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by Park Howell, Brand Story Strategist
The Business of Story helps sales and marketing leaders excel through the stories they tell. Hosted by Park Howell, known as The World's Most Industrious Storyteller, this popular weekly show is ranked among the top 10% of downloaded podcasts internationally and is the #1 Business Storytelling Podcast according to Feedspot. #StoryOn!
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- 2 days ago53 min
#578: Find Your One Word and Become Impossible to Ignore, With Brian Burkhart
What does it take to stop competing on price and start commanding attention? One word. Your core belief. In this episode of the Business of Story, host Park Howell sits down with Brian Burkhart, founder of Square Planet and one of America's top communication strategists, to reveal why most businesses become invisible commodities — and exactly what to do about it. Brian has spent decades helping Fortune 500 leaders, CEDx speakers, and senior executives find the single galvanizing word that transforms how teams align, how audiences feel, and how brands compete. His insight is simple and powerful: if you can't name what you stand for, you won't stand out. In this episode you'll discover: How to distill your core belief into one powerful word that galvanizes your entire organization Brian's 10-step ancient Stoic framework that works for any presentation, pitch, or keynote How to reverse-engineer your core beliefs directly from your daily actions Why your audience decides with feelings first — and how to make art that activates them The Mad Men "It's Toasted" moment that proves one idea beats every feature list Brian Burkhart defines art as "the unnecessary done on purpose to make someone feel." Sprinkles on cupcakes. Colorful hospital walls. Hotel turndown service. None of it is necessary. All of it creates enthrallment. And enthrallment is exactly what separates unforgettable brands from forgotten commodities. Whether you're preparing a Monday morning presentation, a keynote, or a company-wide initiative, this episode gives you the tools to find your North Star — and make it impossible to ignore. Guest: Brian Burkhart, Founder of Square Planet Contact: info@squareplanet.com Free 45-minute consultation: mention the Business of Story Host: Park Howell, Founder of the Business of Story and creator of the StoryCycle System™ Learn more: businessofstory.com
- 1 weeks ago50 min
#577: How Almost Nothing Changes Everything in Your Brand Storytelling, With Ryan Kohn
What makes a brand story powerful enough to move millions of people on the world's most complex issue? Not more data. Not louder messaging. Not a bigger ask. The answer, according to serial entrepreneur Ryan Kohn, is radical simplicity — and a single theme that makes your audience feel the truth of your idea before they ever think about it. Ryan Kohn is the founder of Point One, a global business initiative that asks companies to commit just 0.1% of their revenue to accelerate the clean energy transition. That is one dollar for every thousand in revenue. A rounding error for most businesses. But pooled together, it is enough to fully fund clean energy access for the entire world within 15 years. In this episode of the Business of Story, Park Howell sits down with Ryan to unpack how he turned one of the most fatigued conversations in modern business — climate change — into one of the most compelling brand stories in the world. And what every brand builder can steal from it. WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE How to find the single brand theme that compresses your biggest idea into your most powerful message. Ryan and his team distilled an impossibly complex global challenge into four words — almost nothing changes everything — and built an entire movement around it. Why leading with your cause is killing your message. Ryan explains why Point One never leads with sustainability, climate, or clean energy — and why that counterintuitive decision is the reason the brand resonates where others have failed. How to meet your audience inside the cultural moments they already love. Point One builds brand awareness through sport, music, art, and film rather than issue-led campaigns, reducing friction and expanding reach without alienating anyone. Why simplicity is not a shortcut in brand storytelling — it is the destination. Ryan's rule is simple: if it is not simple, it does not land. This episode shows you exactly how to apply that principle to your own brand story. How a 0.1% corporate commitment could change everything. Park runs Point One through the StoryCycle Genie live on air, surfacing the brand's core positioning statement and unique value proposition — and revealing just how precisely Ryan's team has already nailed their story. ABOUT RYAN KOHN Ryan Kohn is the co-founder of PROPER Snacks, the UK's leading premium snack brand and one of the first B Corps in the sector. From a kitchen-table idea to a global company selling over eight million snacks a month, he scaled PROPER into a household name and led its 85-person team before exiting to private equity in 2021. Alongside building PROPER, Ryan launched ventures spanning carbon-neutral property development