What should you include or omit to ensure your stories carry your message, resonate with others, and deliver something that could only come from you? That’s the challenge we encounter today. 

In this special episode, Jay is joined by a favorite client, Susan Boles, to work through a draft of a signature story, which emerged on the back of their months-long work together developing Susan’s premise of “calm is the new KPI.” They apply Jay’s Align-Agitate-Assert structure, and they find the two biggest opportunities to improve the story.

Susan is the founder of Beyond Margins and host of the podcast of the same name. She teaches entrepreneur clients how to optimize their business for quality of life, not just profit margin, by making calm their focus and their literal KPI.

In the episode, Jay and Susan dissect her emerging, signature story involving Rand Fishkin, founder and CEO of SparkToro and, previously, founder and CEO of Moz. When one piece of the story runs too long, Jay shares some pointers for how to shorten it without sacrificing the story’s power, and the duo figure out what insights can be extracted and delivered from the story to teach and inspire Susan’s audience.

Whether you’re crafting your next keynote or fine-tuning your leadership communication skills, this episode will have you immediately elevating your storytelling in ways that illuminate insights others remember, share, and apply to their work or lives.

Resources:

⚫ Follow Susan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thesusanboles 

⚫ Listen to Beyond Margins: https://podcast.beyondmargins.com/ 

⚫ Subscribe to Beyond Margins Newsletter: https://beyondmargins.ck.page/21380f9bae 

🔵 Work with Jay to develop and differentiate your IP and stories: https://jayacunzo.com/

🔵Join his Creator Kitchen membership: https://creatorkitchen.com/ 

🔵 Follow Jay on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayacunzo/

🔵 Follow Jay on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jacunzo/

🟢 Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/

🟢 Cover art designed by Blake Ink: https://www.blakeink.com/

🟢 Find and support our sponsors: https://jayacunzo.com/sponsors

Storytellers often face a paradox: to connect deeper externally, you have to turn deeper internally. You have to know yourself and get more honest with how you think and feel than others might be comfortable doing themselves. That often means we have to stop caring what people think of us quite as much.

In this episode, we meet Brook Cupps and Ryan Hawk, coauthors of the book The Score That Matters. We talk about how they collaborated on their book together and how they use stories to inspire and lead others. Brook is the head boys basketball coach at Centerville High School in Ohio, while Ryan hosts the popular podcast, The Learning Leader Show.

What makes their partnership one of a kind—and what you'll hear in this episode—is the blend of practical coaching wisdom, deeply personal ideas, and storytelling finesse.

The story we dissect comes from Brook, who shares how he transformed his coaching approach after a pivotal moment with his daughter, which shifted his entire philosophy. Ryan chimes in with insights from his own journey, emphasizing the importance of inner growth, values, and deliberate practice.

It's a refreshing look at storytelling and the tough things we need to embrace first, which then allow us to become more effective communicators and leaders.

BONUS: Hear Jay and Ryan on Ryan's podcast, discussing the art and science of hosting great interviews: https://learningleader.com/episode/330-deconstructing-the-art-science-of-interviewing-with-jay-acunzo/

⚫ Check out Ryan Hawk’s podcast, The Learning Leader Show: https://learningleader.com/

⚫ Learn more about Brook Cupps and Blue Collar Grit: https://www.bluecollargrit.com/about-us.html
⚫ Get Ryan and Brook's book, The Score That Matters: https://www.amazon.com/Score-That-Matters-Excellence-Yourself-ebook/dp/B0CGZ8HRXD

🔵 Follow Jay on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayacunzo/

🔵 Subscribe to Jay’s newsletter: https://jayacunzo.com/newsletter

🔵 Learn about Jay’s coaching and consulting: https://jayacunzo.com/

🟢 Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/

🟢 Cover art designed by Blake Ink: https://www.blakeink.com/

How do we compress our lifetime into their runtime? When we’re asked to explain our backgrounds and bios, we need a structure, some practice, and a few anecdotes at the ready. Because our story has to pull triple-duty: clarify who we are, build credibility, and teach whatever it is we’re there to teach.

In this episode, author, PR agency founder, and friendship expert Danielle Bayard Jackson reveals the simple way she responds to that simple question: “How’d you get here?” Together, we break it apart into component pieces and re-build certain aspects, spotting ways to customize the story to the specific audiences Danielle speaks to as a speaker and service provider.

