The Storyteller's Secret: From TED Speakers to Business Legends, Why Some Ideas Catch On and Others Don't

by Carmine Gallo

Overview

How did an American immigrant without a college education go from Venice Beach T-Shirt vendor to television’s most successful producer? How did a timid pastor’s son surmount a paralyzing fear of public speaking to sell out Yankee stadium, twice? How did the city of Tokyo create a PowerPoint stunning enough to win itself the chance to host the Olympics?

They told brilliant stories.

In his hugely attended Talk Like TED events, bestselling author and communications guru Carmine Gallo found, again and again, that audiences wanted to discover the keys to telling powerful stories, inspiring stories that could galvanize movements and actuate global change. And indeed, whether your goal is to sell, educate, fundraise, or entertain, your story is your most valuable asset. A well-told story hits you like a punch to the gut; it triggers the light bulb moment, the ‘aha’ that illuminates the path to innovation. Your story is “a strategic tool with irresistible power,” according to the NYT. Radical transformation can occur in an instant, with a single sentence; The Storyteller’s Secret lets you craft your most powerful delivery ever.

In The Storyteller’s Secret, Gallo offers lessons from a range of visionary leaders, each of whom cites storytelling as a crucial ingredient in success. A good story can spark action and passion; it can revolutionize the way people think and spur them to chase their dreams. Isn’t it time you shared yours?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250072238
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	06/27/2017
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.60(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

CARMINE GALLO, bestselling author of The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs, is the communications coach for the world’s most admired brands. A former anchor and correspondent for CNN and CBS, Gallo is a popular keynote speaker who has worked with executives at Intel, Cisco, Chevron, Hewlett-Packard, Coca-Cola, Pfizer, and many others and writes the Forbes.com column “My Communications Coach.” He lives in Pleasanton, California, with his wife and two daughters.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Preface: Your Story is My Passion

Introduction: Richard Branson, Dopamine, and the Kalahari Bushmen

Part I:Storytellers Who Ignite Our Inner Fire

1. What Makes Your Heart Sing?

2. From T-Shirt Salesman to Mega Producer

3. Conquering Stage Fright to Sell Out Yankee Stadium

4. A Rock Star Rediscovers His Gift in the Backstory of His Youth

5. Change Your Story, Change Your Life

6. The Power in Your Personal Legend

7. A Coffee King Pours His Heart into His Business

8. We're Not Retailers with a Mission, We're Missionaries Who Retail

9. If You Can't Tell It, You Can't Sell It

Part II: Storytellers Who Educate"

