not just spamming his connections with junk. According to his LinkedIn profile, Jeshua is “an attorney at a boutique business law firm located in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan” where he “practices Business, Real Estate, Estate and Trust work, and related litigation.”

He loves what he does and has a special passion for non-profit, board governance, and social enterprise. He also writes about legal issues on his own blog, and isn’t afraid to be authentic and even vulnerable.

“We all want to show the best of ourselves. Nobody likes to share our weaknesses… I think those are things that make us human and things that allow us to connect. Do those things you might be uncomfortable with [sharing]. Be your authentic self.” - Jeshua Lauka on vulnerability and authenticity in storytelling