You’ll walk away with a new framework for crafting your own gripping answer to the personal background question (“MBAS” – Mission, Background, Anecdote, Summary), and you’ll get a glimpse into the craft of two communicators reaching geeky levels of appreciation for what it takes to resonate with our words.

Danielle is the author of the new book, Fighting for Our Friendships: The Science and Art of Conflict and Connection in Women's Relationships.

Resources:

⚫ Follow Danielle on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellebayardjackson/ 

⚫ Follow Danielle on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thefriendshipexpert  

⚫ Visit Danielle’s website: https://www.daniellebayardjackson.com/ 

🔵 Subscribe to Jay’s newsletter: https://jayacunzo.com/

🔵 Join the Creator Kitchen membership for storytellers: https://creatorkitchen.com/ 

🔵 Follow Jay on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayacunzo/

🔵 Follow Jay on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jacunzo/ 

🟢 Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/

🟢 Cover art designed by Blake Ink: https://www.blakeink.com/

🟢 Find and support our sponsors: https://jayacunzo.com/sponsors

While everyone scrambles to learn the new trends and act like a futurist, it’s the folks who understand what parts of this work are timeless – because they’re based on human nature – that are most powerful of all. 

Storytelling is one such thing. It’s been a constant throughout the history of humanity. Why? Because although the world changes in many ways, human nature is one thing that doesn’t change much at all.

So says our guest today, Scott Monty, and it’s part of what makes Scott such an inspiring storyteller – and a leadership advisor, consultant, and coach who has worked for and with brands like Ford, Google, IBM, Adobe, and Walmart. In fact, thanks to his work helping pioneer all things social media at Ford Motor Company, The Economist named Scott #1 on its list of social business leaders.

In this episode, we hear Scott dissect a signature story piece by piece, taking us into the executive team meeting from his time at Ford and how storytelling helped him thwart – then win over – his archnemesis, the curmudgeonly CFO at the time. 

After hearing the story, we identify the three tentpoles that help it stand up, plus identify details that could improve – and we hear why the moments that don’t seem to advance the action are actually the most important pieces for this story to resonate deeper.

Scott’s brand is about the idea of timeless leadership – and he effortlessly quotes philosophers and leaders from centuries past to help make his points, both on the show and everywhere he shows up.

Resources:

⚫ Follow Scott on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottmonty/

⚫ Subscribe to Scott’s newsletter, Timeless & Timely: https://www.timelesstimely.com/

🔵 Follow Jay on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayacunzo/

🔵 Subscribe to Jay’s newsletter: https://jayacunzo.com/newsletter

🔵 Learn about Jay’s coaching and consulting: https://jayacunzo.com/

🟢 Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/

🟢 Cover art designed by Blake Ink: https://www.blakeink.com/

🟢 Find and support our sponsors: https://jayacunzo.com/sponsors

How do we craft a metaphor that works? More importantly, perhaps, how do we ensure the metaphors we use pivot to the audience to teach them something in their lives or work, without them getting lost? Do we overtly explain the lesson? Imply it? Some combination? It’s a delicate dance, and few do it like Tucker Bryant.

Tucker isn't just a keynote speaker; he's a poet who has taken the stage everywhere from corporate boardrooms to major conferences, importing what he knows from the world of verse to the world of business innovation. After working at Google, Tucker transformed his own unique perspective and skill as a poet into keynotes that grip audiences by the thousands, leaving lasting impressions on everyone from marketers to HR pros to C-suite executives.

In this episode, we dive into Tucker's signature story about a young poet named Robert. We find a macro-level shape to the metaphor and apply it back in the audience’s more literal world, before re-working some of the story to add some drama, tension, and lessons — all to make Tucker’s message feel inescapable and irresistible to audiences. We talk pacing, pivoting, and probably a third-P (and why lists of three really matter when we list examples.) (For real, that’s in there.)

Whether you're looking to deliver a powerful speech, tighten your brand's message, or inspire action in your next conversation or piece of content, this episode is for you.

