How to tell better stories | Matthew Dicks (Storyworthy)

**Matthew Dicks** (0:00)
Everyone loves the word storytelling in business.
It's a huge buzzword. They love to think of themselves as storytellers. But when they come to me, they don't really want to be storytellers, because to be a storyteller means you have to separate yourself from the herd.
And in their mind, that risks them getting picked off, right? Getting picked off by some predator. But the alternative is you're in the herd, which means you're forgettable. I mean, how many times have you gone to a conference, listened to someone speak, and by the time you're pulling into the driveway, you really can't remember anything that they said, because that's what happens if we don't speak in story. Our minds are not designed to remember a pie chart, or facts, or statistics, or platitudes, or ideas that are not attached to imagery. So the risk you take if you're not telling stories is that you will be forgotten. 100% you will be forgotten.

**Lenny Rachitsky** (0:53)
Today, my guest is Matthew Dicks. Matthew is the author of my all-time favorite book on storytelling, Storyworthy, which a previous guest of the podcast recommended to me, and I couldn't put it down, so I reached out to Matthew and got him on the podcast. Matthew is a 59-time Moth Story Slam winner, and 9-time Grand Slam champ. He's also the author of nine other books, including fictions, rock operas, even a comic book. In his day job, he is an elementary school teacher, and on the side, teaches both individuals and teams at companies like Slack, Amazon, Lego, and Salesforce the skill of storytelling and public speaking through his company, Speak Up. In our conversation, we get very tactical about how to tell better stories, both in life and in work, how to feel more comfortable speaking on stage, how to come up with story ideas that you can deploy when they need arises, why every good story is centered around one five-second moment of transformation, and so much more, Matt is an incredible human being, and I am excited to spread his message more widely. If you're interested in this topic, definitely pick up his book, Storyworthy, It'll Change Your Life. With that, I bring you Matthew Dicks after a short word from our sponsors.
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Matt, thank you so much for being here. Welcome to the podcast.

**Matthew Dicks** (4:31)
It's my pleasure. I'm excited to be here.