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ET-015: Leaders, learn the art and science of “Powerful Storytelling”

ET-015: Leaders, learn the art and science of “Powerful Storytelling”

by Wayne Brown on October 4, 2022

by Wayne Brown on October 4, 2022

Episode notes: A conversation with Steve Baltzois and David Phillips

Have you ever wondered what life is like for people in showbiz? In theatre, film, and entertainment. It turns out it’s hectic and very rewarding.

We do a tag team episode today and introduce two wonderful gentlemen that are larger than life and have a track record that supports them.

Montreal-born Steve Baltzois has been a citizen of the world from a very young age. Building up an impressive array on his resume including roles in CSI, Prison Break, and Wolverine. Yes ladies – Hugh Jackman and Michael Scofield, not to mention Robin Williams and Russell Crowe.

He considers his greatest achievement was voicing the legendary character of Scooby-Doo!

Dublin-born David Phillips followed his passion until taking possession of the Best Director and Actor Award with Sydney Film School where he knew he found his thrill.

Over two decades going for broke from Singapore to Australia acting in many well-known theatrical shows and TV sitcoms from “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” to “Dangerous liaisons” and “Behind Mansion Walls”.

Today’s Guests: MR. STEVE BALTZOIS and MR. DAVID PHILLIPS

In our episode today we have the pleasure to speak with two guests that are based in Sydney, Australia, and have incredible backgrounds that span the globe. Our guests are Mr. Steve Baltzois and Mr. David Phillips.

Steve and David are World Renowned Business Leaders and Coaches in the industry space of “How to have a Profitable Business through the “Power of Storytelling”. 

As successful coaches and business experts with a collective 53 years of experience in the Film/Theater and Entertainment industry, they focus on unleashing the power of the S.T.O.R.Y to improve Brand Awareness and Exposure, resulting in higher Profitability and achieving Financial Freedom for all Business Owners, Franchisees, and Entrepreneurs.

Steve Baltzois holds multiple Degrees, Diplomas, and Certifications in Education, Teaching, Psychology, Drama, and Performing Arts, and has worked on many well-known small to large-budget movies, films, theater performances, and live events.

David Phillips has a Bachelor of Administration with a major in Marketing from Griffith University and is certified in Film and Video Production from Sydney University receiving the accolade of Best Actor/Director of the year. 

Steve B and David P

Steve Baltzois | LinkedIn

David Phillips | LinkedIn

Iconic Productions

Drum Story

Steve Baltzois and David Phillips – Iconic Productions and “The Power of Story Telling”

Iconic Productions is a one-stop enterprise in the industry space both in film, theater, and event management. The thing that we’ve done and the evolution of Iconic Productions are we are now all about how to be a profitable business using the power of storytelling. And this is why we’ve become successful business experts and coaches with a collective 53 years of experience.

So Iconic Productions actually started out as Iconic Performances in the year 2000. And through those years, we created this proprietary blend that focuses on unleashing the power to improve brand awareness, higher profitability, and of course, engagement with every person that you meet.

And I think that’s the essence of what Iconic Productions is and it’s been doing this now for 20 years from both the film, theater, and entertainment industries and now to the executives, the business owners, the franchisees, because everyone has a story to tell.

Power of Story Telling: Visit the site via the link to learn more about this approach.

♦ The Power of Story Telling 

What You’ll Learn

For Leaders to be able to share the message – whether your own personal story or the latest strategic initiative, it is essential that you can share it in a compelling and engaging way. As Steve and David share, we all have a story to tell.

And over the years of working in business and engaging with clients, they have crafted a powerful proprietary model that they utilize when working to change executives, entrepreneurs, and business owners’ lives. The model is called S.T.O.R.Y.

  1. Strategy
  2. Teaser
  3. Ovating moments
  4. Resonating
  5. Yellow Back

Of course, to understand each word and the model employed more deeply you will need to listen to the show and speak with Steve and David.

Final words of wisdom from Steve:   

“People often say to me that we’re the ultimate storytellers, and that’s because stories never end, we all are familiar with the never-ending story, and that’s the aspect of life. So the one thing I would, I guess, like to add is people tend to forget that they’re simple or simply not aware of the fact that when you often sit down and you think about what it is that you need to move forward in your career as a resource, it’s all about three main things, and that’s about being heard, being liked, being trusted and being known.