Resources:

⚫ Follow Tucker on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tuckerbryant/

⚫ Tucker’s site: https://www.tuckerbryantspeaks.com/

🔵 Follow Jay on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayacunzo/

🔵 Subscribe to Jay’s newsletter: https://jayacunzo.com/newsletter

🔵 Learn about Jay’s coaching and consulting: https://jayacunzo.com/

🟢 Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/

🟢 Cover art designed by Blake Ink: https://www.blakeink.com/

🟢 Find and support our sponsors: https://jayacunzo.com/sponsors

The hardest question to answer when we show up publicly might be the simplest question we receive: “Tell me about yourself.” Who are you? How’d you get here? What’s your story?

We then face a choice: we can make the story about us, or we can make it about the thing we’re there to say. We can make our own stories about the audiences we wish to serve, and we can do so without feeling like we’re bragging and even without any newsworthy moments in our past.

Meet Rand Fishkin, cofounder and CEO of two companies (audience research platform SparkToro and indie video game maker Snackbar Studio). He’s an entrepreneur who’s navigated the roller-coaster of startup life, written an incredible book about it (Lost and Founder), and gone on the journey with hundreds of thousands of professionals following his every move. Rand has spoken at countless events, sharing his (often difficult) journey with audiences ranging from fresh-faced founders to seasoned veterans.

In this episode, Rand shares his personal story as he’d present it from the stage, illustrating for us the power of stories the more “strategic” thinkers among us might think unwise to share: stories of failure, struggle, and genuine emotional turmoil. You’ll hear the power of having an "enemy" to galvanize your cause and attract your tribe, and why sharing failures and other difficult experiences can forge stronger connections and teach more valuable lessons than sharing wins and case studies.

Rand’s style is a breath of fresh air in communities that rarely get so real, and it’s a big reason he resonates deeper than most.

Jump into the conversation:

(01:14) Meet Rand 
(10:43) Rand’s Story 
(18:46) Dissecting the Story

Resources:

⚫ Follow Rand on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/randfishkin/

⚫ Follow Rand on Threads: https://www.threads.net/@randderuiter

⚫ Visit SparkToro: https://sparktoro.com/

⚫ Visit Snackbar Studio: https://snackbarstudio.com/

🔵 Follow Jay: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayacunzo/

🔵 Subscribe to Jay’s newsletter: https://jayacunzo.com/newsletter

🔵 Learn about Jay’s coaching and consulting: https://jayacunzo.com/

🟢 Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/

🟢 Cover art designed by Blake Ink: https://www.blakeink.com/

🟢 Find and support our sponsors: https://jayacunzo.com/sponsors

When so many people are excited to create a higher volume of content, shouldn’t we think more about what gives our work greater power? That’s what our guest today understands better than most, and she draws that power from everyday moments she hunts out, like a squirrel finding nuts in the yard.

Meet Ann Handley—she’s a best-selling author, a pioneer in content marketing, and a popular B2B speaker with a knack for imbuing ordinary moments with extraordinary meaning.

Ann reveals her morning routine, her idea capture system, and most importantly, her process and practice of becoming a word-class noticer of stories during a time when so many people simply stuff a screen in their face or turn to cheat-sheets to produce generic content.

In this episode, we dissect a signature story shared to her newsletter, Total Annarchy, which she sent to just over 50,000 readers. We zero in on a pivot point in the middle that makes the work resonate, and we find plenty of existential debates that unfolded in her writing process.

Together, we discover how to connect with an audience on a more personal level and leave a lasting impression, ensuring your stories aren’t just heard but felt. The best part? You don’t need to experience anything groundbreaking for your words to hit hard. But you do need to become a notice.

Jump into the conversation: 
(04:48) Meet Ann 
(19:36) Ann’s Story 
(26:21) Dissecting the Story

Resources:

⚫ Follow Ann on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annhandley/

⚫ Check out her website and subscribe to her newsletter here: https://annhandley.com/

⚫ Read Ann’s book, Everybody Writes: https://annhandley.com/everybodywrites/

🔵 Follow Jay: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayacunzo/

🔵 Subscribe to Jay’s newsletter: https://jayacunzo.com/newsletter

🔵 Learn about Jay’s coaching and consulting: https://jayacunzo.com/

🟢 Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/

🟢 Cover art designed by Blake Ink: https://www.blakeink.com/

🟢 Find and support our sponsors: https://jayacunzo.com/sponsors

Our guest for this episode is rarely online. But when she is, she’s telling small stories with big meaning.

