Day 1 - Power of Story

POWER OF STORY Jennifer Aaker

-

General Atlantic Professor of Marketing

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jaaker@stanford.edu

TABLE OF CONTENTS WHY STORY THE SCIENCE BEHIND STORY MISPERCEPTIONS OF STORY HARNESSING STORY TO LEAD BREAK HOW THE CLASS WILL WORK

Story

STOR路Y

A narrative With a beginning, middle and end

HEMINGWAY

Baby shoes. For sale. Never worn.

6 WORD STORIES

Not quite. Aspiring to be quite.

Tonight he packs, tomorrow I pine.

Married the wrong girl, fixed it.

Getting old. Ringtones piss me off.

GOAL

Think of stories as assets.

It is as much a way of life an organizing frame – as it is a tool.

THE SCIENCE BEHIND

STORY

“

“

Humans are not ideally set up to understand logic; they are set up to understand stories -Robert Schank Cognitive Psychologist

MISPERCEPTIONS OF

STORY

1

They think story is fictitious, fluffy – without substance

TWO TOOLS

Data (features, facts) Story (narrative)

CREDIBILITY TRIANGLE Point of view (Goal = credibility)

Data

Story

POV

ADJUST THE TRIANGLE

DATA

STORY

WHAT IS YOUR NATURAL FLOW? POV

POV

Data

Story

Story

Data

Story

Data

Data

Story

CONTEXT MATTERS Research Review Committee Portfolio Review Committee Board meetings Town halls Leadership retreats 1:1 manager and employee meetings

2

They think stories are boastful, self-centered

TWO ROLES

Remember the most effective stories blend fact and emotion.

Sharing Listening

“After I sat next to Prime Minister Gladstone I thought he was the cleverest man in England.

But when I sat next to Disraeli I thought I was the cleverest woman.”

- Jennie Jerome, Winston Churchill’s mother

BE CURIOUS Remember the most effective stories blend fact and emotion.

Tell me more about …

Tell me about a time when…

Why was that important…

3

They believe story is about marketing

Why was Solomon recognized as the wisest man in the world? Because he knew more stories than anyone else.

Scratch the surface in a typical boardroom and we’re all just cavemen with briefcases, hungry for a wise person to tell us stories

ALAN KAY, VP OF THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY

clarity

culture

connect

sticky

leadership

ACTIVATED ACROSS CHANNELS VIDEO

TAL K

POST

CONVERSATIO N

BLO G

140 CHARACTERS

WEBSIT E

6 WORD STORY

DESIGN PRINCIPLES Design for purpose Design for empathy Design signature stories DESIGNING HAPPINES | ™ JENNIFER AAKER

HOW TO HARNESS STORY TO

LEAD

1

Design for purpose

You are part of something meanin feel you are having an impact on of others.

You respect your team and feel re

“Storytelling is at the cornerstone of everything we do: raising money, hiring, press�

- Chris Sacca

WHY

You are part of something meanin feel you are having an impact on of others.

“The company story is the company strategy. “” You respect your team and feel re The story must explain why you exist: Why are we doing this?

Why does the problem need to be solved?

Why should you join the company?

Why should you invest in it?

Why should you buy a product from it?

You are part of something meanin feel you are having an impact on of others.

INSIDE OUT “�

You respect your team and feel re

Starts with CEO and built inside out -- so that employees, partners, suppliers all know the same story.

INSIDE OUT Defining Who We Are

Expressing Who We Are Letterhead Business Cards Collateral

Founding principles

Role

Value proposition

Name

Design

UNDERSTANDIN G

CLARIFYIN G

CONNECTING

IDENTIT Y

ASSETS

Point of View

Story

Promise

Personality

Style

Packaging

TOUCHPOINTS Websites Signage Advertising Environments Ephemera

DESIGN FOR MOMENTS Employees must believe the story, Simple things matter . be inspired by the story, and knows their role in the story.

3

What is your role on the team, the team’s role in the company, the company’s role in the planet?

You have to feel authentic when you share the story. People can tell when you aren’t.

