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Andy Stanley - Clarifying Your Messaging From the Vault x Donald Miller · Andy Stanley Sermons

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Hey, everybody.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: Welcome to the Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast from the Vault.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: But before we jump into today's content, I wanted to
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  Speaker 2: you find the right higher right now. To help get started,
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  Speaker 2: Blat is offering a free download of their ebook, Rise
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  Speaker 2: Up and Lead Well.
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  Speaker 3: Rise Up and Lead Well.
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  Speaker 2: The sooner rising leaders except that it's okay to ask
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  Speaker 2: well before the opportunity is gone.
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: Just text the word Andy.
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: To five five one two three. That's a n D
• 1:20
  Speaker 4: y to five to five one two three.
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: And now let's dive into today's content from the vault.
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: In the studio with me today is Donald Miller, and
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: we're going to talk about.
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: Messaging, creating talks.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: Whether it's for the marketplace leader, the business leader, or
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: the pastor out there, You're going to enjoy this conversation.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: For those of you who don't know, Don is the
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: CEO of story Brand, a company that helps businesses and
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: nonprofits clarify their messaging. He spent an entire day with
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: our staff. I've asked everybody in an organization to read
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: the book.
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: So here's Donald Andy.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: We're both using the same interview for you're using it
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: for your podcast, I'm using it from mine. I M
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: so I'm going to go first. Thanks for now I
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: don't know.
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: I want to thank you for being on the Andy
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: Stanley leadership.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: Thank you for being on building a story. You and
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: I've known each other for quite a long time and
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: we met at Cattlost conference and I say it was
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: ten years ago. I don't know, but it was a
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: long time ago, and I was pretty new to the
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: speaking world, and that was that was by far the
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: biggest crowd I've ever you know, had the privilege might
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: still be the biggest crowd I've ever been from. And
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: you spoke, and you spoke after me, and you were
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: kind of the closer the and when you spoke, you had,
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: like in the workbook, you had like blank lines for
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: people to fill out. You had I think you might
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: have had one point. I mean, it was a very
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: simple message. And I remember wondering as a new communicator, okay,
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: as Andy speaking beneath these people in the sense that
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: you know, there's you know, ten thousand and forty year
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: old business people in the room. I remember having that question.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: And ten years later I'm talking to a lady she
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: was actually at that conference, and I asked her, you know,
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: what do you remember? And she she remembered every point
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: that you had, And then I said, do you remember
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: any of the other speakers? Said you know, I remember,
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: And I said, did you know, do you remember that
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: I spoke? And she did not remember that I spoke.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: That was one of the things that taught me again,
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: you are a master at what you do, and I
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: think you're one of the best speakers period on the planet.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: And what you here's what you taught me. And I
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: don't know if you've ever viewed it this way. I
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: prepared a speech that time, and I wanted to be entertaining.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: I wanted to be informative. I wanted to be interesting.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: You guided people through an exercise and memorization. You wanted
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: them to remember very certain things as you walked off
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: that stage, and they walked out of that arena ten
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  Speaker 1: years later, the woman remembered not just that you spoke
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: and that you were good, she remembered your points. That
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: to me was that helped me understand what I'm trying
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  Speaker 1: to get companies to do in their marketing. I'm trying
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: to get companies in their marketing to do what you
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: did and do every Sunday at church, guide people through
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  Speaker 1: an exercise and memorization. And it was groundbreaking for me.
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  Speaker 1: And I'm wondering, how do you do it? How do
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  Speaker 1: you prepare? What are you thinking about when you sit
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: down and prepare talk? And if you don't mind, I mean, well,
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  Speaker 1: let me ask you, have you ever viewed it that
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  Speaker 1: way that you're guiding people through an exercise and memorization.
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: Well, let me tell a quick story.
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  Speaker 2: That was a defining moment for me in that regard
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: when I was in graduate school. However, many years ago
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  Speaker 2: that was like a lot. I was asked to speak
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: at a chapel for a Christian high school in the
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: area I was living in Dallas, and so I was
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: sitting in my little, you know, efficiency apartment, and I
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: mean in efficient, like you could do everything at one
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  Speaker 2: time from one spot, one of those kind of apartments,
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: you know, at bars on the window, and not a
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  Speaker 2: great part of Dallas. And I thought to myself, this
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  Speaker 2: is here comes another chapel, another unknown chapel speaker.
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  Speaker 3: These kids don't.
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  Speaker 4: Care their high school. It's Friday, you know.
