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How to Use Story and Humor to Rise Above Business Jargon

Show Business
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About The Business of Story Podcast:

Welcome to the Business of Story podcast, where the world’s best storytellers from business, Hollywood, and beyond teach you how to use stories to communicate and connect with your customers. While technology has given us all global reach with our messages, it’s still the ancient bewitchery of storytelling that connects us with one another. You will learn from some of the brightest content creators, advertising creatives, authors, professors, makers, marketers, and brand raconteurs in the business. Within every show you will learn at least one actionable tip that will make your stories more engaging, and help you advance your personal or professional quest further, faster.

Apple Podcast Reviews:

A lot of great information about story telling. It is hard to pick one episode, they are all good!

Risingmaster

I recently came across Park Howell's excellent podcast. I love how he weaves in his personal stories with the interviews of his guests. If you are involved with sales or marketing for your business definitely check out this show.

RivetingFM

Kathy Klotz-Guest, Chief Storyteller at Keeping It Human, joins the Business of Story Podcast to share how loosening up through comedy can enable business storytellers to address human need.

 

Kathy Klotz-Guest - Instagram-2Simple Yet Compelling Storytelling

Kathy Klotz-Guest is an expert at helping business professionals become better storytellers for their companies.
With a resume steeped in Silicon Valley culture, you may believe Kathy to be a specific kind of marketer. But for a while, she led a dual life working as marketing director and consultant during the day and moonlighting as an improv comedian on evenings and weekends.
Fast forward to today, and Kathy now has a 20-year comedy and marketing career under her belt as well as a deep understanding of what makes a great story, both on- and off-stage.
Here, she shares her unique perspective on the confluence of comedy and business storytelling, while propelling the professional service world to humanize B2B marketing. After listening to this episode, you’ll be able to connect with your audience like you’ve never connected before.

In This Episode

  • The two levels of business storytelling
  • How to use your business GPS
  • How to avoid “jargon-monoxide,” or terminology that clouds your story
  • Using humor to pull an audience in
  • “Yes, and…” the improvisation tool that will change the dynamics of your storytelling
  • Kenn Adams’ Story Spine structure

 

Quotes From This Episode

“Don’t underestimate the power of a simple, elegant, memorable, pure story that’s honest and grounded in reality. Look for the times that there was a human need met, get to the human need of that story.” —@kathyklotzguest
“Why are we not using the emotional arcs and narratives that happen onstage when that is what connects with audiences? Why are we so bad at that in business storytelling?” —@kathyklotzguest
“We don’t make rational decisions. We make emotional decisions and then we use logic to rationalize them.”  —@kathyklotzguest
“It’s not about dumbing anything down; that’s patronizing to your audience. You want to make sure that your message has a multiplier effect, and ‘simple’ ensures that people will tell your message.” —@kathyklotzguest
“Throughout history and across cultures, there’s something universal about the ‘once upon a time’ model because it’s the way our brains are wired to think—in story. That’s part of our DNA.” —@kathyklotzguest
“One of the things that business storytelling forgets is that change needs to be significant, but you can’t have change without conflict.” —@kathyklotzguest

Resources

 

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