INDUSTRY 2023 - Don’t Convince. Inspire! Lessons on storytelling and product evangelizing.

Petra Wille | @loomista
Lessons on storytelling and product evangelizing.
Don’t convince. Inspire!
INDUSTRY 2023

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Petra Wille is an independent
product leadership coach
and author of STRONG
Product People

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No
professional
storytelling
skills
• How do I make sure the team is aligned
on what really matters right now?
• How to I explain all the things I know
matter in a compelling way?

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I'm on this stage today to share
what I've learned in countless
coaching sessions on business
storytelling.
Therefore, this talk is packed with
tips and tricks for product people
to improve their storytelling and
product evangelizing skills.
Let's start with a small task.

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Think back to a business experience where someone truly inspired
you to change course and take action. A meeting after which you felt
energized and motivated to return to your desk and tackle your next
task.
What was the occasion?
Who was the person talking/inspiring you?

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Would you like to be as
inspiring as the person
you just noted? ?

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You struggle to picture
yourself as a great story
teller or speaker?

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Let me help you re-frame
storytelling to mute your
inner critic*
*Shout out to Denise Jacobs here 

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Why stories are important
- especially if you are working in product
Why I call them a design tool
Why it´s easy to improve your storytelling
• Structures and ingredients of compelling stories
• Some great resources to learn more
And to do so, I will share:

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Why stories are important
While we are not exactly born telling stories….

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Photo by Austin Pacheco on Unsplash
Each one of us has the ability to tell stories from a very early age—it’s built into our DNA.
We perfect our storytelling skills throughout our childhood because we learn early on, that
a good story helps us to get what we want.

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By making her wish part
of a bigger narrative, she
was more convincing.
Winterboots?

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Photo by quokkabottles on Unsplash
And it’s not only the active storytelling: We love to listen to stories from a very early age
because they entertain us, captivate us, and help us to gain new insights.

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Photo by Halacious on Unsplash
They have a biological impact
on us, triggering the release of
hormones that act on us in
very powerful ways

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Oxytocin
which causes us to build trust, generosity,
and a personal connection
Endorphins
which can make someone laugh or help them
deal with fear, pain, or uncertainty
Dopamine
which leads to a desire to know what happens
next when you tell a story with peaks and
cliffhangers
That’s useful in our product
management practice.
Wouldn’t it be good to help
people build trust and help
them deal with uncertainty?

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“We think in stories,
remember in stories,
and turn just about
everything we
experience into a story.”
Carl Alviani (October 11, 2018). The Science Behind Storytelling. Retrieved from
https://medium.com/the-protagonist/the-science-behind-storytelling-51169758b22c
After learning these things about stories I
would totally agree with Carl Alviani:

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This ability to use stories to
inspire others to work with
us to solve problems—
particularly as a group—has
given our species Homo
sapiens, a unique
evolutionary advantage that
has enabled us to
collectively survive and
thrive on this planet.

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What Stories Do
We've learned why stories are important and that every one of us is,
by default, a storyteller. Now let's dive a bit deeper into the power
of stories.

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#deathtostock
As you have probably experienced
throughout your career, it takes a story
to unite a group of people
Business storytelling is a
thing!

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One well known use case for business storytelling is used by the
iconic brands we all know: They are masters at telling brand
stories. Even their shortest slogans (often, just a few words) can
evoke images in the brains of customers that encourage their
minds to wander to a better future.
Foto von Alexander Shatov auf Unsplash
Brands are Masters in
Story Telling

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Photo by Nelson Ndongala on Unsplash
Think of Nike’s “Just do it,” or Apple’s “Think different,” or BMW’s “The ultimate driving machine.”
And it is not only their marketing claims that transport the brands story. They also have great personalities who tell these stories to the
world and also within their own organizations.

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https://guykawasaki.com/
One of the first Product
Evangelists of our time:
Macintoshs' Guy Kawasaki
I think, this is a highly underrated skill, and many organizations are unaware that better storytelling
would make a big difference and ease some of the internal pains they are having.

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Uninspired
Divided
Stakeholders were not convinced
to support the effort
I have seen many products that never saw the light of day because the storytelling was off.
As a result, the product team was

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A lesson that I have
learned the hard way
myself.
Despite my efforts to
effectively manage the
backlog and prioritize tasks,
our team's output was not
making a significant impact.

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We were running several product
discovery initiatives to better
understand our products’ shortcomings
but continued to add features without
seeing any improvement.
Frustrated by our lack of
success, I sought guidance
from my product coach.

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The problem might be your
Product Evangelizing and
Story Telling skills…
He pointed out that I was not
effectively communicating the
findings from our product
discovery efforts to the rest of
the team and the company.
So, important information was
lost, sparks did not fly, and
the team was neither inspired
nor motivated by what we
told them about our discovery
learnings and what we could
achieve next.

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They did not have enough
information to innovate on
behalf of the user.
And without a clear
understanding of our user's
needs and how they fit into
the bigger picture, how this
ties back to my product
strategy, the team lacked THE
inspiration and motivation to
innovate on behalf of the
user.