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  Speaker 2: And I had all this stuff I'd planned and prepared
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  Speaker 2: because I was all geeked out. I was a seminarium.
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  Speaker 2: And it dawned on me, Okay, what are they going
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  Speaker 2: to remember? And I decided in that moment, I was
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  Speaker 2: going to create a talk for high school students at
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  Speaker 2: a Christian school chapel that they would actually remember. That
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  Speaker 2: was actually my goal. And I taught this story from
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  Speaker 2: the Old Testament about this guy named Naman and he
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  Speaker 2: has leprosy, and I tell the whole story, and I
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  Speaker 2: finished the you know, the narrative of the Old Testament
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  Speaker 2: narrative with this one idea, to understand why submit and apply?
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  Speaker 2: To understand why submit and apply? Sometimes God asked us
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  Speaker 2: to do things we don't understand. To understand why submit
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  Speaker 2: and apply? So that was my talk. So I finish,
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  Speaker 2: you know.
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  Speaker 3: Three years later.
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  Speaker 2: Three years later, I'm standing in the college ministry of
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: this same church that had the high school, and I'm
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  Speaker 2: welcoming college students and in.
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  Speaker 4: Walks this guy with some guys and he looks up
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: at me. He said, Hey, you spoke at my chapel.
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: I'm like where. He said, here at the such and such,
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: you know academy. And he looks up and he says,
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: to understand why submit and apply?
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: And just walk down in the room.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it really was a defining moment. I thought, that's
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  Speaker 2: what I want to do for the rest of my life.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: I want to take somewhat complex things.
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  Speaker 1: Was this that at that point when he said that
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  Speaker 1: that you went that I like that.
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  Speaker 2: I can still see his face. He never the thing
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: is to your point where we talked. When we talked earlier,
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: he did not know my name. He didn't walk up
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  Speaker 2: and say, oh, you're Andy Stanley. No, he just looked
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  Speaker 2: at me. You're the chapel speaker. To understand why submit
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  Speaker 2: an apply? I thought, that's what I'm going to do
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  Speaker 2: the rest of my life. That, along with something I
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  Speaker 2: heard Gary Smalley say many years later, just for me,
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  Speaker 2: galvanized this idea that memorable is portable and portable has
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: to be memorable. And if my life ambition is to
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: impart you know, practical ideas and truth to people, then
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: it's got to be memorable and portable. And I have
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  Speaker 2: you know, that's been what's driven me ever since.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's interesting that I usually ask two questions when
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  Speaker 1: I'm in front of a big audience talking about messaging.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: And I say, what was Jeb Bush's plan for America
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  Speaker 1: back in the primaries?
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  Speaker 3: I've never had anybody exactly.
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  Speaker 1: I get crickets. He wrote a book on education, he
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: wrote a book on immigration. He's a scholar. He was
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: my choice, you know, he's the guy I wanted to win.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: And then I ask, what did Donald Trump want to
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: do and everybody can say it. And it's interesting that
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  Speaker 1: the country voted for There's a bunch of dynamics that
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: you'd have to unpack. They could vote for what they
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  Speaker 1: could remember, Yep, they could. They voted for in narrative,
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  Speaker 1: they could remember, don't like the president. It was a message.
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  Speaker 2: Well, the last leader cast, two leader cast events ago,
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  Speaker 2: it was all business leaders, and I was trying to
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  Speaker 2: make this point, and I ask for President Obama's you
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  Speaker 2: know one liner, Hillary's one. I went through a whole
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  Speaker 2: bunch and the only two anyone could even shout out
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  Speaker 2: from the audience even halfway. In fact, to your point,
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  Speaker 2: everybody else it was kind of crickets because they all
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: kept changing their signs. But you know, hope we can
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: believe in or hope and change and make America great again.
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  Speaker 3: Everybody knew.
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  Speaker 2: I'm like there it is because and I think this
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  Speaker 2: is this is we should come back and just talk
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  Speaker 2: about this idea because I've never explored it.
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  Speaker 3: But I'm convinced it's true.
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  Speaker 2: People say when it comes to leadership, they say they
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  Speaker 2: want character, but they always follow clarity. Yes, they say
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  Speaker 2: they want character, we want somebody who is great whatever, whatever. Yet,
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  Speaker 2: But at the end of the day, we intuitively instinctively
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  Speaker 2: follow clarity.
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  Speaker 1: And that's what we always say. You know, people will
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  Speaker 1: not move into confusion. Yeah, they will not follow you
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  Speaker 1: if they're confused about where you're taking them.