And these four things are the resources that you cannot buy. It is because these resources are obtained by the fact that people are listening and seeing who you are. And as an executive, you need people to know what you do and who you’re about, they need to trust you. And they need to trust you, which of course leads to liking you and then choosing to hear more about what you do.

So every executive, every business owner knows the importance of being… Of parting their wisdom in that career role to influence what they do through leadership. And this is the necessity of any executive or anything, anyone who executes powerful and positive moments with the fact that what they say is a blueprint of what David mentioned before, the what, when, where, why, who, and how.

And so if there’s anything that I would impart to executives who need to further their career, executives who are running a massive business and just wanna take that next step to financial freedom and growth is that the method of the power of storytelling is an extremely useful resource that furthers your career because it makes people know who you are, like you, trust you, and that comes from the story that we tell and is often heard.

And there are so many testimonials to that in itself because when you look at your life alone, Wayne, every connection you’ve made from your spouse to your boyfriend, girlfriend, to even your children, it is through the power of words and the tales that you share with them. And that’s why the power of storytelling is truly a resource that would take you to the heavens and beyond.”

Final words of wisdom from David:

“I would just echo what Steve has said, that everyone has a story to tell. And it’s always such a joy to me, and I’ll go back to the example of Mr. K who initially he was, I’m just a panel beater today, but I have my customers, I don’t really need this, he was very skeptical, to begin with, yet within one minute of listening to him, I went, “Wow, this guy’s got a story to tell.”

And to see the excitement when you listen to someone for one minute, and you come back with a tagline of their story, and their eyes open and they go, “Wow, I never thought of that.” That’s the joy. That’s why we love what we do, and that’s why we’re always telling people, of course, you have a story to tell, because in business as you would know Wayne, yes, the product is very important, but it’s that value add that is equally important. That’s what resonates with the customers, and so that great experience they get, that’s what resonates with them. Of course, in line with the great products that they’re looking to buy.”

Transcript:

0:00:02.8 Wayne Brown: Hello, I’m Wayne Brown, and welcome to the ET project. We’re delighted to be delivering this podcast for Executive Talent all over the world, whom we’re affectionately referring to as team ET. In our episode today, we have the pleasure to speak with our two guests that are Sydney based and have incredible backgrounds that span the globe. Our guests are Mr. Steve Baltzois and Mr. David Phillips. Steve and David are world renowned business leaders and coaches in the industry space of how to have a profitable business through the power of storytelling. They’re successful coaches and business experts with a collective 53 years of experience in the film, theater and entertainment industry. They focus on unleashing the power of the story to improve brand awareness and exposure, resulting in higher profitability and achieving financial freedom for all business owners, franchisees and entrepreneurs.

0:01:05.5 WB: Steve Baltzois holds multiple degrees, diplomas and certifications in education, teaching psychology, drama and the performing arts. And has worked on many well-known small to large budget films, movies and theatre performances together with live events. David Phillips has a Bachelor of Administration with a major in marketing from Griffith University, and is certified in Film and Video Production from Sydney University, receiving the accolade of best actor director of the year. Born in Montreal, Canada, Steve B has been a citizen of the world from a very young age, building up an impressive array on his resume including roles in CSI, Prison Break and Wolverine. He considers his greatest achievement was voicing the legendary character of Scooby-Doo.

0:02:01.7 WB: David Phillips grew up in Dublin, Ireland and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business marketing. But believing there was more to life, he followed his passion until taking possession of the best director and actor award with the Sydney Film School where he knew he found his thrill. Over two decades going from both from Singapore to Australia, acting in many one man theatrical shows and TV sitcoms from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to Dangerous Liaisons and Behind Mansion Walls. And as you might be imagining right now, this is going to be a fun action packed tag team affair. So as always, we ask you to get prepared for the next 30-plus minute episode, and please be ready to capture the lessons from the conversation with Steve Baltzois and David Phillips and the episode titled Leaders Should Embrace the Power of Storytelling.

0:03:00.4 Speaker 2: Welcome to the ET Project, a podcast for those Executive Talents determined to release their true potential and create an impact, join our veteran coach and mentor Wayne Brown as we unpack an exciting future together.