Meet Michelle Warner—she’s a business strategist and consultant who architects business models and marketing strategies for clients who sell high-priced services. She also hosts the podcast Sequence Over Strategy—an idea that represents her entire platform’s differentiated premise, and one the story she brings to us today reflects.

Michelle has founded multi-million dollar startups, raised capital the traditional way, and generally followed “the blueprint” for business growth before burning out and finding a new path forward. She is an independent consultant and educator who doesn’t need to rely on social media for growth.

What I admire about Michelle is that she’s designed her life and work in a certain way—she’s intentional, genuine, and carefully curates anything she elects to spend time on. These characteristics are reflected in her life, in her work, and in the way she tells stories.

In this episode, we dissect one of her signature stories she recently sent to her newsletter. It was well-received, but the ending needs work, and she recognizes there are some structural problems with the story. We work on that together to turn this into a signature story she can take with her everywhere, and we identify the job this story does for her audience and her business.

You’ll get a deep look at the small changes that you can make to a story to communicate with greater impact.

Jump into the conversation: 
(03:39) Meet Michelle 
(17:40) Michelle’s Story 
(21:28) Dissecting the Story 
(23:04) First, Last, Favorite

Resources:

⚫ Listen to Michelle’s podcast: https://www.themichellewarner.com/blog/sos001

⚫ Check out Michelle’s website: https://www.themichellewarner.com/

🔵 Follow Jay: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayacunzo/

🔵 Subscribe to Jay’s newsletter: https://jayacunzo.com/newsletter

🔵 Learn about Jay’s coaching and consulting: https://jayacunzo.com/

🟢 Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/

🟢 Cover art designed by Blake Ink: https://www.blakeink.com/

🟢 Find and support our sponsors: https://jayacunzo.com/sponsors

I know a ton of storytellers and creators and entrepreneurs, but I know exactly zero other people who have learned how to do what they do from both legendary news broadcasters and Kermit the Frog.

Meet Andrew Davis. He is a powerhouse business speaker who’s given speeches in 35 different countries, at more than 50 events every year. He speaks to audiences ranging from marketers and entrepreneurs to plumbers and physicians — and there may not be a storyteller who is this craft-driven and obsessed with telling amazing stories in the worlds of business, marketing, and customer experience.

Andrew hosts a popular video series called the Loyalty Loop on YouTube, and he’s had a long career crafting stories of all kinds, including jobs as a producer for NBC and a writer for the news legend Charles Kuralt.

As an entrepreneur, Andrew has built and sold a marketing agency, produced docuseries for brand clients big and small, and authored multiple books about marketing and customer experience.

In this episode, we dissect one of his signature stories. It's been with him for almost ten years, and he can customize it across audiences and projects to arrive at basically any insight he needs to teach. It’s a rare look at how a true master of the craft executes the tiny things that create a big impact both for his audience and his business.

Jump into the conversation: 
(06:27) Meet Andrew 
(14:18) Andrew’s Story 
(22:38) Dissecting the Story 
(39:02) First, Last, Favorite

Bonus Video:

🎨 Watch a video animation of Andrew’s signature story:

https://jayacunzo.com/blog/how-stories-happen-episode-1-andrew-davis

Resources:

⚫ Follow Andrew: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drewdavishere/

⚫ Explore his speaking: https://www.akadrewdavis.com/

⚫ Watch the Loyalty Loop: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeegDFQqmxjBUpr5FCHzlpsKVyeEmPuf3

🔵 Follow Jay: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayacunzo/

🔵 Subscribe to Jay’s newsletter: https://jayacunzo.com/newsletter

🔵 Learn about Jay’s coaching and consulting: https://jayacunzo.com/

🟢 Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/

🟢 Cover art designed by Blake Ink: https://www.blakeink.com/

🟢 Video animation by La Hacienda: https://www.lahacienda.media/

🟢 Find and support our sponsors: https://jayacunzo.com/sponsors

Welcome to How Stories Happen, a show for business storytellers focused on standing out easier and resonating deeper through substance and stories, not hollow stunts. Each episode, an expert, entrepreneur, or world-class communicator breaks apart a single story piece by piece, sharing how they developed it and how they're using it to grow their brand and leave their legacy. Hosted by Jay Acunzo

As Ira Glass said, “Great stories happen to those who can tell them.” He doesn’t mean worthy things only appear to those who are already masters of the craft. He means, this is in fact a craft. But if that's the case, shouldn't we learn storytelling by getting closer to the actual crafting? Enough theory and technique. This show puts on display the posture, process, and practice of incredible business storytellers.

