David P. Schafer built guitars for Eddie Van Halen and George Thorogood before becoming a CMO and brand strategist. He discovered that telling executives at Dell and Adobe about his guitar-building background made them listen to his ideas differently. A specific personal story, even one unrelated to your current work, builds credibility and opens doors.
Hi, I'm David P. Schafer. I'm a CMO, a brand strategist, and a speaker. I currently help companies grow, but my story didn't start in business. It began a long time ago in a guitar workshop. There I was building instruments for famous rock and rollers, Eddie Van Halen, George Thorogood, a bunch of '80s hair metal bands, and I loved it. I was making cool stuff for cool people, working with my hands, and I even earned a few patents on my designs. That experience shaped the way that I see marketing. When I switched careers to advertising, I discovered a different kind of creativity. I learned to write and to brainstorm and to put my feet on the desk and spitball ideas with other people. There was a bit of rock and roll in advertising, just like guitar building, and I loved it. It felt perfect. As I rose through the ranks, I became known as a strong presenter. I was an idea guy. I'd pitch creative campaigns to executives at Dell and Adobe, big rooms filled with people. And one thing I learned that I always did was to introduce myself as a former guitar builder. I mentioned my guitar building past in almost every meeting. Because as soon as I did, suddenly heads popped up and eyes began to focus. The entire room shifted, and I could hear that they were listening to what I had to say. That simple story lit up their brains. For sure, music and guitars are unrelated to branding hotels or selling dog food. In those meetings, it made all the difference because I proved to them that I could think creatively. It gave my ideas an edge. It opened doors and led to promotions within a creative industry. So I'm sharing this to show how the right story might seem unrelated, but can give people exactly what they're looking for. You can give them a reason to lean in and think, yeah, this is the person who can help me move forward. That's the power of storytelling. It can open doors you never thought possible.