0:03:17.1 WB: Okay, so team ET, today we’ve got a very special episode for you, and we’re doing a first. We have two guests tuned in and ready to entertain us, I have to say as a bit of a segue into what we’re going to be talking about. Welcome, Steve, welcome David. Great to have both of you on the show. We’ll get into some detail shortly, but how are you feeling this morning?

0:03:43.4 Steve Baltzois: Look, I’m feeling amazing, every day is a blossom, and unfortunately, we have great skies here in Sydney, but the sun is always alive.

0:03:53.3 WB: Nice. So that was the voice of Steve. I know we’re not on camera, so I better introduce you Steve Baltzois. And David, how are you feeling?

0:04:05.7 David Phillips: Fantastic, Wayne. Lights camera action as we say in the industry. All set to go.

[laughter]

0:04:11.6 WB: Thank you. And that’s the voice of David Phillips. So two extremely passionate gentlemen about what they do, we were just talking a little bit behind the screen and a fantastic journey that you’ve both been on throughout your careers. I’m wondering if either of you have any fun facts that you would like to share with the listeners.

0:04:34.8 SB: Absolutely. I think for me, the biggest fun fact that I discovered or that I would say is that space is actually only 32 kilometers above where you’re standing now. We often think that space is so far away from us because the stars are billions. But yet, the fact is, space is as close to our lives as literally the person next to you.

0:05:01.9 WB: Very interesting, Steve. It is a really powerful insight. So thanks for sharing. David, anything specific from your side?

0:05:12.5 DP: [chuckle] I guess from my side, maybe what I’ll say is for fun facts using the term facts, being in the power of storytelling is how facts can be fun. And I was introduced to Steve, I guess I auditioned for the role of the Irish convict in a show they were doing, but I got my best reviews from our audiences playing the Sergeant, Sergeant Kennedy. So he was an Irishman playing an Englishman who’s being very nasty to Irish convicts.

0:05:43.9 WB: [laughter] Very, very nice. And it would be a great segue, I’m not ready to go into your relationship…

[laughter]

0:05:50.2 WB: It would be a great segue. Anything exciting either of your around business or around the world at the moment?

0:05:58.3 SB: When you say exciting as in what we’re doing, what’s happening in our world?

0:06:03.5 WB: All of the above Steve.

0:06:03.7 SB: Okay. So look, I think big exciting moment for us is how many people are actually realizing the intensity of being heard. It’s about being bold and daring in everything that you do. We are, since the day of dawn, have been risk takers. But over time, I guess trends have actually made us somewhat become closed in. And for me, the most fascinating thing is to see people actually put a smile on their face. I was talking to a guy only yesterday and one of the things he was saying is he was having struggles with what he was doing in his business. And listening to him and then repeating his story, he started to smile and I stopped there Wayne and I went “Look, what have I just done to you?” And he went, “Wow, I’m actually feeling positive.” And I was… My reply to him was, “It was because you heard me telling your story and that made you happy.” And that I think is the most interesting thing that’s going around right now. Stories are being told in a way that it’s actually starting to make us feel a lot better for ourselves.

0:07:25.1 WB: Incredible. We’re going to get much deeper on that topic during the coming 30 or so minutes. So I really look forward to this conversation. Given that both of you have been working now, like I don’t know how long, I guess it’s 30 odd years, right? You’ve definitely… Looking at your bio, you’ve definitely got a very unique but extremely interesting career background in both cases. So given our listener base, which are Executive Talents, I’m wondering if there’s anything you can recollect or reflect on that you think might be a relevant insight for our listeners.

0:08:05.3 SB: David, do you wanna take that or?

0:08:07.4 DP: Yeah, sure. Great. Great question Wayne. And life… I would say life is experience. Everything is an experience. So I guess if I was to look back at myself, I was very much involved in the business world before making the move into the entertainment industry. And it’s really… It’s all about experience. A lot of what I put into my first year when I came back to Sydney, I had a Indie feature called The Dusk, which I’d literally put my life into. And it was taking… I’d written it when I was a very young man. I then had a lot of life experiences that I was able to put into the story too, and it was all about connecting. Once the film was made… And of course, I could have made the film and put it on the shelf and had a nice postcard, but you really… You do want to resonate and you do wanna reach an audience, you wanna get feedback and it is all… I would say that that’s what it is. It’s all about connecting. Connecting with your audience and talking to the man, the woman on the street, getting their feedback. That’s really what it’s all about.

