Week 3 · Measured Influence · Day 16 of 28 · Tuesday · Lesson · 15 min

How to tell a story at work: the story spine

Day 16 · The Story Spine

Facts inform; stories move. Day 16 covers the story spine (every day, one day, because of that, until finally), the “one day” that makes it a story, and building a bank of five.

The point. Facts inform; stories move. A story has a shape the listener’s brain already knows how to follow, so they lean in instead of working. The engine is the “one day”: the moment something changed.

Topics: storytelling

Learn the skill

Stories have a shape

Facts inform; stories move. The reason is structural: a story has a shape the listener’s brain already knows how to follow, so they lean in instead of working. The simplest reliable shape is the story spine, a template that came out of improv theatre and that film storytellers made famous. Once upon a time. Every day. But one day. Because of that. Because of that. Until finally. And ever since then.

Picture it · 5 examples

Example Two investor updates
One founder reads the metrics. The other says: “Every month we lost ten per cent of users in week one. One day a customer told us she couldn’t find the save button. Because of that we moved it. Churn halved.” Six months later the investors still talk about the save button.
Selling The case study
“A firm your size came to us last year. Every quarter, closing their books took three weeks. One day their CFO missed a board deadline. Because of that…” The buyer stops reading the brochure and listens.
In the office The new process
You explain the new sign-off process as bullet points. Blank faces. You start again: “Every week, three versions of the deck went to the client. One day the wrong one went out…” Now they get it.
Drinks & dinners “So what does your company do?”
At the conference dinner you tell your company’s “one day” story instead of the mission statement. Three people lean in. The person who answered before you recited their website. Nobody followed up.
On a call The all-hands on video
The CEO who reads the quarter’s numbers gets cameras switched off. The one who tells the story of one customer’s Tuesday gets questions in the chat.

The engine is the one day

Every story you will ever need in business fits the spine, including the ones about yourself. “Every day we were building tools for one kind of customer. One day a completely different kind asked to use them. Because of that…” The engine is the “one day”: the change. No change, no story.

Picture it · 5 examples

Example “Tell me about yourself”
The panel has heard eleven career summaries today. You say: “Every day I was building reports nobody read. One day the CFO asked me why. Because of that I started asking him what he actually needed.” Afterwards the panel refer to you as “the CFO one”.
Selling The product story
“Every day sales reps typed the same quote into three systems. One day one of them built a spreadsheet to do it for her. Because of that, we exist.” The buyer asks what happened to the rep. She is your head of product.
In the office The project at the all-hands
“Every day the support queue was two hundred tickets. One day a new starter noticed that half of them were the same question. Because of that…” Two hundred people now understand why the project existed.
Hard conversation The failure story
“Every Friday we shipped. One Friday we shipped at five and broke everything over the weekend. Because of that, we don’t ship on Fridays.” Told to the new team, it does more than a rule in a document.
Drinks & dinners At drinks
“What do you do?” he asks. You say: “Every day I watched good ideas die in meetings. One day I started writing them down before the meeting. Now that’s the job.” He asks three more questions. Nobody asks three questions about a mission statement.

Build a bank of five

One analysis of great speeches found they move back and forth between “what is” and “what could be”. That is the story spine at the level of an argument. Build a bank of five personal stories (an origin, a failure, a win, a lesson, something funny) and you will never be stuck for an answer to “tell me about yourself”.

Picture it · 5 examples

Example Five titles on a sticky note
Origin: the spreadsheet that became the company. Failure: the launch nobody came to. Win: the client who came back. Lesson: the wrong hire. Funny: the all-staff email. Next time someone says “tell me about yourself”, you have a choice rather than a shrug.
Selling What is, what could be
“Today your team spends Friday afternoon on this. Imagine Friday back.” Back and forth, twice. The buyer is picturing Friday. Pictures sell. Features do not.
Drinks & dinners The toast at the team dinner
“A year ago this was four people and a whiteboard. Now look at this table.” What is. “Next year we sign the client we didn’t dare call this year.” What could be. The table is quiet in the right way.
In the office The all-hands
“Here’s where we are.” Then “Here’s where we could be.” You say both twice more, and each time the future sounds nearer. By the end, the room is already living in it.
On a call The investor call
“Right now we win one in five pitches. With the enterprise feature, one in three.” What is, what could be, in one breath. The investor asks about the feature.