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  Speaker 2: Ye, even if it's even if you're right, I mean,
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  Speaker 2: being right is almost irrelevant. If it's confusing, they just
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: they just won't go.
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  Speaker 1: And then, if you think about the narrative structure of it,
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: make America Great Again is roughly and elusively the climactic
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: scene of a story. Wow, I'm with her.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah it's not.
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: I wasn't gonna quote it exactly.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: Now, if she would have said she's with us, she
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: would have got a lot more trash you sit on
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: with her. So that's the story about you, not me.
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  Speaker 1: And then I don't know what the climactic scene is.
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: Shining City on a Hill is, yeah, you know, something
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: that we're going to create together, you know, and so
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: on and so on. So you know, we're not talking
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: about Republican Democrat or any sort of policies here. We're
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: talking about just the importance of creating clear message. I
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: want to back up a little bit. Normally, if somebody
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: is asked to give a talk. Especially at the age
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: year you were at that college chapel, they are immediately
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: thinking about themselves. They're thinking about how am I going
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: to come off? Are these people going to like me?
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  Speaker 1: Blah blah blah.
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  Speaker 2: Especially I was high school and even more so at
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  Speaker 2: high school students. That's to me one of the most
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  Speaker 2: intimidating environments imaginable.
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  Speaker 3: But yes, to your point, keep what is.
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  Speaker 1: It about you that you had already experienced the sort
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: of Jim Collins paradigm shift where you're falling in love
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: with the ideas more than yourself. You know, he talks
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: about that as a as a transformation or evolution of
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: a leader. What is it about you that early? And
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: I'm asking you to brag a little bit or maybe
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: explain something that happened that allows you to care more
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: about this audience understanding something than even knowing who you
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: are or how you know big a deal you are
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: or whatever what happened to you? You know, I asked
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: Pete Carroll this question. Let me give you a little
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: permission to sort of expound, because Pete did. He's one
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: of the few people I've actually asked a question like
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: that too. Who did He said, din, you know, I
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: had a lot of success early on, I just found
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: out it was it was really meaningless and empty, and
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: then actually helped somebody else succeed and it was just
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: so much more life giving that I just got hooked
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: on that, you know what I mean.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: And it was a bit self serving, not to be
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: self serving exactly that really famous said that a long time.
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: He was saying, look, you know, I succeeded a lot
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: and I'm just you know, pretty much just depressing. And
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: when I helped somebody else exceed it, I was like, wait,
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: this is this feels good?
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the answer for me and I again
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: this is just my first past. This is a really
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: great question, I think the thing that breaks my heart,
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: and I think for every leader this is a question
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: we should all wrestle to the ground. In fact, for
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: every person, what breaks your heart? I mean, organizations have
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: been built around that question.
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: And the thing that.
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: Has consistently broken my heart since college days when I
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: first started in ministry, was watching people make decisions that
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: undermine their own success, undermine their own happiness, and undermine
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: their own relationships. Right, there's enough stress, and there's enough
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: things we can't control in life that are bad. But
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: to watch a person make decisions that's going to undermine
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: their own future, that is that to me, I think
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: gets me more amped up than anything.
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: Because you grew up in the house that you grew
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: up that you were able to see it, because you
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: actually grew up in a house that produces wisdom for
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: a living. That's what they did, right that this is
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: a quote unquote what we sell. We sell wisdom And
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: is that is that why?
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: Or I don't know the answer to that.
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: I've just always felt like there are there's a path,
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: there's a track, there's a decision making pathway or story
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: that leads to a happier ending. And of course as
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: a Christian there's a framework for that, but this is
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: true for everybody. This isn't that's not a Christian thing.
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: That's just a thing thing. So I've just always been
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: driven to help people make better decisions and live with
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: fewer regrets. And the way my dad would talk about it,
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: he would sometimes we would hear preachers and he would
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: say that guy didn't have a burden, that guy doesn't
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: have a burden. That's how he would say it. I mean,
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: that was his way of saying, that guy is just
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: spouting off information. He's just talking. There's not something on
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: the inside of him that's that's driving him.
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: And of course back.
