"You have a real gift," we say to our storytelling heroes. But do they? Storytelling is a skill. Communicating with greater impact is a craft. It’s not something anyone is gifted. It’s something we all can master.

Today, it’s just me, Jay. Hello! I’m trying a solo episode, sharing my favorite trick for stronger ideas and stories.

Be forewarned: this trick involves sharing your thinking publicly. Not “building in public,” as many like to talk about doing, but by aerating your thinking to sharpen it.

So what “thinking” are you aerating? A very specific kind. To communicate in ways that resonate does NOT require you to experience a lightning strike insight or sensational story. This isn’t about doing something grand and newsworthy either.

No, this trick requires us to do something which our society doesn’t often teach, but it’s free and easy to start.

RESOURCES:

Subscribe to Jay's newsletter at jayacunzo.com

Join Jay's membership program for business storytellers and service providers, the Creator Kitchen

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Produced by Ilana Nevins

Cover art designed by Blake Ink

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ABOUT JAY:

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Speaking

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Jay Acunzo is an author, speaker, and differentiation-and-thought leadership consultant on a mission to help you make what matters to your career, company, and community. He's an advisor to experts, execs, and entrepreneurs who want to resonate deeper with others, not just reach them. To do so, he helps you turn your expertise into IP and your IP into differentiated messaging, exceptional speeches, and celebrated creative projects, equipping you with the communication techniques and power of today’s top thought leaders—because he believes in standing out through substance and stories, not hollow hype.

A leading voice in B2B content marketing for many years thanks to his roles at brands like Google and HubSpot, companies like Mailchimp, Salesforce, Wistia, and GoDaddy have turned to Jay to strengthen their storytelling, while dozens of individual authors, speakers, consultants, and service providers hire Jay as their dedicated thought partner and exec. producer to help develop their premise, IP, speaking, and shows.

Jay lives in the Boston area with his family as a proud Yankees and Knicks fan. In the 60 seconds per week he's not creating stuff for work or making his kids laugh, he likes to shoot hoops, sip nice bourbons, cook with his wife, and daydream about telling stories like that of his storytelling hero, Anthony Bourdain.

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JOIN MY VIRTUAL BOOTCAMP: Design My Signature Talk

Happening this November, I'm leading a two-day virtual bootcamp to help you design, package, and pitch your signature talk—the speaking product you can reliably deliver virtually or in-person, to evangelize your message, continually speak and get invited to speak thanks to how brilliant you are in the room, and generate spin-out business from the talk as well.

Some talks are blog posts with a runtime. Other talks stir hearts and engage minds.

Whether you’re promoting a big launch or your overall business, your signature talk needs to be the latter.

Learn more and see the full schedule at jayacunzo.com/signaturetalk

Space is limited. Register now.

A repeatable system for stronger ideas and stories

How Stories Happen