In this chapter‑long podcast excerpt, Sally Koering Zimney walks listeners through Chapter 6 of her audiobook Speaking Story, focusing on what makes a story a "leadership story." She frames the episode with meta‑commentary about the audiobook’s release, platform options, and free resources from the Movers Collective. Zimney defines leadership stories by three essential qualities: they are persuasive, personal, and make a clear point. She illustrates persuasion with research from her graduate studies and a striking claim that attaching a story to a product can increase its perceived value by 2,706 %. The personal dimension is explained through the need for emotional connection and perspective, citing Annette Simmons and emphasizing that even business‑focused stories must be rooted in personal experience or observation. The third quality—making a point—is explored through a case study of a client named Ben, whose compelling adventure stories lacked an explicit takeaway, and through a contrast with Margo Lightman’s philosophy that storytellers should not dictate a moral. Zimney argues that leaders have a responsibility to shape meaning for their audience, turning stories into tools for influence and future‑shaping. The episode concludes with promotional calls to action for free resources (Movers Roadmap, Power Pitching Push), a reminder of the ad‑free Audible version, and an invitation to explore her Unspeaker Simple Storytelling mini‑course.
Chapters
You should know before I begin that this— fart number 3, trying again. Hi, welcome back to Speaking Story. I'm your guide to this experience that I'm so grateful you're walking with me on. Over the next many chapters, 'cause we are walking chapter by chapter through the audiobook of Speaking Story. I'm an audiobook person myself, which is why it's kind of embarrassing it took 2 years to get this out and going, but here we are. Here we are, we're doing it. There is an ad-free version of this, of the audiobook in its totality over on Audible, and you can go find that there. Or, and, I mean, and, if you wanna be that person, and you can get all of access to all of this content free here on the podcast feed and/or over on YouTube. I mean, maybe you wanna be a triple threat and really listen to it in all 3 platforms, or, you know, switch like I do. You might read something and then you wanna listen to it, and then you go back and reading and listen to it. Ah, you could do that. Anyhoozy, what's it? Here we are. This is all about Chapter 6, our leadership stories, and it's really wild to be walking through. Book and reminding myself what I talked about and what's actually in this book that I wrote and spent so much time writing. Ugh. It's kind of a wild, wild, wild to look back at this. But one of the cool things about doing this version of it where we're walking through it together for free here on the podcast is that we get to hear a little bit about the context around it, the inside process of pulling this together, and bringing a story to life, the story of the audiobook. It's kind of meta, as I say. And, uh, this chapter— what am I talking about in this? Oh yeah, what makes it a leadership story. Have I already talked about Margot Lightman on this? I'm not sure. Oh, oh my gosh, I love that. Is, is my thing about Dave? Yes. Okay, we have Ben. Oh, Marco. Ah, it's so fun, like, remember these things that I talk about in the book. So wild. This is great. Okay, this is true though, that a lot of times people are like, okay, but, uh, your, your belief in stories comes from talking to teenagers, and that of course teenagers love stories because they like to be entertained and they don't need to be impressed with information. And there's some truth about that, but while information is important and we are at some point transferring information, a leadership story— without stories, the information lacks context and meaning. A story that builds trust sounds different than a story that motivates a team, and a story that closes a sale is different than a story that introduces who you are. So we've got a few different types of leadership stories. She talked about earlier, like, how to identify what a leadership story is and isn't. And my real hope is that you recognize that even in a leadership context, and maybe even especially in a leadership context, you have a responsibility to bring stories in because they are They absolutely are persuasive and they are personal and they do make a point, which is different than some other kinds of stories, but that's not what we're doing. We are here to persuade, we're here to make it personal, and we're here to make a point. So let's talk about it. Hey everybody, and welcome to This Moved Me, a podcast about creating talks that move the world with me, your host, Sally Koering Zimney. This complimentary episode of the Speaking Story audiobook is brought to you in part by the Movers Collective. If you are listening to a book about speaking stories, I have a feeling you already know that you have a message worth sharing. Maybe you've been on a stage or two. Maybe it's still just a dream kind of sitting in your chest waiting. Either way, I want you to know that there's a real path from where you are right now to a speaking career that actually pays, one that fits your life, your message, and the change that you want to make in the world. That path starts with two free resources I wanna give you. The first is the Movers Roadmap. This is a clear-eyed look at what it actually takes to build a career as a professional speaker. The second is an audio series that I recorded live, uh, and this developed with my own clients, and it's called the Power Pitching Push. And in this series, I walk you through exactly how to pitch yourself as a speaker so that