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: Then it was always hymns, not hyms and hers. And
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: so I feel like when I get up to speak,
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: I don't feel like I'm ready. And this is in
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: front of leaders or you know, folks at our church.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: I don't feel like I'm ready until there's something inside
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: of me that is more concerned about them getting what
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: I have to say than them liking me. And I'm
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: like everybody else, I want to be liked. I don't
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: want to look stupid or sound stupid, but I just know,
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: and I tell our communicators all the time. You know,
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: until you are concerned about the guy on the back
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: row who's not coming back, or the woman who finally
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: got her boyfriend to come and he's going to give
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: it one shot. If if that person or that that
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: image hasn't grabbed you, you're not really ready. I mean,
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: your outline may be perfect and your slides might be ready,
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: but you're not ready because at some point this has
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: to be about the audience, not you know, the person
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: standing in front of the audience.
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: So anyway, may we go through the five questions you
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: asked when you're preparing. Yeah, the first one is what
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: do they need to know? What is the one thing
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: that needs to be communicated? So on page oney eighty
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: seven of your Communicating for a change.
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, these are the five questions that I honestly keep
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: in front of me. I get stuck all the time,
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: and when I do this is that's when I pull
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: out these questions because it's this simple, and usually I
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: have I've confused myself and if the speaker is confused.
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: You're lost in the weeks well for the audience.
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Howard Hendrix used to say, if it is a
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: mist in the pulpit, it will be a fog and
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: the pew. So if the communicator is the least bit confused,
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: you know, good luck for everybody else.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: Well, let me back out the why one thing? Why
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: is it one thing that you want them to know?
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: Is because they can't walk out with too.
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: Well, because again to what you said earlier, I want
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: people to remember things. I want people to be in
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: the middle of a decision and remember, oh yeah, my
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: friends determine the direction and quality of my life.
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: My friends determine the direction quality of my life.
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: I want there to be enough rhetoric around these statements
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: and balance around these statements that they actually pop into
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: people's minds at critical at critical times. So yeah, so
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: I don't think I can do that very well with
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: three or four or five things. And I'm not against
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: going through lots of information and the context determines it.
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: So you can go to a ton of information as
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: long as it's I'm the umbrella of one thing, right.
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: Well, if people are taking notes, if they're going to
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: get a handout, if this is something they have to
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: do at work, so that there's a difference, is you know,
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: between training for a skill versus motivating and inspiring. So
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: on Sunday or when I'm in front of a you know,
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: general congregation, I think I'm lucky if they can take
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: one thing home. So I've decided I should probably determine,
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: you know, what that one thing is. But as you know,
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: people hear all kinds of things we said or didn't say.
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: I remember it was do you remember there was a
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: little church, Well you obviously remember there was a little
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: bit church there, a little be church across the street
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: from the White House and I can't remember if it
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: was the first inauguration of the second of Barack Obama,
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: but somehow I had a bus in the administration. He said, Hey,
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: I gotta I gotta seat for you in here, if
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: you want to sneak in. I snuck up into the
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: balcony that's United actually and watched you deliver the first
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: I was there. Was in the balcony. Oh wow, and you,
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: I mean I had a view of the President and
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: you and the entire I mean, everybody you can think
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: of who has power was in that room. Yes, they were,
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: and and uh, you don't.
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: Have to remind me, man, you just hit it out
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: of the park.
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: And it was really something phenomenal to watch walk me through.
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: You were just preparing for that moment. That's I had
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: heard that exact that very similar talk to that before
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: that you had given, so I knew, I knew, and
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: I just thought, this is just perfect for this room.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: But you know, you got you got people of all faiths,
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: all stripes. The President was glued to you, like you know,
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: it was insane. I mean, how his eyes did not
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: leave you.
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: And and no cameras watching him, No, that's right, No
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: reporter's only one pool reporter in the room.
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: This was like the real, the real deal.
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: And you know, he wrote me, sent me a handwritten
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: note after that and referenced specifically what I said, and
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: and wow, I'll treasure that forever. But but talk about intimidating,
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: because in that moment, I know, this is a little
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: bit off topic. You know, everywhere else you and I
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: go to speak, we're speaking to a crowd. And that occasion,
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: I was invited to speak to one person while the
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: crowd watched. And it just happened to be the President
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: of the United States.
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: Again, when you.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: Talked about how he should you addressed how he should
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: use his power. Yep, without coming off as condescending or
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: serveneering or any of that. It was just wisdom.
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: Well, it was intimidating us.
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: What it was, Well, it was the longest, the longest
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: fifteen minutes of my life and the greatest one of
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: the greatest honors of my life.
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: So we just just reiterate what you said. How can
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: you put it?
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I again, it has to be simple, and
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: it has.