0:09:33.6 WB: And that’s deeper than networking, I’m guessing, David is what you’re referring to. So it’s really the connection, the personal connection, is it?

0:09:42.1 DP: Absolutely. In many ways, Wayne, it is also about networking. But I think what you said is so true, making that connection. So networking, going deeper than networking, it’s when you start resonating and connecting with people, you start feeling that pulse, that vibe, and success just leads you… Success leads from that.

0:10:06.6 WB: Right. Okay, excellent. Thank you for that. Let’s move into looking a little bit of business now. You both worked for a company called the Iconic Productions. Steve, I know this is probably something that’s very dear to your heart, would you mind giving the listeners a brief background, if you could, of the formation of Iconic… Maybe a background to yourself and then I’ll ask David for a background to himself as well, but please just introduce Iconic Productions briefly.

0:10:38.8 SB: Yeah. So basically, Iconic Productions is a one-stop enterprise in the industry space both in film, theater and event management. The thing that we’ve done and the evolution of Iconic Productions is we are now all about how to be a profitable business using the power of stories telling. And this is why we’ve become successful business experts and coaches with a collective 53 years of experience. So Iconic Productions actually started out as Iconic Performances in the year 2000. And through those years, we created this proprietary blend that focuses on unleashing the power to improve brand awareness, higher profitability and of course, engagement with every person that you meet. And I think that’s the essence of what Iconic Productions is and it’s been doing this now for 20 years from both the film, theater and entertainment industry and now to the executives, the business owners, the franchisees, because everyone has a story to tell.

0:11:44.1 WB: You’re based in Sydney. Are you a global organization or you’re primarily operating down at Sydney I would imagine and focused in that area or not?

0:11:55.0 SB: We’re actually global. So Iconic started in 2000 in the US. And we have an office in Figueroa’s Avenue or Figueroa Street in Los Angeles, we have an office in London and we have an office in Sydney. But the thing is, that story telling is like the stars in the sky, it’s everywhere. Everyone has a tale. And so we can operate in every country and in every city because of the smart technology that exists today and because every human being exists in every place you can find.

0:12:30.2 WB: It’s universal, you might say. [laughter]

0:12:32.5 SB: It is. Absolutely.

0:12:34.4 WB: I can’t move on to David without you giving a very short introduction of your background.

[laughter]

0:12:42.4 WB: You have appeared in a number of films, I believe, and I’m not gonna go there with the voice just yet, but [chuckle] would you mind?

0:12:52.4 SB: Absolutely. So look, I’ve worked with… You can call them greats, but I’ve worked with people from Russell Crowe to Hugh Jackman, Jodie Foster, Robin Williams right up to movies like Prison Break, CSI, The Next Three Days, Wolverine, Chronicles of Narnia. I’ve been in the industry since a young child and I’ve enjoyed the behind the scenes which is now why I’m a senior producer and that’s basically where I am. As you said, I won’t go into the wow part of what makes me so happy, but it was… The great thing about that aspect that we’ll probably lead into, Wayne, is that it was that extraordinary moment that existed in my life that allowed me to actually be who I was. And this is the thing, when you find the tail of your tale, if you understand what I mean?

0:13:50.5 WB: Absolutely.

0:13:51.0 SB: You actually then start to wag yourself to total enjoyment. So yeah, these are just some of the productions that I’ve worked in. I’ve worked in also theater with School of Rock and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and so forth, so.

0:14:07.6 WB: And for the listeners, there were so many puns in what Steve just spoke about between tales and wagging and…

[laughter]

0:14:16.8 WB: But very nice, very nice. And David you’re from a different arena, but similarly exposed to some very high level productions.

0:14:31.7 DP: Absolutely. That’s right. Yeah. So my background before I joined Iconic was very much from the Indie, Indie background. And yeah, as I said, I came back to Sydney, I had a dream to make a feature film called Dusk. That opened up doorways for me. And I actually, I followed that up with another feature a couple of years later called The Roaring Whispers which I acted, directed, wrote, produced. And that got into the Melbourne Underground Film Festival, which is a world renowned film festival. And then my journey then to Iconic was equally challenging. I’d been taken on with a group of actors to play the Irish Convict, was the main character. And I then, six months later, had to audition again. That’s how competitive it was.

