“We are all natural storytellers, but somehow we lose this part of ourselves when we enter the corporate world”

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Rewind to freshman year of undergrad @ UGA

I first read this book while taking my basic communications class @ The University of Georgia; it’s difficult to teach public-speaking and thankfully my professor at the time agreed. Instead of a textbook, we used Carmine Gallo’s ‘Talk Like TED’ along with other supplemental readings. I remember enjoying the book and being able to watch the TED Talks referenced in the book right after reading about them but otherwise, my memory had grown foggy.

Fast forward to April, 2023 and I decided to re-read the book - primarily to polish my storytelling skills (these are vital in UX). The book was informative, well organized and delivered concise messaging about how to improve conveying ideas to an audience. I recently read Tom Greever’s Articulating Design Decision’ but felt that supplementing it with an even broader context was a good idea.

Read more for my thoughts on the book!

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Improving the art of storytelling

Storytelling is a fun skill. It’s also a vital skill to communicate ideas to audiences that don’t share the same expertise as you. It’s also a skill I’m seeking to continuously refine and one that has benefited by rereading ‘Talk Like TED.’

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The 3 Components of a TED Talk

Carmine Gallo breaks up TED Talks into three main components:

1. Emotional - they touch the heart

2. Novel - they teach something new

3. Memorable - they present content in ways I’ll never forget

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I would argue that these three components are not just essential for TED Talks but are essential for successful storytelling in general.

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More specifically, he shares his 9 secrets for delivering a great talk:

1. Unleash the master within

2. Master the art of storytelling

3. Have a conversation

4. Teach me something new

5. Deliver jaw-dropping moments

6. Lighten up

7. Stick to the 18-minute rule

8. Paint a mental picture with multisensory experiences

9. Stay in your lane

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I read this book with the explicit intent to focus on secret #2: storytelling. In order to do that though, the other 8 secrets are just as important.

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My Thoughts on the book:

There was one particular quote from the entire book that stood out to me so deeply:

“We are all natural storytellers, but somehow we lose this part of ourselves when we enter the corporate world”

In grade school, storytelling and giving presentations was always something I enjoyed and something I considered to be a great strength. I gave a presentation in late high school about the important of campus security (sadly, this topic has aged well) and was urged to give my presentation to a panel of county metro Atlanta county officials.

Somewhere along the way, presentations became much more robotic and ‘to the point.’ I think part of this can be attributed to the nature of presenting scientific research (my formal background). To quote the book:

“The problem with most technical or scientific discussions is that the presenters fail to make their content visual, interesting and entertaining.”

However, transitioning into UX has revitalized the need for the skill and has reignited my desire to give great presentations: hence why I decided to re-read the book.

Beyond the framework Carmine Gallo outlines, there are a number of other great lessons that stuck with me:

A concept in journalism:

1. There is ALWAYS a story. Zoom out and figure out what it is.

2. “Humor is a form of interpersonal communication”: this is pretty self-explanatory

3. “Narrative is the most powerful way to break down resistance”: Since UX is often closely associated with strategy/business, storytelling has become the primary way of communicating with other stakeholders. I’ve already found this quote to be beyond true.

I enjoyed rereading this book. More specifically, I enjoyed reading it with more knowledge of what the “real world” and the workplace look like. Gallo suggests that coaching is mostly attributable to success with public-speaking and I largely agree with him, but I also think this book is a great place to start.

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A side note:

Lastly, there is one last quote that I most likely didn’t think twice about when reading the book the first time but now see as one of the most important quotes of the book - it was rewarding rereading it now: 

“Recent studies offer evidence that, contrary to popular belief, the main event of the imagination - creativity - does not require unrestrained freedom; rather, it relies on limits and obstacles.”