Guest Post: Find Your Story’s “Beating Heart”
by David Hutchens
David Hutchens has spent his career exploring the intersection of narrative, leadership, and complex systems change. He is a bestselling author who creates solutions for The Coca-Cola Company, IBM, PayPal, Wal-Mart, L’Oreal, The US Olympic Committee, and others.
A sought-after trainer, he has brought The Storytelling Leader program to Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Russia, and more. His most recent book is Story Dash: Find, Develop & Activate Your Most Valuable Business Stories…in Just a Few Hours
Coaching leaders to tell better stories can be tough. Often, I will hear a story and I’ll go, hmmm. Okay. Geez. Uhmmm… I may know that I like (or don’t like) the story. But I’m only helpful to them if I articulate why I had that reaction. Sometimes I’m not sure!
Here’s my “Pro Tip” for story coaching. It helps me every time to provide helpful feedback to the storyteller.
Increasingly I’ve noticed that every story has a beating heart that gives it life and power. When we can locate that beating heart and amplify it, the story will become a lot better.
So how do we locate the beating heart?
Michael and I often show our leaders the classic “narrative arc” of stories. You’ve seen this before, right? It says that your story has a moment of takeoff, and then gains some altitude at the climax of the story, and then lands again in a satisfying way.
On the cool “Story Canvas” framework, our leaders learn that their story will include a moment where the protagonist encounters a challenge. And then they have to respond by making a choice.
If we were to take an imaginary EKG of our narrative arc, we would see that the “ba-DUMP” heartbeat of that challenge-and-choice moment occurs right about… here.
“When we can locate that beating heart and amplify it, the story will become a lot better.”
I was once coaching a leader in telling one of his mission-critical stories. It was one of those long, rambling stories where I found myself thinking, “where is he going with all of this? Why is he including all of this detail?” I didn’t know what to do with the story.
At the end of his telling, he said, “Well? What did you think?”
Pressure’s on. I was about to panic. But then I remembered: The beating heart.
“Thom,” I said, “there was a lot going on in your story. I think you may have actually told me two or three stories. But there was one specific moment in your story that really stood out to me. It was the part where your client Roger said ‘we won’t be renewing our contract with you next quarter,’ and you responded by confessing ‘we have done a poor job listening to you.’ I think everything in your story hinges on that powerful moment. Right?”
I saw Thom think about it, and then I saw the moment when clarity and relief washed over his face. “Yeahhhhh… That’s right! That’s exactly what I’m trying to say!”
Okay. Got it. Now that we have identified that moment of challenge and choice, we can amplify that part of the story. And there’s a lot of other content that Thom threw in there that we don’t need.
“Thom, let’s try telling your story again, because it’s really a beautiful story about vulnerability, and truth telling, and listening deeply to our clients. Focus the story and draw out some details about that moment”
On the second telling, Thom nailed it. Beautiful. I was moved. His teams and his clients will be moved too.
All of your stories have a beating heart. There’s a challenge. And there’s a choice. Find the heart. Amplify it. Your audiences will never forget what you said.
David Hutchens