Storytellers don’t experience extraordinary things. They know how to imbue meaning into things that are ordinary.

How do stories happen? They don’t. Life happens. Then you turn that INTO stories. I guess you could say great stories happen ON PURPOSE.

I’m your host, Jay Acunzo. I’m an author, speaker, and podcaster, with more than 15 years of business storytelling experience. I’ve held marketing and editorial roles at Google, HubSpot, and ESPN. I’ve consulted Fortune 500 brands and hosted documentaries and podcasts for exciting startups, and I’ve traveled the world imploring builders of brands and communities to bridge the gap between what best practices claim you have to do and what your intuition is urging you to try.

In all of that, I’ve spotted a problem with the way we learn story: it’s an abstraction. It’s external to us. We start seeking answers “out there,” when in reality, that’s not how stories happen. You don’t experience the extraordinary. You see meaning in the ordinary. EVERYTHING is inspiration in the hands of an effective storyteller. To understand that is truly the difference between “learning story” and actually being a storyteller.

Join me in an original series where world-class storytellers break apart their signature stories and piece by piece, share how it was made, how they used it to support their cause, and how it might still get better. Because stories aren’t snapshots of life. Stories are built with intention. This show puts that intentionality on display, from inception to development, marketing and selling to growing a following or changing the world – everywhere being a storyteller empowers you to lead.

You’ll walk away thinking more about the power of your words and less about the volume of your content.

It has never been more urgent to become an effective storyteller, so you can stand out easier and resonate deeper than all the mediocrity flooding our world.

Join us as we explore How Stories Happen.

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SUBSCRIBE TO THE NEWSLETTER:

💌 Playing Favorites is the newsletter from Jay about resonance, storytelling, differentiation, and getting off the content hamster wheel to make things that matter more (because when your work matters more, you can hustle for attention less).

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WORK WITH JAY:

✅ Jay consults entrepreneurs, execs, and expert-based businesses to help them develop stronger IP—your premise, storytelling, frameworks, and pillar projects—so you can differentiate easier and resonate deeper. You can't own your audience, but you can own an idea in their minds. Learn more about Jay's consulting and coaching.

👋 You can also book Jay to speak to your organization or event. He's given keynotes in 25 states and 3 countries and delivered talks to audiences as big as 4,000 marketers and as intimate as 40 CEOs in a room, with clients including Harvard Business School, Zillow, Blackbaud, Dometic, James Hardie, Fidelity, 

📚 You can also explore Jay's books. Jay writes business books with soul and story at the center, including Break the Wheel: Question Best Practices, Hone Your Intuition, and Do Your Best Work (2018) and The Creator’s Compass: The Journey to Make Your Audience's Favorite Things (2021).

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ABOUT JAY:

Jay Acunzo helps business leaders develop more original premises — the big ideas they become known for publicly. His work focuses on his core belief in prioritizing resonance first, not reach.

After starting his career in media and marketing roles at Google and HubSpot, Jay authored the book about questioning best practices, Break the Wheel, toured as a professional speaker, giving keynote sin 25 states and 3 countries, and cofounded the mastermind for business storytellers, the Creator Kitchen.

As an advisor, he’s worked with more than 200 individuals and teams to help them differentiate through the impact of their ideas, not the volume of their content. Past clients include Salesforce, GoDaddy, Wistia, Drift, and Help Scout, as well as hundreds of individual thought leaders and experts, including the author behind Google’s innovative employee training program and the performance coach who helped Kobe Bryant develop his Black Mamba persona.

Jay is a proud New England resident, a troubled Knicks fan, and an obsessive grilled pizza chef. His grandest aspiration (though he’d say delusion) is to be the Anthony Bourdain of business storytelling.

💛 Keep making what matters!