Walk people down a story hallway so they can recognize the power of your ideas

Think about the last thing you bought.

For me, it was running shoes for my daughter. She’s in a local chapter of Girls on the Run, and they’re training for a 5k.

My daughter has plenty of sneakers. Still, this week I bought her a pair of new running shoes.

Why?

Because I want her to take the program seriously. Because I love feeling like a runner, and I want her to “feel” like a runner, too.

I also bought them because I want to feel like a good, caring mother. I like feeling like a “good” mother. If I’m really being honest, I also want to feel like I look like a good, supportive mother to the coaches and other parents.

Like the new running shoes, we can live comfortably without most of the things we purchase.

So why do we buy?

Because we want to. Because we like how it feels. Because we like what it means.

We buy because of our emotions.

Feelings make people buy.

Even if you’re buying a piece of software or a website, you’re not buying a solution to a problem. You’re buying a feeling.

• We buy our way out of the feeling of overwhelm and “why does this have to be so stupidly hard”.

• We buy our way out of the shame of people thinking our company is dated or unsophisticated when you KNOW that’s not true.

• We buy our way into feeling like we’re doing something about a problem making us feel stuck and frustrated.

People purchase a solution. But they buy feelings.

Feelings make us buy, but they also make us buy-in.

To get people to see the value of what we offer, we have to take them to where they can see it. This means giving them an emotional vehicle to get there.

This is where story comes in.

Not a Ted Talk. Don’t write a Ted Talk. You don’t have 9-18 minutes of spotlight to unpack your idea and two months to prepare.

This isn’t quite “business storytelling” either. We’ve all rolled our eyes hearing some version of this: “This is Jane. Jane has to juggle between XX tools to get one task done. Now she has one tool she can use to be more efficient at the job she hates!” (I took some editorial license there at the end, but you get the gist.)

The story you want to tell is better thought of like this: a short emotional vignette that you quickly paint, which then becomes a portal that takes people somewhere specific. Put another way, a brief, human story that can be told in the time it takes to walk a hallway with someone.

Some of the most iconic pitches and speeches in history have begun by taken people down an emotional corridor that seamlessly turns into a bridge between something people know and something that’s new.

After Canva founder Melanie Perkins began opening her pitch with a short story about how it feels to use complicated design software, they’ve gone on to raise $581M to realize her vision.

She had seen students get annoyed having to learn a complex tool just to do a simple design task. She used the story of “smart, capable people feeling overwhelmed and stupid,” to get people to understand the power and force of her idea. 

"A lot of people can relate to going into something like Photoshop and being completely overwhelmed," she said. "It's important to tell the story, because if your audience doesn't understand the problem, they won't understand the solution.”

Most people think that getting people to “understand the problem” means presenting them with facts and evidence. We try to create rational understanding.

But getting people to understand the problem really means getting people to care. People only care when they feel something. Emotional understanding.

Life experience and science confirms this, and influential data scientists are quick to point out that a concept must be personal for people to care.

Even so, it’s easy to forget to do it in our own work.

We all know Melanie Perkins had a really good idea, and was capable of building an empire. But Melanie pitched Canva for 3 years and was rejected 100 times before story she got her first investment.

She credits finally getting funded to this change in her pitch. Perkins went from introducing her idea as “a simple, accessible way to design" that got zero interest from investors, to using a simple story with a relatable feeling that made people get it, immediately.

After she was able to make people care, investors understood she was on to something. Once people could appreciate the value of her idea, she was off to the races. The company has a $40B valuation now. 

Her idea was unchanged — her solution was still “a simple, accessible way to design." But finding a short, relatable story gave her idea resonance.

• For companies like Canva, it’s smart, capable people feeling dumb and overwhelmed trying to figure out how to do something simple.

• For companies like AirBnB, it’s travelers not wanting to feel like a tourist, but wanting to feel like they belong anywhere they go.

• For companies like Southwest, it's a feeling that traveling can be fun and an enjoyable part of the day, not a soul-sucking drag.

The most successful brands and pitches are built on core ideas attached to relatable feelings.

Apple. Nike. Harley Davidson. The list goes on.

Every company needs to find their own “feeling” moment to pitch, market and sell their ideas effectively.

Some places to look for yours:

1. The aha moment that sparked the idea for change. (Canva)

2. The shared emotional bond customers have about why they love you. (AirBnB)

3. A script flipping moment that shows there’s another path. (Southwest)

When you’re communicating your ideas, get people to see by engaging their heart.

Here’s how to create a story hallway for your idea:

1. Find a relatable emotional starting place you can bring people to. You want to walk them down a short hallway that ends with your idea, so they can see something new.

   1. Allow that moment to teleport someone from where they are right now, to feeling something key that rings as true. This should be something common that most people have experienced themselves in some way, and can easily recognize.

   2. Take them somewhere specific that connects to your idea. Your story should make your idea feel like a resolution to the feeling. 

2. Cast a compelling vision for what’s possible. Once they are there with you, show them what you see— and why it matters.

   
   

What’s the story moment driving your idea?

We'd love to know.