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The connection between my
pain and the potential
solution of becoming better
at product evangelizing

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Storytelling skills?
Just nonexistent
and that’s a career
staller!
2008-Marty to Petra:

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Storytelling is something
I should work on.
But as every great coach Marty did not only share his
observation and help me realize that storytelling is
something I should work on, but he also left me with some
ideas on how to start my self progression journey. Marty
recommended that I read Guy Kawasaki’s book, Selling the
Dream, and I did exactly that.

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Guy Kawasaki, Selling the Dream, Harper Business (1992)
After reading the book, I realized how Guy Kawasaki's ability to
tell great stories is vital to the overall Macintosh success story.
I understood the critical importance of storytelling.

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Developing this skill changed the rest of my career as a product
manager
I started telling stories that:
united my product development team
and convinced stakeholders that we had
done our product discovery homework.
And my stories helped marketing
colleagues position the product in better
ways. But, most importantly, I figured
out what mattered to our users in the
process of creating a narrative and made
sure to put them, the users, at the
center of my stories.

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Stories are a perfect
design tool
• Everyone has the ability to create one,
• they’re easy to iterate on, and
• they help you gain more clarity.
So, you might want to reframe storytelling and think about it more like you think about creating a prototype
or click dummy. It is a tool that you could add to your PM toolkit.
I’ve learned that ultimately

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Creating and telling a
Good Story
A good story has a well-defined structure that makes it easy
for people to understand and navigate. It has a beginning, a
middle part and an end.
Now let´s dive into the process of creating a compelling story

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Let me share one high-level structure that worked well for many PMs so far. A story that helps others to
get exited about something has a few key elements:
• It paints a picture of a desirable future
• It makes it clear why one should become part of
this future
• It acknowledges the current situation while
describing the potential difficulties that may arise
and why it’s worth overcoming them
• It suggests a common goal with just enough
information to make next steps clear for listeners

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The hero’s journey starts in the
ordinary world with a call to
adventure—which could be in the
form of a big dream or desirable
future—and progresses through a
succession of challenges, tests, and
trials before reaching the ultimate
destination where the hero has
achieved their goal and is
transformed, sharing what they has
learned with others.
One story structure using these key
elements and maybe the most well-
known story structures is “the hero’s
journey,” which was elucidated by
professor of literature Joseph
Campbell.

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We are called to
adventure by the
promise of a new
product
#deathtostock
E.g. we have to get
others to buy into our
strategy and help them
make tough tradeoff
decisions during the
process of building the
product.

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Besides using these helpful structures:
How would I approach creating my first story?
Step #1 undoubtedly is – make
time for it in your calendar.
Photo by NASA on Unsplash

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Photo by Sonja Langford on Unsplash
Creating and writing down a story is a
lot of work, but, if you do it right,
you’ll be able to use the same story
for months or even years.

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Photo by Sonja Langford on Unsplash
A good story will save you
hours of meetings convincing
people that the things you are
doing are the right ones to do
It is a bit of an upfront
investment but it is
worth the effort.
Creating and writing down a story is a
lot of work, but, if you do it right,
you’ll be able to use the same story
for months or even years.

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So, Step 1 is to make sure you have
time for the actions suggested on
the next slides:

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To overcome the paralyzing fear of the blank page:

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Foto von Kelly Sikkema auf Unsplash
Once you’ve done that, you start
to write a narrative. Open your
preferred text editor and just
start laying out the story.

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Once upon a time there
was a team of five that
wanted to change the
world for the better….
Once upon a time there
was this one person that
had a big problem and
technology came to the
rescue…

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It’s good for you
It’s good for us
It’s good for all

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Run casual interviews with a few
people to reveal their reservations
regarding your mission and where
they are coming from to get that
covered.
Then make sure you touch upon
that in your story: Communicate
that you understand the
reservations but make sure your
story highlights that you believe in
the talent and strength of the
team and that, as a team, you will
figure out how to overcome the
obstacles.

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Photo by Anne Nygård on Unsplash
Kill the monsters that will stand in
our way. There are always some
monsters: from tech legacy to
hardware pieces not yet invented.

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Present the shared
goal, create a sense
of urgency and
present information
that enables action

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Making Your Message Stick
Now that you have your story, how do you ensure that it will stick? Humans are clearly
inspired and motivated by the written or spoken word. But we are also inspired and
motivated by…

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The Tennis Court Oath in Versailles by Jacques-Louis David.
Photograph: De Agostini/Getty
So if you want to make your
message stick, you have to come
up with various formats of your
story.

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written
spoken
illustrated
Your message, your story

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written
spoken
illustrated
short
medium
long
Your message, your story

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Photo by Sung Jin Cho on Unsplash
150 words
75 seconds

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Photo by Hulki Okan Tabak on Unsplash
900 words
6 minutes
repeat

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Photo by Melyna Valle on Unsplash
#deathtostock
3x800 words
18 minutes

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I am a big fan of drawings, illustrations and pictures that help tell a story
Find visualizations
that support the
various versions of
your story

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Sketch Noting ftw
And once you’ve done all of that you are ready for your final round of story line refinements.

