What's Your Story?: Using Stories to Ignite Performance and Be More Successful

by Craig Wortmann

In What’s Your Story? Using Stories to Ignite Performance and Be More Successful, author, entrepreneur, and master story teller Craig Wortmann demonstrates the powerful impact stories have on the three most common performance challenges—leadership, strategic selling, and motivation.   While the technique of telling stories is the oldest form of communication—it’s also the one form that rises above the din of our information-saturated environment and delivers messages in a way that connects with people, bringing ideas to life and making them actionable and memorable.   Leaders of all levels will learn how to use the toolset developed in this book; the Win Book, Story Matrix and Story Coach to capture and tell the right stories at the right time to inspire their own performance and the performance of those around them.  Through real-life scenarios, illustrations, quotations, tools and examples, Wortmann guides readers through the process of uncovering their stories.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Personal Development, Communication, Self Help

240 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2006

Reviews

[Miguel Yances Rojas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Storytelling en el mundo de los negocios

Los seres humanos estamos expuestos a través de todo tipo de información de diferentes fuentes: teléfono, email, internet, redes sociales, radio, TV, etc. La mayoría de las organizaciones se comunican a través de correos e-, PowerPoint, mensajes, etc. Sin embargo, el arte de contar historias se remota a las comunidades antiguas donde todos se reunían en medio de una fogata.
Este arte hoy en día se ha llevado al mundo de los negocios y universidades de alto nivel como Harvard, Kellogg’s y Chicago hoy en día lo enseñan a sus estudiantes a través de casos de estudio. De igual forma, muchas empresas han logrado su posicionamiento a través de historias genuinas, persuasivas y que logran impactar el corazón de las personas. Pese a lo anterior, sus historias son densas, parecen novelas, excesos de detalles y pierden la esencia.
Conservaré sin embargo, la idea de coleccionar historias, reconozco el poder de persuasión de las mismas y una herramienta maravillosa para conectar con los hijos.

[Matthew Schiliro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great message and useful stuff

I bought this book for a quick read on vacation. The book was well organized and really hit home on the message. I'd recommend this book to anyone trying to get ahead in life and business. Great way to organize your thoughts and put them to use!

[Peter P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice work on the power of story-telling by Craig Worthmann. Should be good reading for academics, educators, leaders, managers and salespeople. Particularly great idea on the value of creating story matrixes.

[Joaquin Alducin · Rating 3 out of 5]

very quick read, has some positive aspects, but I was expecting something more complete with more stories and explanations.

[Mike Terlizzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written before “storytelling” became a nonsense buzzword,
“What’s Your Story” is a rare gem - a book about “telling stories” that is not only devoid of bullsh*t, but also a great read.

[Andrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally getting to review this quintessential guide for aspiring storytellers.

Key Takeaways:
🦸‍♀️ Storytelling is a superpower for influence and engagement
🗿 Stories should be genuine, not cheesy infomercials. #AuthenticityMatters

Section 1: The Power of Storytelling 🗣️
Wortmann spills the tea: stories aren't just facts, they're the feels, the vibes, the whole shebang! They hit different, making them perfect for those "make or break" moments.

Section 2: Unlearning and Learning through Stories
Stories are like "mind blown" memes, challenging what we think we know. They're great teachers, giving us relatable examples and context. #LearnUnlearnRepeat 🧠

Section 3: The Story Matrix
The Story Matrix is Wortmann’s piece de resistance. It's like a cheat code for organizing your stories. It uses two axes:

Horizontal: Represents different areas or themes, such as Culture/Company, Execution, Sales, Service, Teamwork, and Me. You can customize these categories to fit your own needs.

Vertical: Represents different outcomes or emotions, such as Success, Failure, Fun, and Legends.

By placing your stories within this matrix, you can easily find the right story for different situations and audiences. For example, if you're trying to inspire your team, you might choose a Success story from the Teamwork category. If you're trying to break the ice in a new meeting, you might choose a Fun story from the Me category.

