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Understanding this one thing about communication makes you far better
We communicate to convey meaning. Wait. No. I said that wrong. We communicate to create meaning. As a communicator, I can't say I "convey" meaning, because quite literally, I convey words. My words then act as little carpenters who arrive at your door. They step out of their trucks,
Six-Way Stories: How to Turn Your Observations Into Powerful Stories Audiences Love
A couple years ago, I created a system to develop and strengthen stories to resonate. I called it Six-Way Stories, because I realized as a speaker and author, developing a signature story actually meant telling the same story six different ways over time. By making that process more visible and repe
Steve Pratt on How Stories Happen: Storytelling lessons from the MTV of Canada and #1-ranked podcasts
Apple Podcasts - Spotify - List of All Players New to the show? On How Stories Happen, business communicators take us inside the crafting of their ideas into powerful stories they use to grow their audience and their cause. It's a show about what it really takes to become a
The Internet Tricked Us, and Now We're Worse at Resonating with Decision-Makers
The strongest thinkers have gone underground. Okay, I'm being dramatic. What I mean by that is, the distribution techniques rewarded today mostly reward people with basic ideas, 101-level tips, and the level of expertise you might expect for people who share that kind of material. I just watched a
How to Create Stronger Openers: The 3 Choices You're Making Every Time
“It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.” Ever hear that phrase? I love it so much. It’s full of hope. It lets us know we should remain resilient despite any initial moments of friction or failure, because despite a poor start, you can still finish strong. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off,
How to Fix Your Message Fast: Try the Dialogue Outline
There are many strange, wonderful things that make me proud about my body of creative work: As a kid, I starred in a cooking show pilot. I even posed for promotional photos next to salt and pepper shakers the size of a small child. I won a national award for sports journalism in college. That
My Grand Delusion About Marketing (Is My Grand Delusion About You)
We begin with yet-more wisdom from Uncle Tony: "Thinking that your story is so interesting that other people will want to listen to it or read it or pay to hear it — what kind of person thinks that? A monster of self-regard. It's not normal thinking." To be clear, he's not criticizing pe
Dorie Clark on How Stories Happen: Learn to turn your expertise into breakthrough ideas
Apple Podcasts - Spotify - List of All Players New to the show? On How Stories Happen, business communicators take us inside the crafting of their ideas into powerful stories they use to grow their audience and their cause. It's a show about what it really takes to become a
In an Era of A.I., Developing Your Tone of Voice and Personal Style Matter More Than Ever
I have some gentle yet firm words about AI and the people I most want to uplift (actual experts). I’m in a mastermind of accomplished marketing entrepreneurs. A few of these impressive humans (and I am also there, for some reason) recently voiced their concern that they're not sure how they're diff
Justin Moore: How He Altered His Storytelling & Found a Big Idea to Resonate with More People
Apple Podcasts - Spotify - List of All Players New to the show? On How Stories Happen, business communicators take us inside the crafting of their ideas into powerful stories they use to grow their audience and their cause. It's a show about what it really takes to become a
What Makes a Speech Great? Add These Overlooked "Elements of Awesome"
Being a professional at something others treat as a passion means you can ruin your own passion. In 2008, I was a PR intern at ESPN, and I had the chance to interview my baseball writing hero, Buster Olney, as part of a marketing campaign. Buster was gracious and warm and patient and everything you
The Kind of Content Marketing that Actually Works in 2025
Marketing isn't simple. But understanding it can be. I need that reminder now and again. Maybe you do too. I started my career working for brands like Google as a digital media strategist and two startups, including HubSpot, as their head of content. My last in-house job was a VP role (content and
Neal Foard on Why His Quiet, Powerful Stories Resonate So Deeply
Apple Podcasts - Spotify - List of All Players New to the show? On How Stories Happen, business communicators take us inside the crafting of their ideas into powerful stories they use to grow their audience and their cause. It's a show about what it really takes to become a
NORTH: A System Big Thinkers Follow to Find Clarity and Build a Platform of Impact
The difference between experts with scattered ideas and voices with passionate fans isn't talent—it's clarity. More specifically, it's the system of clarity they use. They don't act like experts. They act like explorers. I'm thinking of those authors, speakers, and business leaders who build enti
Laddering Down Your Ideas: Using 3 Short Phrases to Share and Get Buy-In for Your Message
⏪ Last time, I wrote about how to assess your communication style to find your natural tendencies, then craft stronger messages and content by leaning into strengths and addressing areas to improve. That's here. ⏩ Today, I want to talk about a concept I'm calling "laddering down," mea
How to Find Your Business's BIG IDEA: Where Clear Messaging and Powerful Premises Begin
I don't have any tattoos and I'll never actually get one, but I still have a favorite tattoo. "I am certain of nothing." Anthony Bourdain had that written in Greek on his arm. It's a reminder that you bring with you expectations, but you still need to be open to learning and to changing y
Public Coaching Call: Author and Creator Coach Justin Moore Develops His New Keynote