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: So, you know, the question was, what do you do
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: when it dawns on you that you're the most powerful
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: person in the room. You leverage your power for the
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: benefit of the other people in the room.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: And you gave these beautiful examples of Jesus got when
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: he realized, you know, as the most powerful person that
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: gets out on knees and he watches, yeah, somebody's feet,
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: he serves.
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: I wanted to just want I wanted to use a
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: New Testament narrative, because everybody goes Old Testament because it's
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: safer Isaiah, you know, Joshua, you know, but I wanted
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: to be New Testament.
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: I wanted it to be Jesus.
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: And obviously I can't tell the most powerful person in
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: the room what to do. But who other than the
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: president of the United States or a you know, a
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: dignitary or a king from another nation walks into a
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: room and every I mean think of it, every single
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: room you walk into.
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: You are the You are the most powerful person in
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: the room.
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: And that passage where somehow John knew that it dawns
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: on Jesus that all authority had been given him, and
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: the next thing he does is wash his feet.
• 17:52
  Speaker 5: It's just who's and it's uh, it's irrefutable when you
• 17:58
  Speaker 5: know the way that you said it, and you know
• 17:59
  Speaker 5: you say you had to sermon for one person, and
• 18:01
  Speaker 5: you did.
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: But I sat there looking at Eric Holder. I sat
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: there looking at you know, Joe Biden, and unless the
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: presidents in the room, they are the most powerful person
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: in the room, and they know exactly what that feels.
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: Like every time.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: And you could tell, you know, almost to a person
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: in their eyes, was this is extremely helpful because I
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: haven't known what to do. Yeah, right, it was just
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: it was really really a neat moment. So you know,
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: the one thing you want them to know is you
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: know for the president? Is that the second question that
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: you ask, why do they need to know it? And
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: from page one to eighty eight of your book, answering
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: why provides an incentive for your audience to follow you
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: to the next part of your message. If listeners are
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: not convinced they need to know what you are about
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: to tell them, they will consider your information irrelevant.
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah, these are the stakes.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: Here's what's a stake for you to knowing or not
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: knowing that?
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: And our tendency sometimes and I do I struggle with this.
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: I go, I listen to all my messages, I watch
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: I mean, if you'll leave, you'll leave the gum better.
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: This is like a nightmare for me to have to watch.
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: If we have a chance, I'll tell you a funny
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: story when about that. But anyway, so yeah, I watch
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: my messages and this is the part sometimes I skip
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: because I get so excited about the what that I
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: forget to bring people along the journey with me. So
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: I have to stop and say, Okay, you know this
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: is what I want them to know, but why is this.
• 19:22
  Speaker 4: I've got to make.
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: Them feel this or to the point of the book,
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: nobody's going to follow me on a journey that they
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: don't feel like this is something they need. And you know,
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: it's easy to skip that part because it's not new
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: and it's not information. It's just kind of churning up
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: or as I talk about in the book, creating the tension.
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: There has to be a mystery to be solved or
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: a question to be answered, or a problem to be solved.
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: And so this is where you create incentive for people
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: to go, wow, I wasn't thinking about that when I
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: walked in, but you've got me thinking about it now.
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: I hope you can deliver on this promise. So super
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: important part.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: Okay three, what do they need to do? Calling them
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: to action.
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: Yep.
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: And the action can actually be a do you need
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: to walk out of here and do something specific? Or
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: the do may be to think differently, or to believe differently,
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: or to imagine differently, or to respond differently. But there
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: has to be in most messages, not every message, but
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: in most messages messages, there has to be a call
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: to action, and again to call to action in some
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: cases for what I do, and even in talking to leaders,
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: is sometimes just a think different or embrace a different
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: perspective on something, or see the world different, or see
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: people different.
• 20:31
  Speaker 4: So again, you know, the more practically.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: It's a practical application that I can walk out and
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: make this sometimes physical change.
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: Yep.
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Okay, why do they need to do it? Question four?
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, this forces me to cycle back around to the
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: second question a little bit. So here's what you need
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: to know, and here's why it's important. Here's what you
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: need to do, and here's what's at.
• 20:51
  Speaker 4: Stake if you don't. If you don't do this, you know.
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: Here's what you have to lose. Here, here's what's going
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: to happen with your family. Here's what potentially could happen
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: with your career, with your finances. So here's what you
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: need to do, here's why you need to do it again.
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: It goes back to incentive, back to motivation, and a
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: bit of vision casting as well.
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: Okay, and number five, how can I help them? Remember?
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: And this is where I think you were just you've
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: leveled up beyond any other speaker.
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: Well you're you're kind to say that.