The Story Matrix helps you pick the right story for any situation. It's like having a story for every occasion! 🎉

Section 4: The IGNITE Acronym
Finally, the IGNITE acronym, a storytelling cheat sheet:

Intentional: Choose stories strategically, like a boss. 😎

Genuine: Share real stories, not those fake "once upon a time" ones. 🙄

Natural: Let the story flow, no need to force it. 🌊

Improvisational: Be flexible, like a yoga instructor. 🧘‍♀️

Total: Give the full picture, don't leave out the juicy details. 🍿

Engaging: Get your audience involved, make it a party! 🥳


Conclusion

"What's Your Story" is a must-read for anyone who wants to level up their communication game. By mastering storytelling, you'll be inspiring, influencing, and connecting like a pro. 😉 #StorytellingGoals

Remember: Stories have the power to bring people together, open doors, and even make work fun.

[Joe Michalak · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a disclaimer, I recieved this book as part of a program during my MBA, which included a presentation by the author, who was/is an adjunct professor at the university. Also as a disclaimer, that was in 2014.

While most business books share rather simple, intuitive advice (albeit in new contexts), this book goes a bit deeper. As data becomes more and more prevalent, it is all too easy to get lost in the "bits and bullets." That said, as I've progressed through my career, it's become fairly apparent that Storytelling is an extremely important and useful tool, both to persuade and communicate information. The primary focus of this book is selling, and client service. That said, though, there are also examples of "cross-functional" collaboration, and various other non-sales situations.

I am a financial analyst, so I don't do any pure selling. However, for me, storytelling is definitely a part of persuasion and making reccomendations, and also provides useful context even when reporting results. (For instance, Wortmann mentions that financial information can be shown using bits and bullets, which is only partially true. I can provide an operating profit number, say $X MM , but in order to turn that data point into a useful piece of information, I would need to use storytelling to provide important context to that.)

Ultimately, I would reccomend this book to all businesspeople, regardless of function, looking to improve their communication skills - there is a lot of valuable insight in here, as well as useful tools to put the insights into action.

[Shania Moore · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like the idea but didn’t actually get anything that I could
Implement from this book. His course on coursera is a little better

[Sasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, by UChicago Booth School's Craig Wortmann, describes a toolset for collecting exemplary stories and case studies about your business. One tool, the "Story Matrix" is essentially a cross-reference of storylines (success, failure, etc) cross-referenced with different leadership aspects (culture, sales, etc). The resulting matrix/spreadsheet is a quick summary of important moments and cultural shifts in your company's history before an important meeting. The book has several other valuable and easily customizable story toolset ideas for entrepreneurs besides the "story matrix." Engaging and imagination-provoking read.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

How you read this book affects your rating. I expected it to be mostly a handbook of tools and exercises: something that got right to the point. Unfortunately, there's a lot of fluff surrounding the meaty parts (lots of set up, paragraphs rehashing what was just said in a previous one, etc), essentially stretching out a 4 chapter book into a 9 chapter behemoth. Of course, there are some good example stories strewn throughout which do help to illustrate the concepts better.

[Nick W. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent business/leadership book about the importance of stories. It also supports my anti-PowerPoint position, so I quite liked it. The Story Matrix and Win Book ideas are excellent examples of ways leaders can improve and build on past experiences. This book is filled with stories and quotes that illustrate the main point. Stories are sticky and can be used to inspire far better than any slide pack ever could.

[Helder · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really great book! Everybody needs to be a good story teller. Stories are the better way to connect with ourselves and with others. They allow you to pass your message on a deeply personal level. This is a book about this form of art, how to capture your own stories and how to tell them when they are needed. I highly recommend this book.

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed the final chapters of this book the most, which illustrated the concepts presented earlier in a realistic and relatable way. Looking forward to building my story matrix etc. as part of Prof. Wortmann's class this quarter.

This book is definitely formatted for ease of use, and the summary at the end of each chapter and index at the end are great resources!

[davexfaulk · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really excited in the beginning of the book, but while it was still well-written, I feel it had less and less impact as it wore on. It seemed like one of those books where it had one big idea and three small tools, and then the rest was padding. Don't get me wrong, though: the one big idea and three small tools are great, but in terms of a stand-alone book, maybe it lacked a little punch.

[Kevin Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book that is helpful in enhancing our communication through storytelling. Stories build connections and help people understand and retain messages for longer.