The Storyteller's Secret

Carmine Gallo

9 annotations • data

First annotation on Dec 12th, 2022. Last on Apr 28th, 2025.

Introduction

The Kalahari storytellers learned that they had to deliver information, convey experiences, inspire, and entertain. If people aren't entertained, they stop listening and go to sleep, not unlike what happens in millions of business presentations given every day. Humans evolved to perceive stories as entertaining because if they didn't pay attention, they might be a lion's lunch.
Emotion trumps logic. You cannot reach a person's head without first touching their heart and the path to the heart runs through the brain, starting with the amygdala.
Great storytellers look effortless because they put a lot of effort into being great.

Chapter 1

It's technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the result that makes our heart sing.
Disney animation chief John Lasseter, who said he owes his career to Steve Jobs, once said that in developing a story, the plot can change dramatically: the characters can come and go, as can the setting. What you can't change is the heart of the story because it lays the foundation for everything else.

Chapter 2

Snyder defines audacity as a go-for-it attitude, the conviction and self-confidence to pursue an idea and articulate that idea "even though the world punches you in the nose."

Chapter 3

"People with high assurance in their capabilities approach difficult tasks as challenges to be mastered rather than as threats to be avoided,"5 says Bandura.
A person with high self-efficacy believes they can reach their goal and they take the steps required to make it happen. They work harder. They raise their hands more. They ask questions. They practice, get it wrong, and try it again. People with low self-efficacy don't need others to tear themselves down. They do it themselves. They quickly lose confidence. They avoid risk and challenges because, after all, they won't succeed anyway (or so they think). They are much more likely to give up when they hear negative comments.

Chapter 6

As a storyteller Oprah uses a classic narrative technique to inspire her audience: start with humble beginnings, help your audience see themselves in the story, and turn the experience into a lesson. She can hit all three steps in under two minutes, as she did when she accepted the first Bob Hope Humanitarian Award at the 2003 Emmys: I grew up in Nashville with a father who owned a barber shop. I can't get him to retire. Every holiday all the transients were always bumming haircuts from my father and asking for money from my dad. All those guys always ended up at our dinner table. I would often say to my father afterwards, "Dad, why can't we just have regular people at our Christmas dinner?" My father said to me, "They are regular people. They want the same thing you want." And I would say, "What?" And he said, "To be fed." At the time I thought he was just talking about dinner, but I have since learned how profound he really was because we are all regular people seeking the same thing. We all just want to know that we matter. Classic storytelling structure requires that the narrative begin with a fact, event, or action. Oprah's story begins with an event in her life, the Christmas dinner conversation. The second signature of classic narrative is transformation—the protagonist undergoes a change, a transformation. Oprah's transformation happened when her father offered an explanation for inviting the homeless to Christmas dinner. The third and final step is for the protagonist to learn a lesson that ultimately leads the hero to live a better life.