and the UK's largest student events business, earning recognition as EY Entrepreneur of the Year. Beyond business, Ryan has long championed impact initiatives — from co-founding campaigns alongside Riz Ahmed and HRH Prince William to serving as a board member of environmental charity Hubbub. He has co-authored a B Corp guide to achieving net zero, and has mentored the next generation of entrepreneurs through programmes including Virgin Start-Up and Tesco Back It. Most recently Ryan founded Point One, a global initiative making it radically easy for businesses to support the clean energy transition. Point One asks companies to contribute just 0.1% of their revenue into a shared fund that helps unlock and accelerate clean energy projects, particularly in developing markets. By pooling these small fractions across everyday economic activity, Point One aims to create a new funding engine for global cooling and help fully fund the clean energy transition within 15 years. WHY THIS EPISODE MATTERS FOR BRAND BUILDERS This is not an episode about climate change. It is an episode about what happens when a brand story is so clear, so simple, and so true that it makes even the hardest yes feel like the easiest decision your audience has ever made. Ryan Kohn just happens to prove that principle in the most difficult storytelling arena in modern business. If you have ever struggled to simplify a complex message, lost an audience to jargon, or wondered why your brand is not moving people the way you know it should — this conversation is for you. CONNECT WITH RYAN KOHN AND POINT ONE Website: pointone.world ABOUT THE BUSINESS OF STORY The Business of Story is the top-ranked podcast for brand storytelling strategy, hosted by Park Howell — founder of the Story Cycle System and one of the world's leading brand narrative strategists. Each week Park interviews the world's brightest brand builders, marketers, and communicators to
- 2 weeks ago57 min
#576: The Power of Pull: Find Customers Who Are Already Sold, With Rob Snyder
What if your best customers are already sold — before you ever say a word? That's the promise of the PULL framework, and in this episode, startup advisor and author Rob Snyder breaks down exactly why smart, well-resourced founders keep pushing brilliant products onto people who aren't ready to buy — and what to do instead. If you've run the demos, done the research, and still watched prospects disappear, this episode is your wake-up call. You'll discover: Why doing everything "right" can still leave you in the pain cave The four-part PULL framework (Project, Unavoidable, List of options, Limitations) that predicts who will buy before you even pitch How to describe your product in the fewest possible words — and why less is always more Why your sales call should be a "see if they try to buy" call, not a convince-them-to-buy call How a repeatable customer success story does more selling than any pitch deck ever will Rob Snyder is a Harvard MBA, former McKinsey consultant, startup founder, and author of The Power of Pull. He has advised hundreds of startups on how to find product-market fit faster by stopping the push and building for pull. Connect with Rob: Website: robsnyder.org LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/robsnyder Get the book: The Power of Pull — available on Amazon Learn more about the Story Cycle System™: businessofstory.com #576: The Power of Pull: Find Customers Who Are Already Sold, With Rob Snyder
- 3 weeks ago50 min
#575: Elliott Rayner on Why 81% of Your Team Can't Tell Your Story
Only 19% of employees can consistently tell their company's story. That means 81% of your brand touchpoints are leaking narrative — and costing you customers. Elliott Rayner's groundbreaking research explains why, and what to do about it. Elliott Rayner — fractional Head of Storytelling and author of The State of Storytelling 2026 — analyzed 25 emerging Chief Storytelling Officer job descriptions from the world's most sophisticated companies to uncover a seismic shift: the best organizations are no longer treating brand narrative as a creative function. They're operationalizing it. In this episode, Elliott and host Park Howell reveal: Why Narrative Entropy is the silent killer of brand growth — and the single metric that exposes it instantly What a Chief Storytelling Officer actually does (hint: it's far less about creating stories and far more about creating alignment) The 3-question survey you can run inside your company this week to make the business case for StoryOps™ Why "execution has become cheap but meaning has not" — and what that means for your competitive strategy in the AI age How to get your head of sales, legal, product, and finance all telling the same story without a fight Whether you're a CMO, a founder, a product marketer, or someone quietly operating as your organization's unofficial head of storytelling — this episode is your mandate and your blueprint. Resources mentioned: Download Elliott's free report: The State of Storytelling 2026 — find it on his LinkedIn profile Elliott's Maven storytelling cohort: productnarratives.com Park Howell's StoryOps™ platform: storycycle.ai
- Jun 29, 202645 min
#574: Jason Swenk: Own Your Business Before It Owns You!