Photo: Xevi V.

Brands often feel manufactured.

People do not.

Protagonists make a story relatable

DOLLAR SHAVE CLUB DESIGN CHALLENGE Startup with no marketing budget Approach. Spotlight authentic, charismatic CEO vis video to break through clutter

2

Design for empathy

Brands too often make the mistake of trying to be the hero.

Photo

Your customers are the hero.

DESIGNING HAPPINES | ™ JENNIFER AAKER

James Buckhouse, Twitter

https://imagine.linkedin.

GOOGLE CHROME DESIGN CHALLENGE Better features but no adoption.

Need to connect users to Chrome Approach: tell the user story

DESIGN FOR EMPATHY Remember the most effective stories blend fact and emotion.

How can you make your user the hero of their own story?

3

Design signature stories

SIGNATURE STORY

You are part of something meanin feel you are having an impact on of others.

You respect your team and feel re

Many stories are tactical Signature stories are strategic They are an asset and merit active management

SIGNATURE STORY

You are part of something meanin feel you are having an impact on of others.

You respect your team and feel re

An intriguing, authentic and involving story with a strategic message that drives growth by enhancing the brand, organization and/or business strategy.

STORIES DRIVE GROWTH

Operational Excellence Customer Intimacy Innovation

GROWTH STORY DESIGN CHALLENGE How to connect to teens globally, harnessing social and digital?

Approach: 7 Prototypes; $50K each 6 failed, 1 won Coke Happiness Machine

If these stories are assets they should live in paid, owned, earned, shared media.

These stories should have lives of

Viral Video.

Owned assets (like trucks).

Website.

Mobile app.

This inspired an entirely new way of marketing: Creating surprising moments of authentic happiness.

You are part of something meanin feel you are having an impact on of others.

You respect your team and feel re

As part of growth strategy, Coke now invests 10% of its marketing budget in co-created experiences brand new to the world.

EVOLVED PORTFOLIO

NOW

NEW

COCREATED

VALUE CREATION

INNOVATION ENGINE

2011

2012

2013

TEACHING TEAM JENNIFER AAKER jaaker@stanford.edu

STEPHANY YONG syong@stanford.edu

SIMAR MANGAT smangat@stanford.edu

MADILYN ONTIVEROS madilyn@stanford.edu

A Personal Story

Social media

I was skeptical.

networking amazing

fun

connecting understanding

Social Media innovative powerful

friends

sharing

demanding

inaccurate

lonely

frivolous

invasive

Social Media

time suck passing fad

dangerous

wastage of time

MY VIEW OF SOCIAL TECHNOLOGY, CIRCA 2008

I was teaching Creativity and Innovation‌

USING SOCIAL MEDIA ROBERT CHATWANI LIVES TO SAVE

Sameer

SAMEER BHATIA, 32 Grew up in Seattle Co-Founder, roommate, best friend Married Reena in 2006 Stanford undergrad, serial entrepreneur Diagnosed May 2007

VINAY CHAKRAVARTHY, 28 Grew up in Fremont, CA Doctor in Boston Married Rashmi in 2005 Berkeley undergrad, MD from BU Diagnosed November 2006

US ESTIMATES of leukemia (2009) New cases: 44,790 Deaths: 21,870 Mortality: 49%

For many patients, the only cure is a bone marrow transplant from a human donor.

FINDING A DONOR Marrow infusions require a near perfect genetic match (10/10).

The highest probability lies in the same ethnic pool.

Non-profit that operates a bone marrow registry of 7.5 million individuals.

For European Americans, there is an 80% chance of finding a matched donor in the NMDP Registry.

Of the 7.5 MILLION registrants in the U.S.,

20% are minorities.

But only 1% are South Asian.

So if you are South Asian‌

your chances of finding a match are slim.

VERY SLIM

1 in 20,000

Sameer and Vinay did not find matches that they desperately needed in the registry.

To make matters worse,

in India‌ a country with more than 1 billion people

There was no National Bone Marrow Registry

nothing

What to do?

