Today, I have an epic illustration that shows that we don’t have control over the stories we tell.
AMC Theaters creates refillable popcorn buckets themed around current hot movie releases. Their Dune Part 2 bucket resembles a sandworm and has quickly become a collector’s item. But the chief content officer, Elizabeth Frank, has been quoted as saying,
“We would have never imagined the “Dune” thing. We would have never created it knowing it would be celebrated or mocked.”
That’s because the bucket has been compared to a sex toy, parodied on Saturday Night Live and others, and I’ll let you google it to find it if you’re interested. It’s too cringey for me to link up, and it’s unnecessary to support my point: you can try all you want, but you don’t have control over the narrative.
This is the risk we take as storytellers, which we knowingly accept.
This leads me to Taylor Swift. Yes, I know. All roads these days seem to lead to Taylor Swift. I won’t ask your forgiveness on this because we have so much to learn from her and her ability to connect meaningfully with millions of fans worldwide. To smash records (and I don’t mean the physical kind). I mean the number of streams of a digital album on Spotify in one day which she smashed in 12 hours. I mean the revenue her concerts bring to communities, the number of young people who registered to vote off of one message she posted and I could go on.
I like her music but love her storytelling and change-making leadership more. My obsession is rooted in this last bit because my upcoming book, The Power of Story, examines and unravels iconic leaders who use story to create connections that influence behavior.
When Taylor Swift released her new album, The Tortured Poets Department, last week, she posted a 2 am surprise. Her new album is not a single but a double album, and she promptly dropped 15 extra songs.
“I’d written so much tortured poetry in the past 2 years and wanted to share it all with you… And now the story isn’t mine anymore…it’s all yours.”
Unrelated – for the past two years, she’s had a few things going on, like a major tour (also smashing records), and yet she had time to put this masterpiece into the world. Next time you email someone how busy you are, this is your reminder you’re not that busy. I wrote about the Badge of Busy 11 years ago. I still stand by it.
She gets it. Once told, a story becomes someone else’s story.
You can fear sharing your story, knowing others will make of it what they want to, but here’s a better thought: share the story knowing it’s not about you and that others will find something of themselves in it and be better for it. Something will change for them: a feeling, a thought, a behavior, or an action.
It might feel like it’s about you, but the story becomes the receiver’s once it’s been told.
In holding your story back, everyone loses.
Take care out there.
SOME WAYS I MAY BE ABLE TO HELP YOU AND YOUR TEAM:
LEAD YOUR WAY: This mentoring/coaching program is designed to help you step into your leadership and show up as your best self so you can communicate to connect and amplify your impact.
COMMUNICATE TO CONNECT: In my storytelling workshops, I teach leaders of all capabilities how to engage authentically with their teams, community, and stakeholders to create meaningful connections that build trust, increase team engagement and lead to better fundraising and revenue generation.
Did you have something else in mind? Let’s talk and see how I might be able to help. Contact me and we’ll schedule a chat.
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