Most agency founders built their business to buy back their time — then woke up to find the business owns them instead. Jason Swenk built and sold a seven-figure agency that served AT&T, Hitachi, and LegalZoom. Today he advises 7- and 8-figure agency owners through Agency Mastery, hosts the Smart Agency Masterclass podcast, and just released his book Operator to Owner. He's seen this trap from every angle. In this episode, Jason shares the 5-Stage Founder Evolution framework that changes everything: Operator → Manager → Architect → CEO → Owner. These aren't revenue milestones. They're deliberate identity shifts that progressively remove the founder from daily operations — until the business can run without them. What you'll learn in this episode: The 5 founder identity stages every agency owner must move through to achieve true business freedom Why chasing revenue without evolving your identity keeps you trapped — even at $10M How to build a business that runs without you so you can own it instead of being owned by it Key quote: "You could be a $10 million agency and be completely miserable and unprofitable and working all the time. I'd rather be a million dollar agency working 20 hours a week that I really enjoy life." — Jason Swenk If your agency story feels fragmented — across your website, pitches, and team — visit storycyclegenie.ai for a free Brand Story Grade and find out what it's costing you. Connect with Jason Swenk: Agency Mastery: agencymastery.com Smart Agency Masterclass Podcast: jasonswenk.com Book: Operator to Owner Subscribe to Business of Story for weekly conversations that help leaders, entrepreneurs, and communicators use the science of story to win more business and live more meaningful lives.
- Jun 22, 202655 min
#573: A Tech Titan's Warning: Better AI Won't Save Us. Better Humans Will, With Brett Hurt.
Brett Hurt got the Lamborghini. He got the exits, the valuations, everything a tech titan is supposed to want. And then he felt nothing. That emptiness became the most important moment of his career — and the catalyst for his new book, Love Conquers Fear: Humanity, AI, and the Age of Abundance for All. Brett is the co-founder of data.world (acquired by ServiceNow), Bazaarvoice (unicorn IPO), and Coremetrics (acquired by IBM). He has invested in 151 startups, backed 52 VC funds including SpaceX, and was named Austin's Best CEO. In this conversation with host Park Howell, Brett makes the case that the most urgent upgrade of the AI age is not technological — it's personal. We explore why love, not fear, is the only leadership strategy built for what's coming, why nuclear weapons are a greater existential threat than artificial intelligence, and how psychedelic therapy and Vedantic philosophy transformed the way Brett thinks about building companies, raising consciousness, and saving humanity from itself. If you've ever wondered what you're actually building your work for, this episode is your answer. Find Brett at loveconquersfear.org and on the Love Conquers Fear podcast, published every Tuesday.