Friends got together.

We all knew that we needed to do something.

What were our options?

Do nothing.

Do something.

Do something

SEISMIC

THE CHALLENGE

We needed to move fast.

We needed to scale.

We could not fail.

Our simple answer‌

If the odds were 1 in 20,000‌

Then all we needed to do was‌

hold bone marrow drives‌

and register 20,000 South Asians.

And then we’ll find a match.

Just 1 problem.

We had a matter of weeks to get this done.

First, stay focused.

One goal: 20,000 South Asians

GOT ORGANIZED & FORMED TEAMS TEAM VINAY team lead

bridges

TEAM SAMEER team lead

marketing

marketing

drive operations

drive operations

education

education

regional leads

regional leads

BUILT INSTANT BRANDS

HelpSameer.org

HelpVinay.org

Executed, like CRAZY.

HELP SAMEER STRATEGY SOCIAL MEDIA

EDUCATION Fliers How to Videos Web Links Literature Donor Orgs Celebrities

Widgets Blogs Pledge Lists Viral Email Video Facebook

STRATEGY ACTION

AWARENESS Instant Brand TV Public Relations Magazine Posters Newspapers Telemarketing

TRADITIONAL MEDIA

Mass-Micro Mobilization Homes Universities Temples Corporate Drives Clubs / Lounges Local Events

REGISTRATION http://www.helpsameer.org/strategy/

10 Simple Steps—You Can Do It! Let’s find Sameer and Vinay a match! Hosting a bone marrow registration drive at work take some effort, but your drive can be a big success with the right planning and coordination.

This playbook is designed to make it easy as possible for you. Since each company is organized differently, think of this as a general guide. The various steps are laid out in sequence, and sample emails are included for you customize for your own use. Replace the text in red with your own text.

THE DRAGONFLY EFFECT

The result in 11 weeks‌

470 bone marrow drives

24,611 South Asians registered

Sameer = 10/10 match

Vinay = 8/10 match

Sameer shared his story from the hospital‌

So, what lessons did we learn?

1

Develop a clear goal.

There is elegance in simplicity.

2

Reverse the rules.

How might others might address the challenge? Do the opposite.

3

Tell a good (truthful) story.

Tell stories that connect on an emotional level.

4

Design for collaboration.

Enable others to contribute and choose their own weapon.

Sameer, relapsed within 3 months of his transplant.

He fought hard – but sadly, passed away in March 2008.

We celebrated his life by sharing his memorial service with the world.

Vinay had a successful transplant, but then relapsed.

He underwent alternative drug treatments but, sadly, passed away in June 2008.

Purpose Revealed Of the 24,611 newly registered

people were matched in 1 year alone.

FINAL THOUGHTS…

Most revolutions are sparked by the actions of a few ordinary people.

Your biggest asset is a clear mind and a very large idea.

Find the ignition point, and light it.

How would that make me feel?

Would this story grow?

Could I water this?

What do I do now?

THE DRAGONFLY EFFECT

Happy

What could we do to help quickly effectively powerfully harnessing social media

Collect stories.

1

SINGLE FOCUSED GOAL

2

GRABBED ATTENTION

3

ENGAGED

4

ENABLED OTHERS TO ACT

One story well told.

www.Cooper.com

june

july

august

100K

cheeks

IDEO

1,000,000

COURSE OVERVIEW In the beginning, …

We start by looking at the behavioral science revealing the power of story (day 1), and dive into how to use both story and data (day 2), depending on the audience and context. Next, we’ll explore how humor can be used in creating stories (day 3), and how story can be used to lead a team and an organization (day 4).

In the second half of the class, we’ll analyze how story can be used as an accelerant to fuel growth and innovation for your company (day 5), and build a global brand (day 6). Then, we‘ll reveal how story, humor and improv can drive culture (day 7), and what story looks like in an immersive virtual world (day 8).

By the end, we hope that you understand what it means to be in the story mindset and how you can harness the power of stories to further you and your company’s goals (day 9).

The End.