0:15:32.3 WB: Wow.

0:15:33.5 DP: And really, so for just six months I was immersing myself in the type of knowledge, practice and background I needed for the type of shows and the standard that Iconic needed. And yeah, it paid off the six months later, I was taken on full time and really, Wayne, I’ve not looked back since then. And to be… To take what I’ve learned and like Steve said, then looking at the power of storytelling and where we’re now focused with that, it really goes hand in hand.

0:16:07.2 WB: Right. And that’s a perfect segue, so thank you, David. You’re both professional business and leadership coaches. So what I’d like to do, if it’s okay with both of you, is spend the remainder of the time going a little bit deeper on what you’ve referred to a few times, the power of storytelling. And I think it sounds to me at least like there’s a great message here for our listener base. So I’d really like to go a little bit deeper into that. Maybe if we start by identifying, based on where you are at the moment, maybe the question is to Steve, what exactly is your ideal client?

0:16:51.2 SB: Absolutely. So I think our ideal client is anyone who has a living, breathing existence.

[chuckle]

0:17:00.1 WB: Okay. That’s a little bit broad maybe.

0:17:00.9 SB: Absolutely. Absolutely. It’s very broad. And the reason why I say that is because you yourself just said you want to go deep in… That there’s a specific message that needs to be told. And this is the thing, so we target everyone from business owners to executives who run and manage a corporate organization. So ideally the big focus is on those people who are themselves role models for great success in their, I guess, financial organizations in their product or service. So the fact is that we experience our lives through events and that occurs… And through there we share those events. So ideally it is those managers, owners, franchisees, the CEOs, the CFOs, the executives who actually execute strategies to produce high end quality events. Anyone who manage that kind of thing, anyone who’s associated with that kind of business executive style is our ideal client, from the sole proprietor to the CEO, as I mentioned. And that’s because they all have a story to tell. And what I often find is even though CEOs and executives have training videos, the fact is that those training videos connect with the products and services that their staff or their suppliers need to be based on.

0:18:36.0 SB: And if you have something that tells a story multiple times to millions of people, then your time is a lot more worthy, because as an executive, you are time poor. So rather than saying the same tale, the same event, to millions, you wouldn’t have the time by ensuring that your listener or the viewer is actually hearing your strategy. In a strategic blueprinted plan, that is a visual stimulus, what you do is you then create powerful, meaningful engagements which only exposes you, increases your career and I guess, ultimately it prepares you for much more success.

0:19:20.0 WB: We’re gonna have to unpack that further in a moment. You triggered a thought in my mind and I’ll channel this question to David. When you’re at the beginning of the preparation or the planning for shooting a film, a video, whether it’s trying to prepare for a role in theater, how do you start to craft your story? How do you start to craft the vision that you want people to receive?

0:19:53.0 DP: Absolutely, and well, very interesting, Wayne. As you say you have to start at the beginning because every story has a beginning. And there’s a beginning and there’s a middle and an end. And so when you are right at the beginning, there’s essentially six questions that you need to ask yourself or that I ask myself when I’m starting out. And as you said, whether it’s a film project, whether it’s a script, whether it’s a role that I’m preparing for, you ask yourself the who, what, when, where, why and how. So essentially, that is, who is the story about? What is the story about? When is it taking place? Where is it taking place? Why is it taking place? And how is it taking place?

0:20:41.2 WB: Okay.

0:20:41.8 DP: And so to me, the most important part of those are the who and the what because really, what is the story about, and who is going to be interested in the story? If you don’t have those two, there’s simply no story. And there’s actually a rule of thumb as well in the industry which is, keep it simple, and that’s the beauty of storytelling, there is a term, the single mode of line, which is, keep it simple and don’t deviate, because once you’ve got your story, your tagline, stick to that. You start deviating, then there’s the danger of what we say waffling on, and you really run the risk then of losing your audience. So yeah.