10. How a Spellbinding Storyteller Received TED's Longest Standing Ovation

11. Turning Sewage into Drinking Water

12. What You Don't Understand Can (and Does) Hurt You

13. The $98 Pants That Launched an Empire

14. Japan Unleashes Its Best Storytellers to Win Olympic Gold

15. A Funny Look at the Most Popular TED Talk of All Time

16. Dirt, Cigars, and Sweaty Socks Put a Marketer on the Map

17. A Burger with a Side of Story

Part III: Storytellers Who Simplify

18. If Something Can't Be Explained on the Back of an Envelope, It's Rubbish

19. The Evangelizer in Chief

20. A Film Mogul's Granddaughter Cooks Up Her Own Recipe for Success

21. The Storytelling Astronaut Wows a TED Audience

22. "Dude's Selling a Battery" and Still Inspires

23. An Entrepreneur Makes Shark Tank History

Part IV: Storytellers Who Motivate

24. Find Your Fight

25. The Hospital Steve Jobs Would Have Built

26. A Hotel Mogul Turns 12,000 Employees into Customer Service Heroes

27. A Revolutionary Idea That Took Off on the Back of a Napkin

28. When Amy Lost Her Legs, She Found Her Voice

29. From Hooters to the C-Suite - A Former Waitress Shares Her Recipe for Success

30. Trading Wall Street Riches for the Promise of a Pencil

31. The Ice Bucket Challenge Melts the Hearts of Millions

32. His Finest Hour - 180 Words That Saved the World

Part V: Storytellers Who Launch Movements

33. Great Storytellers Are Made, Not Born

34. Millions of Women "Lean In" After One Woman Dares to Speak Out

35. The 60-Second Story That Turned the Wine World on Its Side

36. From My Heart Rather Than From a Sheet of Paper

37. Story, Story, Story

Conclusion: The Storyteller's Universe

The Storyteller's Toolkit

The Storyteller's Secrets at a Glance

The Storyteller's Checklist

Notes

Editorial Reviews

12/21/2015
According to communications coach Gallo (The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs), “You don’t choose your passion; it chooses you.” Successfully selling that passion to others, he confides in this helpful primer, means becoming a master storyteller. Gallo believes that the first step to finding your own story is answering the question of what makes you happy. He uses the stories of accomplished storytellers such as Richard Branson, Joel Osteen, Tony Robbins, and Oprah Winfrey to demonstrate the ways in which self-narrative informs self-confidence—and helps speakers convince others. Explaining how to help listeners comprehend a message, he reminds readers, “If you can’t tell it, you can’t sell it.” Highly narrative and personality-driven, these stories, backed up by checklists and concrete tips, may not break any substantial new ground, but Gallo’s enthusiastic and encouraging style is infectious. Readers with an idea to sell—whether for profit or for social justice—will find this an indispensable guide to articulating a sales pitch. Agent: Roger Williams, New England Publishing Associates. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

"A clear, convincing narrator, [Gallo] reads with vigor and confidence." -AudioFile Magazine

From the Publisher

02/01/2016
Gallo (Talk Like TED) engages readers with a litany of stories and storytelling techniques for anyone looking to give better presentations, make better pitches, or run better meetings. If your work supports an idea, business, product, brand, or institution, you will find useful advice within these pages. Gallo's modus operandi throughout is to draw from the lives of rags-to-riches figures and explain their methods. Some are household names (Steve Jobs, Oprah Winfrey), while others are successful businesspeople (Sara Blakely, Charles Michael Yim). Each brief chapter begins appropriately with an attention-grabbing anecdote from the individual's life and then moves to brief second and third acts—with the headings "The Storyteller's Tools" and "The Storyteller's Secret." These sections are the meat in which Gallo digs into techniques such as infusing message with mission, using analogies, violating audience expectations, employing metaphor, and introducing relevant details. Many of the lessons—telling tales of trials and wrapping data with story, for example—come up repeatedly but for good reason. VERDICT This entertaining and informative overview of how famous storytellers build loyalty, sell products, and inspire others will appeal to general readers.—Paul Stenis, Pepperdine Univ. Lib., Malibu, CA

Library Journal

Carmine Gallo, a popular keynote speaker, reveals the secret to telling powerful stories that inspire, motivate, educate, build brands, launch movements, and change lives. A clear, convincing narrator, he reads with vigor and confidence, emphasizing the need to find one’s passion and learn how to communicate. His examples of successful business people support his recommendations. Both Gallo's book and pleasant voice are well suited to the audio format, and his presentation style, especially his consistent pacing, blend well with the content of his work. He convinces listeners that the ability to tell their story persuasively is the most important skill they need to accomplish their dreams. As a storyteller, he provides a compelling listening experience. S.C.A. 2017 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

FEBRUARY 2017 - AudioFile

2015-12-06
A self-help book from a communications coach and respected keynote speaker. To achieve success and renown, Gallo (Talk Like TED: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World's Top Minds, 2014, etc.), who has consulted for Pfizer, LinkedIn, Coca-Cola, and other major brands, urges readers to tell a good story. In nearly every presentation, stories beat logic or evidence, so tell a captivating tale in every sales pitch or TED talk (the author's ultimate venue). To demonstrate, Gallo begins each chapter with a homily of someone's life-changing epiphany and ends with a quick summary, "the storyteller's secret." The inspiring accounts invoke such notable names as Gates, Jobs, Springsteen, and Sting. Also included in the narrative are tales of Churchill, Branson, Oprah, and Pope Francis. All of these figures are wonderful storytellers who have educated and motivated us. They simplify their messages, launch movements, and inspire the world. Promoting a personal brand takes significant work, but Gallo helpfully encapsulates a score of the leaders' secrets in brief—e.g., "reframe the story you tell yourself" ("Joel Osteen, Darren Hardy), "make stories at least 65 percent of your presentation" (Bryan Stevenson, Sheryl Sandberg), "violate expectations" (Bill Gates, Elon Musk), "take every opportunity to hone your presentation skills" (Martin Luther King Jr.). For mastery of brilliant storytelling, Gallo provides an appended checklist for aspiring readers who may find the foregoing chapters too heavy with pop neuroscience and references to obscure experts. The take-away: your limbic brain, oxytocin, and good PowerPoint slides, coupled with a perfected story, can make you a billionaire or, if you like, a changer of the world—or maybe, just a bit more prosperous. The old pep talk by another proficient motivational master, updated with references to Twitter, YouTube, and, of course, TED.

Kirkus Reviews