THE SCOOP | DAY 1

Why Story: In the Beginning

You!

“Great stories happen to people who can tell them.”

- Ira Glass

THE SCOOP | DAY 2

How to Harness Data and Story

Naomi Bagdonas, Deloitte

Purin Phanichphant, IDEO

Stories can be a powerful tool for persuasion, useful in the context of understanding customers and building brands but also in leading teams. In this class, we’ll focus on the role of both story and data to build engaged and productive teams by taking a business chemistry quiz to help you understand the individual differences and contexts where story vs. data (vs. both) are differentially important.

THE SCOOP | DAY 3

How to Cultivate Comedy Mindset

Naomi Bagdonas, Deloitte

A good story takes you on a journey, one that can make you think, cry, and laugh. Today you will explore the role of humor in story and how to cultivate a comedy mindset at work and life.

You will also embark on a Dish Walk with a “Mover and Shaker� partner for a practice pitch of your signatures story.

THE SCOOP | DAY 4

How to Harness Story to Lead

Amy Brooks, NBA

Yvonne Cagle, NASA

Effective leaders are also effective storytellers.

In this class, you’ll learn how to leverage stories to build trust and respect from your colleagues.

The goal is to help you develop skills to influence the key stakeholders in your organization, advocate for your ideas, and build your own personal story bank of experiences from your career to clarify both your past and future.

Reminder: Story Off! Complete Chapter 4 of workbook and share your 1 minute story

THE SCOOP | DAY 5

How to Develop the Innovation Story

Your Team

What is the innovation story that you want to tell?

In this class, you will be briefed on an innovation challenge posed by our brand partner. Your team will ideate solutions to key challenges facing your user. Then your team will develop a “story map”— showing how your user faces extraordinary challenges—ultimately to achieve something quite remarkable by means of your innovation.

THE SCOOP | DAY 6

How to Tell a Global Story “Articulate ideas, instigate change”

Christiana Shi, Nike

It takes great storytelling on at least three levels to accelerate a digital business globally.

People need a reason to “shop your store” when other alternatives are a click away.

Investors need to understand why your strategy will create real shareholder value. Internal partners need to be inspired to lean in and provide support. We will dive into how you reach distinct audiences with distinct goals, and end today with an interactive session with Nike leaders.

THE SCOOP | DAY 7

How to harness Story, Comedy + Improv to Build Culture Kelly Leonard & Anne Libera, Second City

David Hornik, August Capital

How do you build strong cultures by harnessing story, comedy and improv? Cultures that do so are not only high performing, but they also tend to be innovative, relevant and fun. Leaders from Second City and David Hornik from August Capital will join us to delve into these questions.

THE SCOOP | DAY 8

Hot to Tell a Story in a Virtual World

Patrick Ewing, Firewatcher

James Buckhouse, Sequoia

Telling stories in an immersive environment will change the future of storytelling in dramatic ways.

THE SCOOP | DAY 9

Innovation Pitch Finale

You!

Final Presentations

MOVING FORWARD POLICY ON FOOD, COFFEE. ALSO, CELL PHONES OPENING ACTS + HALF TIME SHOWS (5 MIN) TWO OPTIONAL WORKSHOPS - 4/19 Visual storytelling (Purin, IDEO) - 5/27 Designing experiences in a Virtual World NEXT UP: CHAPTER 2 OF WORKBOOK

THE

END Jennifer Aaker

Stanford Graduate School of Business jaaker@stanford.edu

BOOKS The Story Factor

The Dragonfly Effect

Annette Simmons

Story Juice Julie Fuoti & Lisa Johnson

Jennifer Aaker and Andy Smith

The Power of Personal Storytelling Jack Maguire

The Art of Storytelling: John Walsh

The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling Stephen Denning

Slide:ology

Story

Nancy Duarte

Robert McKee

Resonate

Made to Stick

Nancy Duarte

Chip & Dan Heath

Storytelling as Best Practice

We Feel Fine

Andy Goodman

Jonathan Harris & Sep Kamvar