- Jun 15, 202644 min
#572: How to Simplify Complex Ideas to Get Your People to Act, With Rob D. Willis
What if your deepest expertise is the very thing making you harder to understand? British music producer turned strategic story producer Rob D. Willis joins Park Howell on the Business of Story to explain why complexity kills communication — and how story structure gives your audience exactly the right combination of connections to get you, what you're about, and what you're asking them to do. Rob has spent years helping tech founders, corporate leaders, and change-makers in Berlin and beyond simplify their most complex ideas into stories that move people to act. In this episode, he brings the frameworks, the neuroscience, and the real-world case studies to prove it. What you'll discover: Why the curse of expertise turns your knowledge into noise — and how story is the antidote The four audience types (friendly, adversarial, apathetic, uneducated) that should reshape every high-stakes conversation How the Downing Street communication grid turns your story into a replicable action plan The three types of complexity — intrinsic, extraneous, and germane — and which one you actually control Why your brain runs on narrative, not logic (and what dopamine, cortisol, and oxytocin have to do with it) How a bank board member's "sand vs. stones" story changed the way Rob thinks about strategic communication About Rob D. Willis: Rob D. Willis is a British music producer turned strategic story producer based in Berlin. He helps leaders and organizations cut through complexity by applying the structure of story to high-stakes communication. Find him on Instagram and LinkedIn at @robdwillis. Resources mentioned in this episode: Connor Neal's four audience types framework The Downing Street communication grid (Alastair Campbell / Tony Blair) Paul Zak's research on narrative neuroscience StoryCycle Genie® at businessofstory.com Want to master the story of your business? Discover the Business of Story tools, courses, and the StoryCycle Genie® at businessofstory.com. Subscribe to the Business of Story wherever you get your podcasts — and leave a review if this episode helped you turn your expertise into clarity.
- Jun 8, 202646 min
#571: AI Doesn't Replace Your Story. It Helps You Tell It Better, with James Taylor
What if the secret to staying irreplaceable in the age of AI isn't working harder — it's getting more creative? That's the central argument of SuperCreativity: Augmenting Human Creativity in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, the new book by global keynote speaker James Taylor. In this episode of the Business of Story, Park Howell sits down with James to explore how the world's top communicators are using AI not to replace their stories — but to tell them with far greater precision, resonance, and impact. From managing Rolling Stones members at the Royal Albert Hall to speaking for Apple, Cisco, L'Oreal, and PwC across 25+ countries, James brings a rare combination of creative instinct and strategic intelligence to the AI conversation. In this episode you'll discover: • Why AI is fueling a New Roaring Twenties — and what that means for entrepreneurs and business leaders • How James uses psychometric AI analysis to profile audiences before he ever steps on a call or stage • The 250-story story bank system that powers his hyper-personalized keynotes • Why your emotional promise matters even to the most analytical, data-driven audiences • What a live StoryCycle Genie® brand analysis revealed about James's Visionary Magician archetype and emotional promise of "possibility" • The standing ovation story from a billionaires' bank in the UAE that proves emotional storytelling transcends every culture and industry • How to build a speaker brand with the same discipline James learned managing rock stars About James Taylor James Taylor M.B.A., F.R.S.A. is an internationally recognized keynote speaker on creativity, innovation, and AI. He has spoken for Fortune Global 500 companies including Apple, Cisco, Deloitte, Accenture, L'Oreal, EY, Visa, and Dell, and was recently the subject of a 30-minute BBC documentary. He has personally interviewed over 750 of the world's leading creative minds and reached hundreds of thousands of people in 120+ countries. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts — alongside Benjamin Franklin, Bob Dylan, and Nelson Mandela. His new book is SuperCreativity: Augmenting Human Creativity in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. Connect with James Taylor: 🌐 JamesTaylor.me 💼 James Taylor on LinkedIn 📸 James on Instagram 🎙️ SuperCreativity Podcast Get your copy of SuperCreativity: 📚 Available in hardcover, paperback, and audiobook on Amazon, Spotify, and Apple Books Learn more about the Business of Story and the StoryCycle Genie®: 🌐 BusinessOfStory.com
About Business of Story
The Business of Story helps sales and marketing leaders excel through the stories they tell. Hosted by Park Howell, known as The World's Most Industrious Storyteller, this popular weekly show is ranked among the top 10% of downloaded podcasts internationally and is the #1 Business Storytelling Podcast according to Feedspot. #StoryOn!
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