you can get some gigs. You will get a real taste of what it's like to work with me. Both are free. Go grab them and figure out your sally-z.com/path. Sally-z.com/path. Www.movers.com/path. And when you're ready to go all in, The Movers Collective is where we can take you from talented to professional. All right, now let's get into the show. Chapter 6: Leadership Stories. So what exactly is a leadership story? They are these 3 things. Number 1: Leadership stories are persuasive. Stories can sneak in and convince people of things when they least expect it. When I studied persuasion in grad school, stories were a tool I landed on because I'd watched it work wonders with one of the toughest audiences out there: teenagers. I wondered, does it work across other audiences? Would adults face the same response to stories? What about a strictly business audience or a group of distracted adults? You could argue that they're closed-minded, logical thinkers, and worse than teenagers even. The short answer is yes. Great marketers and salespeople know this already too, and they use stories wisely. Did you know that when you attach a story to your product, that story can increase the value of that product by 2,706%. What? I honestly can't believe that is even a percent. In other words, stories increase the value of something by a lot. Number 2: Leadership stories are personal. "Influence is created by how others feel about you and your goals." Annette Simmons. Simply put, If you want to tell a good story, it needs to be personal and emotive. So let's not kid ourselves and think that if you're speaking in a business context, it means your storytelling can remain intellectually focused and emotionally distant. Because if your stories are emotionally distant, they simply won't work. An effective story is personal because it's about what happens to you or what you observe or what you think. It's about your perspective. If you are speaking a story, your job is to share a personal perspective. That's what makes it a leadership story. And so those stories should be personal. That is the challenge in front of us. How do we personalize a story? Even if you're not telling your own story, or even if you are representing the story of a business, you have to find a way to make that story personal. Otherwise, it won't work. Number 3: Leadership stories make a point. Years ago, I was coaching Ben, a speaker who had some incredible stories to share. He had the kinds of stories that most of us think we have to have to be considered worth listening to. He had stories of adventure, daring, risk-taking that were powerful and engaging, including actually getting chased by a brown bear and surviving. He didn't have to find the drama in the story. It was simply there in the retelling, based purely on the plot points. He leads a life most of us don't really imagine for ourselves, which makes his storytelling automatically compelling. But as his coach, I saw a huge opportunity he was missing. He would tell this brilliant story and then Nothing. He would just move on to the next story, not bothering to make the point clear to that particular audience, or make any point at all. He had a point, of course, he just didn't articulate it. I'd say to him, "Ben, you're leaving too much to chance. You have no idea what lesson they're taking from your story." "That's the way I like it," he would say. Now ultimately it was up to Ben since he was the one who was speaking. He liked telling his stories and leaving them at the feet of the audience, inviting them to pick up whatever idea they felt or connected to on their own. But I have a different approach. One of my favorite books on storytelling is Long Story Short by Margo Lightman. It's full of great quotes and advice on storytelling. It is thought-provoking and funny. Margo is also an award-winning Moth storyteller, and she founded the storytelling program at the Upright Citizens Brigade. She knows what she's doing. But Margot and I differ in our thinking in one major way, much like how Ben and I differ. Margot believes that it isn't a storyteller's job to offer the moral of a story. She believes that we should lay the story down for the audience and let them take from it what they will. Truth be told, I think there's something really artistic and beautiful about that. And in some contexts, I think that's exactly the right approach. Like in a Moth Story Slam, for example. But for us as leaders and people who are intentionally doing something with our stories, we have to take it a step further. It's our job to create that meaning, pull out the significance of a story, and offer it up to the audience with new meaning and new perspective. The truth is, stories are doing something regardless of whether we know it. I don't want us to hit our audiences over the head with the purpose and point of our stories and talks as if they don't have the capability of doing it themselves. But it's a missed opportunity if we don't pull out the meaning, offer up our insights, and take the opportunity to help shape that new perspective. That is our privilege as speakers. You get to help shape the meaning and significance of the story, and therefore shape the future. So leadership stories are persuasive, they're personal, and they have a point. I love alliteration. That's the end of this chapter of Speaking Story. If you want to keep listening ad-free, you can find the full audiobook on Audible or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts or on YouTube. And if this chapter stirred something in you, if it, shall we say, moved you, let me suggest that you start with the Unspeaker Simple Storytelling audio mini-course at sally-zimney.com/unspeaker. All right, movers. This moved me. What is moving you? See you next time.