Check you’ve got it

The engine of a story on the spine is…

The “every day”
The “but one day”
The “ever since then”

Answer

The “but one day”. The change is the story. Without a “one day” you have a description, not a story.

How long should a business story run?

Twenty seconds
Sixty to ninety seconds
Five minutes

Answer

Sixty to ninety seconds. Long enough for specific details, short enough to keep them with you. Cut any warm-up before the story starts.

Cheat sheet · The spine

Once upon a time / Every day

The normal. Keep it to two sentences.

Picture it · 2 examples

Example Two sentences of normal
Board meeting. “Every quarter, closing the books took three weeks. Everyone accepted it.” Two sentences, then the change. The last presenter gave four sentences of normal, and by the fourth the CFO was checking his phone.
Drinks & dinners At dinner
“Every Monday I got the same complaint from the same customer.” One sentence of normal, and the table is waiting for what happened next. You give it to them. The normal was there to be broken, not described.

But one day

The change. This is the engine.

Picture it · 3 examples

Example Pause before it
In the boardroom: “…and everyone accepted it.” Pause. “Then one day the CFO missed a board deadline.” The pause is where the room leans in. You can see three people shift forward in their chairs.
Selling In the pitch
“One day a customer asked if it worked on her phone.” The buyer sits forward. That sentence is the whole pitch.
In the office At the team meeting
“One day the wrong deck went to the client.” Everyone stops typing. Change is the only thing a room reliably listens to.

Because of that

What followed. One or two steps.

Picture it · 2 examples

Example Two beats
To the investors: “Because of that, we moved the button. Because of that, support calls dropped.” Two beats, and they are following. Five beats, and it would be a list, and lists are where investors look at their phones.
On a call On the call
“Because of that, we rebuilt the quote tool.” One beat on the phone, where attention is shorter and nobody can see your face. The client says “And?”, which means she is still with you. You give her the landing.

Until finally

The turning point, where it resolves.

Picture it · 3 examples

Example The turn
“Until finally, closing the books took three days.” You slow down for this line, because it is the one they came for. The CFO, who has been quiet all meeting, says “Three days?” That is the turn landing.
Drinks & dinners The toast
“Until finally, last month, they signed.” Said slowly. The applause starts before you have finished.
In the office The all-hands
“Until finally the queue hit zero on a Friday afternoon.” Pause. Someone claps. That is the turn landing.

And ever since then

Land it on the point you want them to keep. 60 to 90 seconds total.

Picture it · 2 examples

Example Land on the point
“And ever since then, we ask the customer before we build.” The story ends on that sentence, which is the one you want the room to keep. Three weeks later, a colleague uses it in a meeting you are not in.
Selling Close
“And ever since then, their CFO sends the board pack a week early.” The buyer wants to be that CFO.

Drill it out loud · about 12 min

Write your five story titles: origin, failure, win, lesson, funny. (3 min on the timer)
Picture it · 3 examples
- Example Five titles
  Origin: the spreadsheet. Failure: the empty launch. Win: the client who came back. Lesson: the wrong hire. Funny: the all-staff email. It takes three minutes. You have never written them down before.
- In the office At your desk
  Origin: the night shift that became the job. Failure: the pilot nobody used. Win: the regional deal. Lesson: the handover I skipped. Funny: the video call with the cat. Five titles in today’s notes. Three minutes. You already know which one you will tell first.
- At home On the couch
  Origin: how you ended up in logistics. Failure: the Christmas delivery. Win: the warehouse move. Lesson: hiring your mate. Funny: the forklift. You type them on the couch and read them back twice. They are a menu, and you have never had one.
Pick one. Build it in Say it clearly (Tell a story). (4 min on the timer)
Picture it · 3 examples
- Example Build one
  “The client who came back.” Every quarter they renewed without a word. One day they left. Because of that you called and asked why. Because of that you fixed the onboarding. Until finally they came back and brought another client.
- In the office The pilot nobody used
  Say it clearly, Tell a story. Every week we shipped features. One day we checked the usage and the pilot had three users. Because of that we rang all three. Because of that we rebuilt the first screen. Until finally the next pilot had sixty. Ever since, we ring the users first.
- Selling The regional deal
  Every month the regional office said no. One day their ops manager visited the warehouse. Because of that she saw the dock system working. Because of that she took a video. Until finally her director rang us. Ever since, we invite them to the floor first.
Tell it in 90 seconds in Speak. Did you rush the “one day”? Tell it again, pausing right before it.
Picture it · 3 examples
- Example Ninety seconds, pause before the “one day”
  First take you rush straight through the change. Second take you stop for a full second before “Then one day they left”. You hear it as you say it: that second is the best part of the story.
- In the office The pilot story in Speak
  Ninety seconds in Speak at your desk. First take, eighty seconds, and “one day” went past in the middle of a sentence. Second take, you stop before it. Eighty-six seconds. The pause cost six seconds and made the story.
- In the car Told to the car
  The regional deal story, ninety seconds, to the windscreen. You pause before “one day their ops manager visited”. In the silence you can feel where a listener would look up. You keep the take and send it to nobody.

