In this episode of the This Moved Me podcast, host Sally Koering Zimney announces the relaunch of the show and the upcoming serialized release of her audiobook, Speaking Story, across 42 podcast episodes. She opens with a vivid recollection of a recent Legacy Intensive, where a participant’s vulnerable on‑stage storytelling moved her to tears and reinforced her conviction that personal narrative is the engine of change. Zimney explains her core belief that "stories are the tool of the revolution," arguing that in an era of abundant information, insight and humanity exchanged through story drive real transformation. She outlines a dual‑distribution model: a fully produced version for purchase on Audible and a free, chapter‑by‑chapter release on the podcast feed (also available on YouTube). She promotes complementary resources—the Unspeaker System audio course for discovering personal stories and the Be Moved Institute (B.M.I.) for deeper practice—linking them in the show notes. Throughout, she calls listeners to subscribe, share, and invite anyone who needs to find confidence in their own story, positioning the series as a catalyst for leaders, speakers, and everyday people to harness storytelling for personal and societal impact.
Chapters
Boopity boop boop. Oh my gosh. Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back. Holy buckets, as they say here in Minnesota. Welcome back. It has been a hot minute or 7 since I have officially put out a podcast, like a true podcast, an audio podcast. For those of you who have been here before and been with me, some of you since the very beginning, I'm so glad that you're back and have walked with me through lots of iterations of this beautiful experiment called This Moved Me. And it has been many, many iterations. Uh, so welcome, welcome back. And Thank you. Thank you for being here. And if you are new, your timing is perfect because something is happening here. See? And I want you to be a part of it from the very beginning, all of you. So I wanna start today with a moment that happened just truly yesterday, yesterday, because it is The whole reason why I'm doing what I'm about to tell you I'm doing. For the past 4 days, I have been running one of my intensives. We call it the Legacy Intensive. It's a small group. These are leaders who are intentionally taking a message and building a business around it. Thought leadership business. And we spend a lot of this intensive talking strategy and thinking really deeply about how they could be doing this better. But there is a day in the intensive where we gather at a theater, and we turn the house lights down and the stage lights up, and we invite these folks to step into the spotlight and onto the stage. And one of the people, I mean, these are not all like super highly experienced speakers necessarily. They just have a message and a mission. And one of these amazing humans had not spoken out loud part of his story in a really long time, if ever. And especially in that sort of condensed, how do I, how do I put my life into story and put myself on stage and allow myself to be seen. And, oh, watching him step on that stage, take a few deep breaths, and just start, just hold that moment and walk us through a tiny slice of his life, just a moment from his life, and what it means for him, and through his perspective, what it means for all of us, was just so inspiring. And I was sitting in the audience watching him, and like a little tear eked out of my eye and just bobbled down my face. I'm smiling, but I'm weepy because I know how vulnerable that is, and I know how powerful that is. And I was reminded so powerfully in that moment. I'm like, this is why, this is why stories are the tool. This is why everybody, I don't care who you are or what your vision is, the kind of impact that you wanna have, story, story, story. Story is the tool. It is the engine of connection. And here's the thing, maybe you know this, maybe not. I'm holding it in my hot little hands right now. I wrote a book called Speaking Story. Maybe you've read it. You haven't, I can tell you. I can tell you this for sure. You haven't listened to the audiobook on it because I haven't published it yet. That's a little hint for what's coming. But part 1 of the book, and there are 6 parts to it, part 1 of the book is actually titled Stories Are the Tool of the Revolution, in parentheses, or whatever change you want to make. And I love that idea so much. Stories are the tool of the revolution. And I believe that deeply. But what's funny to me is I wrote that before a lot of what's happening in the world right now. Is happening. And yet I have never felt it more true and deeply than I do today. I think that's why I literally cannot stop the leaky, the leakiness out of my eyes. I've been weepy for the last several days because I feel this sense of power and mission, and I want to give the microphone to people whose stories are going to be a part and a tool of the revolution. So whatever revolution you're in, and we are all in some kind of revolution. I mean, I'm all about like, let's change the world. I almost dropped an F-bomb because I've been in that mode, but I'm going to try and hold back a little bit because, you know, you might hear some along the way, but I got a little overboard with the f-bombs. Anyway. Okay. We are all in some kind of revolution, whether it's giant change the world kind of revolution, or whether you are truly trying to change what's happening in your day to day between relationships or culture at work. The people who will move others, they are not going to be the ones who have the most data or even what you think of as the best data. It's not going to be the ones with the most polished