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Getting ready to tell
your story.
Here’s my checklist for this phase of the process:

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Be picky about the
words you use!
Photo by Glen Carrie on Unsplash
• Avoid using buzzwords, tool names, and 3-
letter acronyms. Grab a text marker and get
rid of ALL of them!
• Don’t use words that are used very often in
your context or environment, such as
“customer success” or even “product
discovery”—people will tune them out

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Pete Souza | Credit: The White House
Relevant
Important
True
https://strongpp.link/davidaxelrod
Follow the advice of David Axelrod and
check if the story you are sharing is:

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Beware of
Manipulation
Photo by Agni B on Unsplash
Storytelling can be misused, and don´t want to
become the master of puppets.

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#deathtostock
Run an
experiment
Start telling your story to a small
number of people. Observe how they
are reacting to your story.
• Are they drawing the right
conclusions?
• Are they asking the right questions?
• Did you succeed in inspiring them
with your story?
If they are struggling to envision the
same bright future, you might want to
go back to reflection mode and ask
yourself: What do they know and do I
need to share more details or insights to
help them see what I see?

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Photo by Ava Sol on Unsplash
Check if the story really
lights up the brains of your
listeners.
Make sure you…
• Use words that provoke emotions
• Use words that trigger their senses,
including smell, touch, vision, sound,
and even taste
• And please try to make them laugh.

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Once that is done you want to start sharing your story in it´s various formats. While doing so make sure you…
• Show your curiosity and passion for the topic
• Focus on speaking to the hearts and minds of your audience and not so much on convincing them of something

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Recap
How about your inner critic?
To make sure you are, let me recap some of my key points. I want you to remember that…

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Humans
automatically
think in stories.
When we hear
good stories, they
trigger something
in us.
Stories help to
facilitate group work
by inspiring people to
become part of a
movement.
Everyone can tell stories.
It is worth investing in this
skill.
It takes a few simple
ingredients and structures
to get started.

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• Think about the audience and what they
want to achieve (What`s in for them?)
• Use a proven storytelling structure to ensure
nothing is missing (e.g., the hero, the
journey, the destination)
• Make sure there are a variety of ways to tell
this one story: short, medium, and long, as
well as written, spoken, and illustrated.
• Make it your story. (Able to tell the story
without lengthy preparation )
Only a few
Ingredients…

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I hope this leaves you with enough
motivation and tools to start a written
narrative exercise tomorrow.
And if you get stuck, come back to this talk or allow yourself to be
inspired by some of the best storytellers of our time.

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Links to these talks will be included in the final slide deck I will share online: https://www.petra-wille.com/storytelling

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No
professional
storytelling
skills
The new you

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Thanks
#strongproductpeople
Blog: https://petra-wille.com/blog
Slides: https://www.petra-wille.com/storytelling

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Petra Wille | @loomista | petra-wille.com

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Some great talks
to watch

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A perfect example of how powerful it is to use words that light up other people’s brains.
Sarah Kay: If I should have a daughter
https://www.ted.com/talks/sarah_kay_if_i_should_have_a_daughter
Do you think storytelling based on a lot of data is boring? Not if you are listening to
Hans Rosling:
https://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_let_my_dataset_change_your_mindset
Complex topic explained well: Al Gore: The Case for Optimism
on Climate Change:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7E1v24Dllk
A great speaker telling stories that matter to you
Simon Sinek on why good leaders make you feel safe:
https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_why_good_leaders_make_you_feel_safe

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Matthew McConaughey winning Best Actor at the Oscars. Pay attention to
the simple, powerful structure:
Something to look up, something to look forward, something to chase:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wD2cVhC-63I&t=127s
One of the best product demos ever: Steve Jobs iPhone 2007
Presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vN4U5FqrOdQ
Not possible to not listen to him! We need to talk about an
injustice: Bryan Stevenson:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cKfCmSqZ5s&t=1270s
Nancy Duarte: The Secret Structure of Great Talks:
https://www.ted.com/talks/nancy_duarte_the_secret_structur
e_of_great_talks?language=en

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Further Reading
How Stories Change the Brain:
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_stories_change_brain
Strategic Storytelling Is Product Management:
https://www.thisisproductmanagement.com/episodes/strategic-storytelling/
My product management toolkit: Storytelling:
https://medium.theuxblog.com/my-product-management-toolkit-15-storytelling-46e65d7f061b
Why We Need Storytellers at the Heart of Product Development:
https://uxmag.com/articles/why-we-need-storytellers-at-the-heart-of-product-development
Storytelling for Product Managers:
https://medium.com/pminsider/storytelling-for-product-managers-fc1a758eb303
72 Rules of Commercial Storytelling:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/72-rules-commercial-storytelling-jeremy-waite/

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Further Reading for Product Leads
https://www.petra-wille.com/blog https://www.amazon.com/dp/3982235103 https://strongpp.link/nl

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Petra Wille | @loomista | petra-wille.com

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INDUSTRY 2023 - Don’t Convince. Inspire! Lessons on storytelling and product evangelizing.

INDUSTRY 2023 - Don’t Convince. Inspire! Lessons on storytelling and product evangelizing.

Petra Wille

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