0:21:30.3 WB: Very insightful. And it’s interesting, the six questions you mentioned they’re age-old, right? So they’ve stood the test of time, and it’s interesting to see that it’s still the basis for commencing, for getting things started. So Steve, we’ve spoken about the power of story telling. In my research, I see that you both referred to as the business storytelling coaches, and it’s a nice title to have, and I also see that you have an acronym, the five letter word story that you’ve built into your brand, if you like, as part of how you promote this program. Could you give a little bit more detail around that, please?

0:22:19.8 SB: Absolutely. Thank you, Wayne. So the story is an acronym, and it’s based on the five things that every successful person as an executive, a CEO, a business owner, needs to actually implement in everything that they do. The S is actually the strategy. Without a strategy or a blueprint, you don’t have a plan of action. Now, the T is actually the enticement of your viewers, your customers, your clients, your staff, it’s actually the teaser. And we know that this works because when you do look at things like trailers and teasers of movies, you see all the best bits in the first three minutes, and then you go and watch the movie, and that’s the same thing with everything that you do in your executive style career, you need to tease that audience, and your audience could be your clients or your customers to actually entice them to want to know more, and you give them the good bits. The O is actually the enthusiastic approach to it, so O is all about the ovating moments, the appreciation of what they’re seeing, what they’re feeling, because the whole aspect of what works is to get people into an emotionally charged moment.

0:23:38.7 SB: R is the fourth thing that without it, the other three don’t work, and that is resonating. We are hard-wired since the day of humankind to actually resonate with things that are part of our desires, wants and I guess likes. So your story must resonate with what your beliefs, what the strategy, what the enthusiasm is that you’re actually telling. And now here is the hidden gem, Wayne, the one thing that all successful people in the world should know, but are never told, and it’s done so successful in Hollywood. It is called the yellow-back. Not many people within the industry understand what a yellow-back is. The yellow-back in, I guess, a simple way, is creating a true, extraordinary emotional feeling that makes you believe that what you see, hear and experience will make you a better person if you have that item. So it’s known in the industry as a truism, and this is how we actually make the connection, and those five things when put together, create the story which is the power, because if you just talk, but you don’t actually show people how, what the power of words can actually do for them to get them to desire, to get them to love, to get them to like, then those five things that ad hoc don’t work.

0:25:19.4 SB: And if you look at some of the most successful things, there’s always a truth behind it that makes you want it, and we know that’s so successful because you have to look at the merchandise on every movie franchise, that’s where the money is, and they get that money because they make people believe, well, if I wear a Thor helmet, if I get the Thor hammer, I’m gonna be as powerful as Thor. If I work and walk in the lines of Michael Douglas in Wall Street, I’m going to be successful, and that’s the truism, it’s known as yellow-back, and yellow-back in its own has four other elements that make a 9-point blueprint of success using the power of story-telling.

0:26:04.8 WB: Incredible. Just aligning with you. My wife works at Disney, and so I understand the power of what you’re talking about. If I was… Let’s say I am a potential client and I’m coming to you, and I want to really work on my story line, and I want to shoot, I don’t know, a video that I am going to release to the broader corporate, where would we start?

0:26:34.0 SB: The first thing is the actual mindset. We need to understand where your actual true core belief or issue is. And so we go through a process, through that strategy in understanding your Weltanschauung. Now, Weltanschauung is a German word which basically means your overview of the existence of what you’re doing. From there, we actually then work with you to create connective words that allow you to actually embellish and expand what it is that you wish to tell. We then create visual stimuli’s based on tailor making it to your ideas, your products, your services. And there then creates what we call the treatment. And I like to use the analogy of a treatment, and it can be a little bit weird in the sense of, everything that we do goes through a treatment in life, and we know this because everything that happens, in the sense of going through that storage, enters a treatment, through that treatment, they purify what has gone through the system to create a much cleaner, a much natural and a much more consuming water source. And that’s the same process that we go through. You need to go through that level of treatment as an executive to actually pursue that career path in understanding the process of mindset, to embellishing, to knowing, trusting and liking. From there, then we go into producing the video and we add all the wonderful bells and whistles, like the musical, the auditory sounds and so forth.

0:28:17.1 WB: Well, it sounds extremely powerful. I’m very tempted now. [laughter] We might have to talk later. If I’m an executive leader today and I want to broaden my reach, I want to broaden my audience or influence, based on the program that you’re offering, is this the right program? So maybe I’ll ask David the question. Is this the program that I would come to you to try and build my audience, build my following?