presentation, I promise you, or the most impressive bio and resume. I swear to you, I promise, your perfect presentation does not guarantee a freaking thing. Change is going to come from the people who who can look another human being in the eye or into a camera or the microphone or whatever and say, "Here is what happened to me. Here's my perspective. Here's what it meant. And here's why I think it matters to you." Because through that story, through that experience, that is where we begin to see each other differently. And that's where change starts. And I know that we've been trained, especially as leaders, as entrepreneurs, as quote unquote experts, to lead with our knowledge, that it's the framework that makes all the difference. And hey, I love a good framework. I think frameworks are super important. But our effort to prove ourselves with our information or our certification, to earn trust by demonstrating everything that we know, that era is changing. It was true when I wrote this book a few years ago, but it is like, oof, it is so true now because you can get information for free online with the touch of a button. So we don't just need knowledge exchange anymore. We need insight exchange. We need humanity exchange, and we need the kind of connection that lives in the specific, the personal, the true. And that lives so beautifully, so specifically, and so powerfully in story. And here's the deal, here's why we're here. I could have kept this audiobook as a paid thing and made a little money on it and moved on, and honestly, um, that would be fine, but I just kept coming back to this feeling that right now, in this moment, access matters more than— that if I really believe stories are the tool of the revolution, then I need to give people the tools. So, that is what I'm doing. So, starting with the next episode, whenever you're hearing this, the next episode that you are listening to, It will be the beginning of the Speaking Story audiobook. And here's how I'm releasing it. Yes, you can go get it on Audible, the full produced version available for purchase over there. And, uh, that's great. It's over there right now. If you want to throw some money my way, that's an amazing way to do it. I won't not take it. I'll take it. Thank you. But I'm also releasing it part by part right here on this podcast feed. Free, no cost, no barrier. Just show up, subscribe, and listen. Each episode is a chapter and there are 42 of them, but we're going to release it part by part. So we are going to be moving through the whole book together. The why stories matter, the how to find and craft your story, the frameworks, the rehearsal strategies, the stage presence work. I mean, all of it. And I'm literally jumping up and down right now because, uh, I, I want you to have this. And when you pour your heart into something and you know that it will change the way people show up, I'm just like, here, here, I want you to have it. And when we get to the end, to the epilogue, which honestly is one of the most personal things I've ever shared, I hope you'll understand why I couldn't keep this locked behind a paywall. Okay, so it'll be on Audible. You can pay for it there. It'll be right here on the podcast feed, wherever you're listening to your podcasts. And you can also find the audio over on YouTube if that's where you'd prefer it, if that's where you like to hang. So it's there, and we'll walk through together. Now, of course, if you want to go deeper, if you want the exercises, the companion experience, there's all kinds of tools that you can access. I've got a really cool new audio course called the Unspeaker System that is all about finding, walking you through really specifically through like this really cool audio tool, how you can find and identify your personal stories. And I'm going to be sharing with you a little bit more about the Be Moved Institute, which I'm lovingly calling B.M.I. for those of you who are out there and really ready to go all in. Links will be in the show notes on all that, and you'll hear a little bit more about it along the way. But really, all I want you to do is to start right here, right now with this feed. To subscribe so you don't miss a single episode. And right now, if you know someone who has a story— and p.s., we all have a story— I'd love for you to send this to them. If you know somebody who speaks at work, who presents at work, and doesn't feel the joy of that, doesn't feel confident in that and hasn't experienced the power of the connection that we can build in that experience, then this is for them too. That's who this is for. If you are somebody who is building a speaking business and still kind of feeling like you haven't figured out the story part of this, that you've got the polish and the presence and the frameworks up the wazoo, but you haven't felt the freedom and joy of self-trust in your story and your approach, then this is for you too. So I have believed for a long time that the world needs more leaders who speak their stories, not more experts performing perfection and performing expertise. We need more humans telling the truth about what they've lived through, and what it made them into and what that means for us. And I know you have a story, even if you're like, uh, do I have a story? You do. I promise you, you do. And we are about to go find it together. I can't wait. I'm so excited. I'll see you in the next episode. But please, before you go, hit, I don't know, whatever, subscribe, like, connect. I don't know, because this has been a pretty dead channel for a while, team. We just went on pause a while ago and it's now we're cooking with gas again. It's coming back. You don't want to miss a thing. See you next week.