• 21:18
  Speaker 4: And this takes a lot of thought, and it's so
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: easy to skip this.
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: And when I listen to other communicators, and again when
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: I listen to myself, you know, you've put in all
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: this work, all the hours of preparation, You've delivered the message.
• 21:31
  Speaker 4: You've been interesting. You know, people have leaned in.
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: Nobody's falling asleep, But fifteen minutes later, nobody can say
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: it back. It's it wasn't succinct. You didn't give me
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: something that was portable and memorable, and that portable memory sugary.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: I mean, I don't want to Yeah, well it's you.
• 21:48
  Speaker 4: Know, it's motivated. It felt I felt great, boy, I
• 21:52
  Speaker 4: really like that.
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: What was it about?
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: I don't know, but I liked it, you know, and
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: all of that's important, But again for me, and I
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: don't know, this is true for everybody and if it
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: should be, but for me again, I want things to
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: come to people's minds when they're making big decisions.
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: And the only way to do.
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: That is to make it bite size and memorable and portable,
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: and to say it enough times that people can remember it.
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: And for me, I've been you know, speaking or appreciate
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: it north point for twenty three years. There are things
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: that I drop into messages the same way, that say
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: it the same way over and over and over every five,
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: six eight messages. Not to repeat myself, but there's some
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: big life concepts all the Yeah, I want the people
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: in our congregation to get not just because not you know,
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: because they remembered it from a sermon, but hey.
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: This is bigger than that. I mean.
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: One for me is when it comes to money, it's give,
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: save live, give, save live, You give first, you save second,
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: you live on the rest. You give first, you save second,
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: live on the rest.
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: I drop.
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: I mean that's something that because it's memorable and portable,
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: I can drop that in. You know, every time I
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: talk to students. Your friends determine the direction and quality
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: of your life. Your friends determine the direction and quality
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: of your life. So there's a lot of these big
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: life principles that once they're condensed to something memorable and portable,
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: they become part of the conversation. And so that's one
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: of the great things about again being able to pastor
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: in the same city with the same congregation for years.
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: You create, you know, those kinds of things.
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: But as you know, that's important in business.
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: And there has to be Yeah, it's a similar In fact,
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: I was just with some people on your team who
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: do media and those sorts of things, and I use
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: the the if you can imagine just a little bit
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: of hoop, you know, imagine a little hoop and there's
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: a big brain on the other side of that hoop,
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: and here's the message, the giant message that somebody's trying
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: to get into somebody's brain. But it won't fit. If
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: it won't fit through that hoop, it's not getting into
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: that brain. So you actually have to simplify it so
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: it fits to the hoop in order to get to
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: the brain. And I think that's what you're talking about.
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: And when I meet with businesses about marketing and selling products,
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: you know, like all this is really sweet, all this
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: giant stuff that you're trying to communicate about your brand.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: Nobody will remember any of it, which is not going
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: to to a buying decision. We're really just talking about
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: messaging communication, what the brain can handle and what it
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: can handle and what actually translates into actions.
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: Well.
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: One of the great things about story brand, and I
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: want to talk about that in a minute, is this
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: whole idea that the picture or the word picture you
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: use of using up brain cells or not brains.
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: How do you say it our energy.
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: Or yeah, you burn you burn calories.
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah, there is burning calories trying to remember something or
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: trying to just siph process information. Yeah, to process information
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: that you know, that's just I guess in some ways
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: a different way of saying the same thing. But that's
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: again that's you know, as today as you walk through
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: some of our elevator pitches with some of our staff
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: and it was, hey, what you know, there's too many commas,
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: it's too long, it's too complex. The messages in here
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: somewhere you know, you know, chip off some more you know,
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: rough edges so I can see it.
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: So let's fascinating.
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: I want to go through the five points against what
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: do they need to know? Why do they need to
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: know it, what do they need to do, why do
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: they need to do it? And how can I help them? Remember,
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: those are five questions. Man, write those down and next
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: time you have to communicate much of anything, that's going
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: to help an awful lot.
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: And when you get stuck, you just come back to
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: those five questions I do all the time.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I'm going to start using them because
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: I think they're just absolutely fantastic.
• 25:18
  Speaker 4: Hey is always thanks for joining us on this episode.
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: To learn more about Donald Miller and story Brand, you
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: can visit storybrand dot com, that story brand dot com.
• 25:28
  Speaker 4: And as always, we invite you to check.
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: Out Andy Stanley dot com, where you can find our
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: leadership podcast application guide to go with today's conversation, we
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: will see you next month.