0:28:53.4 DP: Absolutely, Wayne. I would say 100%, this is the right program. And maybe, and it might be a good time to share a case study with you to give an example of that. The whole basis of story telling is that everybody has a story to tell, and people tend to forget that, particularly when they get so busy, the world we’re in today, they forget that everyone has a story. And as I say, the case study that I wanna share with you is one of our associates in Sydney is essentially, he’s a panel beater. He started out as a panel beater when he was 17, and then he discovered that he had a love for reconditioning vans. There in that one line, already, what an incredible story right there. And so what we did is we took this… What he does, essentially reconditioning vans, but we said to him, I’ll refer to him as K, “What you actually do, sir, is you take an old, beat up van, you make it brand new and you make that owner the owner of the greatest van on the street.”

0:30:04.1 DP: And when we looked at it, we saw that he’s very much like a orchestra conductor, and so we just use very powerful images, we undercut them to a classical music score, and we turned him into a conductor. And this guy now, he’s been in Sydney his whole life, he is currently opening up a workshop in Melbourne, because when people saw the power of this story, it was a one-minute teaser, people resonated with it, they said, “Wow, that’s the guy I want to re-condition my van for me. But he’s in Sydney, I’m in Melbourne, I don’t care, this van is my baby, I want it to look brand new.” And that there is the power of story telling, in how whereby taking a story, exposing him to a whole audience of customers he didn’t even know existed, he’s now expanding his business from Sydney to Melbourne.

0:30:55.5 WB: Nice story.

0:30:56.2 SB: If I can add to that, Wayne.

0:30:58.2 WB: Please.

0:30:58.6 SB: We didn’t actually change him into an orchestral conductor, in that sense, it’s metaphorical.

0:31:05.5 WB: Sure, sure.

0:31:06.1 SB: In the sense that what we did in his story was we allowed him to modify vans and tell his greatness, his point of view, just like a conductor in an orchestra guides and, I guess, executes the actual sound, the brilliant sound that comes out of it. And so his vans, his story then started to resonate because of that ability to conduct greatness through his experience as a van modifier. So we didn’t change his career, we didn’t turn him into something that he was not, what we did was we metamorphosized his ability into something that people connected using the concept like a conductor in an orchestra.

0:31:54.3 WB: I can see how this would be extremely powerful. Any takeaways that you would like the listeners to be aware of or clear about in relation to this program? Anything specific that we haven’t spoken about that you would like to add?

0:32:12.6 SB: I would love to. I mean, there’s so much to tell.

[laughter]

0:32:17.9 SB: And people often say to me that we’re the ultimate story tellers, and that’s because stories never end, we all are familiar with the never-ending story, and that’s the aspect of life. So the one thing I would, I guess, like to add is people tend to forget that they’re simply or simply are not aware of the fact that when you often sit down and you think about what it is that you need to move forward in your career as a resource, it’s all about three main things, and that’s about being heard, being liked, being trusted and being known. And these four things are itself the resources that you cannot buy. It is because these resources are obtained by the fact that people are listening and seeing who you are. And as executive, you need people to know what you do and who you’re about, they need to trust you. And they need to trust you, which of course leads to liking you and then choosing to hear more about what you do.

0:33:20.9 SB: So every executive, every business owner knows the importance of being… Of parting their wisdom in that career role to influence what they do through leadership. And this is the necessity of any executive or anything, anyone who executes powerful and positive moments with the fact that what they say is a blueprint of what David mentioned before, the what, when, where, why, who and how. And so if there’s anything that I would impart to executives who need to further their career, executives who are running a massive business and just wanna take that next step to financial freedom and growth, is that the method of the power of storytelling is an extremely useful resource that furthers your career because it makes people know who you are, like you, trust you, and that comes from the story that we tell and is often heard. And there’s so many testimonials to that in itself because when you look at your life alone, Wayne, every connection you’ve made from your spouse to your boyfriend, girlfriend, to even your children, it is through the power of words and the tales that you share with them. And that’s why the power of story telling is truly a resource that would take you to the heavens and beyond.