Lock it in

Tick what’s true.

I have five story titles.
Picture it · 3 examples
- Example Five titles exist
  Five titles on a sticky note inside your notebook: origin, failure, win, lesson, funny. In Thursday’s interview, “tell me about yourself” gets the origin story, and the panel refers to you afterwards as “the spreadsheet one”.
- Drinks & dinners At the dinner
  Five titles in your phone. At the dinner someone says “so how did you get into this?” You pick the origin story off the menu without looking. Last month that question got a job title and a shrug.
- Selling On the sales call
  The buyer asks how the company started. You have five stories and pick the funny one, because the call needs it. She laughs, then asks a real question. The menu did that.
One story is built on the story spine.
Picture it · 3 examples
- Example One story on the spine
  Every day, one day, because of that, until finally, ever since. You build “the client who came back” on the spine and it is shorter than the way you used to tell it, and better. The old version had no “one day”. It was a description.
- In the office Built at your desk
  The pilot story, on the spine, in Say it clearly. Six lines. You read it back and realise the old version started with the budget approval, which nobody has ever cared about. The spine starts it where the listener starts caring.
- On a call Told on a call
  You tell the regional deal story on the Monday call, on the spine, without notes. The client says “That’s a good story.” It is the same story you have told badly for a year.
I told it in under 90 seconds, with a clear “one day”.
Picture it · 3 examples
- Example Under ninety seconds, clear “one day”
  Eighty-two seconds. The “one day” is a sentence on its own, with a pause in front of it. Even practising alone, you can hear where a room would lean in.
- In the office In the team meeting
  You tell the pilot story to the team in under ninety seconds. The pause before “one day we checked the usage” makes two people look up from their laptops. The new starter asks what happened to the three users.
- Drinks & dinners At drinks
  The forklift story, eighty seconds, with a clear pause before “one day the forklift didn’t stop”. The laugh comes exactly there. Told without the pause last year, it got a smile at the end.

Take it into your day

Tell one of your five stories to someone today, unprompted, when it fits.

Common questions

The objections people raise, and the short answer.

I’m not a storyteller

You tell stories all day: what the client said, what happened at the airport. The spine just gives them a shape people can follow. The shape does the work, not talent.

About: Stories have a shape

My story has no ‘one day’

Then it is a description, not a story. Find the moment something changed: a customer, a mistake, a question nobody had asked. Every job has one. That moment is what turns it into a story.

About: The engine is the one day

Isn’t a prepared story bank fake?

Every speaker you admire has one. Prepared is not fake. It is the reason their answer to “tell me about yourself” is a story and yours has been a job title.

About: Build a bank of five

They need the background

They need just enough normal to feel the change. The background you want to give is for you, not them.

About: Once upon a time / Every day

A lot happened next

Pick the two consequences that lead to the landing. The rest is a different story for a different day.

About: Because of that

Ninety seconds isn’t long enough

It is enough for every part of the spine, a sentence or two each. Under ninety seconds, they want more. Over three minutes, they want out.

About: And ever since then

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