I worked with the great Justin Moore, founder of Creator Wizard and sponsorship coach for creators, to help him develop the structure of his brand new keynote associated with his new book, Sponsor Magnet. In this video, you’ll see us move from zero-to-one, or maybe even -two, as we identify the spe
Enough with the Best-Practice Shaming
We need to learn from five specific monkeys. (Here you are, going about your day, probably thinking you want to learn from all the monkeys. Silly human.) Five monkeys are sitting in a cage at the zoo: Fluffy, Duffy, Scruffy, Muffy, and Sam. One day, the zookeeper places a ladder in the middle of
A Tool to Make Differentiation Easier: Using the Idea Impact Matrix to Stand Out
I have these two friends, let's call them Mitch and Marie to hide their identities. They're both struggling to stand out right now. Mitch is the consummate expert in his space. He's a veteran marketer, having worked in-house for many years as a practitioner, then team leader. In that capacity, he
What Voices Who Resonate Do Differently
Last week, I wrote about a visual tool we can use to differentiate our work more strategically and with less stress. To illustrate, I plotted where two friends of mine were stuck and what they could do to break free. If you're looking for a more passionate response from your work without resorting t
3 Types of Signature Stories to Develop and Bring With You Everywhere
One of the nerdiest thing I've done was look into the sciences to understand the concept of resonance I talk about constantly. That's where I dug up this little nugget: It's an energy transfer. De. Lish. Us. Delicious! That just tickles the brain in the best way, doesn't it? That's exactly
Once More, From the Heart
(THWIP!) No that’s not Spider-Man you hear. It’s the sound of my own thoughts as they create a whiplash effect every nanosecond of every day, across all 97 days of January 2025. Things are really bad. (THWIP!) Things will be fine. (THWIP!) I should stop checking the news. (THWIP!)
The Mess of Your Creative Process Isn't a Problem—It's the Most Important Part
I have bad news and good news: The bad news is creating things always feels like a mess, no matter how experienced or successful you get. The good news is creating things always feels like a mess, no matter how experienced or successful you get. We like to put our heroes up on a pedestal, but
On Current and Future Struggles in the Creator Economy
There’s been a lot of chatter around this lately, maybe because it’s a new year or maybe because there’s a lot of turmoil in the general everything of everything right now. (Some of that is real. Some of that is caused by the nonstop firehose of advertising-supported social media and news media need
My Theme of the Year + My Biggest Note to All My Clients
This piece was originally shared to my newsletter, Playing Favorites. Subscribe for free using the box at the bottom of this page or the big button at the top. Welcome to the first edition of Playing Favorites in 2025, and Happy New Year! Each year, I pick a theme for myself as a kind of North
Whisper
The Snowman was created in 1982. That's three years before Jason was born. Oh, I should explain. I'm Jason. That's my real name. Nice to meet you. Anyway, along came Christina a few years later, and after that, Christmas meant lots of family traditions, wrapped in a familiar if odd feeling: the
"Tell Me About Yourself"—A Framework For Telling Your Story Well
Walking past the room, you would have heard nothing, but all I heard was screaming. To be clear, the room was quite literally silent, and the voice screaming was entirely in my head. But that doesn't make it any less real. I was about to appear as a guest on a podcast for the very first time, and
My Recipe for Great Stories
Before I share my recipe, I need to tell you about a college friend of mine. Let's call him Tim. Because that's his real name. Tim is an Irishman, and I'm Italian. This led to a lot of jokes between us over the years. He'd poke fun at the "olive oil" in my hair (it wasn't), and I'd tell h
Stakes and Brotatoes: Why All Those Awful Business Hucksters Don't Get They're a Joke
It's late, and I should be asleep, but when you're a professional creative, you don't exactly get to leave work at work. Aside from the fact that my office is just a few feet from where I watch Bluey and Mira and Elena with my kids, my job relies on my ability to see the world, synthesize meaning fr
Others Look and Sound Like You. Now What?
Consider the following prompt, the easiest thing you'll be asked all week: "What main topic or topics do I cover in my content?" Now consider the next one, the hardest thing: Remember that others also talk about the same topic(s) as you in their work. Now answer: "Why would a
2 Questions to Get Out of Your Head and into the World as a Stronger Communicator and Leader
They say hindsight is 20/20. What they don’t say is, once you have that clarity of sight, you'll want to close your eyes. Maybe rub your temples. Possibly let your head drop to the table with a satisfying and much-deserved thunk. This was me, all year long. After years of successfully buildi
Do Your Ideas Pass the Permanent Ink Test?
I've hosted something like 800 interviews in my career, spanning a whole heck of a lot of jobs and projects: internships in PR and many more as a sportswriter, personal blog posts written to 12 people, company posts reaching millions, panels I've emceed on stages, webinars and web series and docuser
Be a Thought Leader (It's Not What You Thought)
(Walks up to podium.) (Adjusts microphone.) (Clears throat.) Today, I want to talk about ... thought leaders. (Dives for cover.) (Peeks out from behind podium.) (Stands and brushes shirt off.) Cool, thanks for not throwing stuff at me. Glad you're open to today's idea. Let's cook this tur
If You Want More Passionate Fans, Consider This Subtle Switc
The way most business communicators and leaders try to teach others and earn fans is actually the opposite of what works. Yet we're so convinced of our style, and it's become so common in our community, we don't even see the error of our ways. In short, we keep firing the director. To understand w