0:34:46.9 WB: I can see why you have the title, the ultimate story teller, Steve, [chuckle] thank you. And that’s not diminishing your message. I’m not making light of your message. So, thank you. David, anything from your side that you’d like to add?

0:35:09.4 DP: As you said, always an honor to be following on from Steve. [laughter] I would just… But I would just echo what Steve has said, that everyone has a story to tell. And it’s always such a joy to me, and I’ll go back to the example of Mr. K who initially he was, I’m just a panel beater today, but I have my customers, I don’t really need this, he was very skeptical to begin with, yet within one minute of listening to him, I went, “Wow, this guy’s got a story to tell.” And to see the excitement when you listen to someone for one minute, and you come back with a tagline of their story and their eyes open and they go, “Wow, I never thought of that.” That’s the joy. That’s why we love what we do, and that’s why we’re always telling people, of course, you have a story to tell, because in business as you would know Wayne, yes, the product is very important, but it’s that value add that is equally important. That’s what resonates with the customers, and so that great experience they get, that’s what resonates with them. Of course, in line with the great products that they’re looking to buy.

0:36:17.6 WB: Beautiful analogy. We were talking before we started recording, and Steve, you mentioned you’re working on a project. Anything you would like to share before we wrap up about this project? Or anything you’re working on that you’d like your listeners to know about?

0:36:33.2 SB: Absolutely, so the actual project that we’re currently working on is in telling an actual event of a business owner who was struggling with only 15 products sold a year, and he had an amazing interest in Australian history. And so we’re actually writing up his script and just the teaser that has been put together so far has actually made over 45,000 hits, just a teaser. And we have only just drafted it to see the input, this is gonna come out probably November, but we also have another production that’s in the works called Drum Story. And Drum Story is the tale of all tales because it’s about the beat that actually is in every human heart and how the level of communication is no different to the heartbeat of every drum. It’s called Drum Story, you can always go to drumstory.com.

0:37:37.7 SB: But if they want to know more about how to increase their career path as an executive, how to get their business or what they do to the next level of increased sales, increased profitability, a much more enhanced engagement and an exponential exposure, go to steveanddavid.com, and it will show you how you can take that level or get to the next level without losing any time that you currently have, and that’s the greatness about storytelling. It doesn’t take up your time because we have developed over 27 departments in-house that work with you to actually make you achieve that goal of engaging, increasing, enhancing and developing, it’s the trust, know and like.

0:38:32.3 WB: Very good. We’ll link to that in our episode notes. Any other locations where you’d like people to find you or communicate with you?

0:38:40.9 SB: Wow, absolutely. The big thing is steveanddavid.com, but we have so many different places that they can find us, iconic.productions. Do not put a dot com or AU at the end of it. We have servers in over 30 countries, so it’s iconic.productions. Ideally, you can also go to iconic.productions/sbc_videoproductions, and it will show you how you can enhance, increase and also develop the success that you are looking for.

0:39:13.8 WB: Fantastic, so we’ll link… For the listeners, we’ll link to all of that in our notes, so please log on to the site and you’ll find the full transcript, the notes, and the links for everything that Steve and David have spoken about today. Gentlemen, it’s been a fantastic conversation. Time is never enough. It would be great to spend the next hour talking deeper about what you’re doing, but also the history. I know, Steve, you mentioned in the short time that we’ve known each other, you have this fascination with metaphysics, that could be a whole episode in itself. [laughter] So we’re not going to go into that, but thank you both for your time and for bringing your… Not only your business, but your insights and your experience to our listeners, the Executive Talents and our show. So I really appreciate it. Steve, David, enjoy the rest of your day, and we look forward to catching up again in the near future.

0:40:17.2 SB: Absolutely, and I guess just to end it, I will do that wonderful voice that we said that we’re gonna lead into, and that would be, (voice impressions of Scooby Doo).

0:40:27.2 WB: There is nothing further to say. [laughter] Thank you Steve, thank you David, been an honor.

0:40:38.5 DP: Thank you, Wayne. Thank you very much.

0:40:39.0 WB: Take care.

0:40:41.0 Speaker 2: Thank you for joining us on the ET project, a show for executive talent development. Until next time, check out our site for free videos, eBooks, webinars, and blogs at coaching4companies.com.

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