1.
Jennifer Aaker - General Atlantic Professor of Marketing - jaaker@stanford.edu
POWER OF STORY

2.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
WHY STORY
THE SCIENCE BEHIND STORY
MISPERCEPTIONS OF STORY
HARNESSING STORY TO LEAD
BREAK
HOW THE CLASS WILL WORK

3.
Story

4.
STOR·Y
A narrative
With a beginning, middle and end

5.
HEMINGWAY
Baby shoes. For sale. Never worn.

6.
6 WORD STORIES
Not quite. Aspiring to be quite.
Tonight he packs, tomorrow I pine.
Married the wrong girl, fixed it.
Getting old. Ringtones piss me off.

7.
Think of stories as assets.
It is as much a way of life -
an organizing frame – as it is a tool.
GOAL

8.
THE SCIENCE BEHIND
STORY

9.
“ “Humans are not ideally set up to
understand logic; they are set
up to understand stories
-Robert Schank
Cognitive Psychologist

10.
MISPERCEPTIONS OF
STORY

11.
1
They think story is
fictitious, fluffy – without
substance

12.
Data (features, facts)
Story (narrative)
TWO TOOLS

13.
Point of view
(Goal = credibility)
Data Story
CREDIBILITY TRIANGLE

14.
ADJUST THE TRIANGLE
POV
STORYDATA

15.
WHAT IS YOUR NATURAL FLOW?
POV
Data
Story
Story
Data
POV
Story
Data
Data
Story

16.
CONTEXT MATTERS
Research Review Committee
Portfolio Review Committee
Board meetings
Town halls
Leadership retreats
1:1 manager and employee meetings

17.
2 They think stories are
boastful, self-centered

18.
Remember the most effective stories blend fact and
emotion.
Sharing
Listening
TWO ROLES

19.
“After I sat next to Prime Minister Gladstone I
thought he was the cleverest man in England.
But when I sat next to Disraeli I thought I was
the cleverest woman.”
- Jennie Jerome, Winston
Churchill’s mother

20.
Remember the most effective stories blend fact and
emotion.
Tell me more about …
Tell me about a time when…
Why was that important…
BE CURIOUS

21.
3 They believe story is
about marketing

22.
Why was Solomon recognized as the wisest man in the world?
Because he knew more stories than anyone else. Scratch the
surface in a typical boardroom and we’re all just cavemen with
briefcases, hungry for a wise person to tell us stories
ALAN KAY, VP OF THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY

23.
clarity culture connect sticky leadership

24.
WEBSITEVIDEO POST BLOG
6 WORD STORYTALK CONVERSATION 140 CHARACTERS
ACTIVATED ACROSS
CHANNELS

25.
DESIGNING HAPPINES | ™ JENNIFER AAKER
Design for purpose
Design for empathy
Design signature stories
DESIGN
PRINCIPLES

26.
HOW TO HARNESS STORY TO
LEAD

27.
Design for purpose
1

28.
You are part of something meanin
feel you are having an impact on
of others.
You respect your team and feel re

29.
“Storytelling is at the cornerstone of
everything we do:
raising money, hiring, press”
- Chris Sacca

30.
You are part of something meanin
feel you are having an impact on
of others.
You respect your team and feel re
WHY
“The company story is the company strategy.
The story must explain why you exist:
Why are we doing this?
Why does the problem need to be solved?
Why should you join the company?
Why should you invest in it?
Why should you buy a product from it?
“”

31.
You are part of something meanin
feel you are having an impact on
of others.
You respect your team and feel re
“”
Starts with CEO and built inside out -- so
that employees, partners, suppliers all
know the same story.
INSIDE OUT

32.
Founding principles
Point of View
UNDERSTANDING
Role
Story
CLARIFYING
Value proposition
Promise
CONNECTING
Name
Personality
IDENTITY
Design
Style
ASSETS
Letterhead
Business Cards
Collateral
Packaging
Websites
Signage
Advertising
Environments
Ephemera
TOUCHPOINTS
Defining Who We Are Expressing Who We Are
INSIDE OUT

33.
3
DESIGN FOR MOMENTS
Simple things matter.
Employees must believe the story,
be inspired by the story, and
knows their role in the story.

34.
What is your role on the team, the team’s role in the
company, the company’s role in the planet?

35.
Photo: Xevi V.
You have to feel authentic when you share
the story. People can tell when you aren’t.

36.
Protagonists make a story relatable
Brands often feel manufactured.
People do not.

37.
DESIGN CHALLENGE
Startup with no marketing budget
Approach. Spotlight authentic,
charismatic CEO vis video to
break through clutter
DOLLAR SHAVE CLUB

38.
Design for empathy
2

39.
Photo
Brands too often make the mistake
of trying to be the hero.

40.
DESIGNING HAPPINES | ™ JENNIFER AAKER
Your customers are the hero.

41.
James Buckhouse, Twitter

42.
https://imagine.linkedin.

43.
DESIGN
CHALLENGE
Better features but no adoption.
Need to connect users to
Chrome
Approach: tell the user story
GOOGLE CHROME

44.
DESIGN FOR EMPATHY
Remember the most effective stories blend fact and
emotion.
How can you make your user the hero of their
own story?

45.
Design signature
stories3

46.
You are part of something meanin
feel you are having an impact on
of others.
You respect your team and feel re
SIGNATURE STORY
Many stories are tactical
Signature stories are strategic
They are an asset and merit active management

47.
You are part of something meanin
feel you are having an impact on
of others.
You respect your team and feel re
SIGNATURE STORY
An intriguing, authentic and involving story with a
strategic message that drives growth by
enhancing the brand, organization and/or
business strategy.

48.
STORIES DRIVE GROWTH
Operational Excellence
Customer Intimacy
Innovation

49.
DESIGN CHALLENGE
How to connect to teens globally,
harnessing social and digital?
Approach: 7 Prototypes; $50K each
6 failed, 1 won
Coke Happiness Machine
GROWTH STORY

50.
If these stories are assets they
should live in paid, owned, earned,
shared media.
These stories should have lives of

51.
Viral Video.

52.
Owned assets (like trucks).

53.
Website.

54.
Mobile app.

55.
This inspired an entirely
new way of marketing:
Creating surprising moments
of authentic happiness.

56.
You are part of something meanin
feel you are having an impact on
of others.
You respect your team and feel re
As part of growth strategy, Coke now invests 10%
of its marketing budget in co-created experiences
brand new to the world.

57.
NOW NEW
CO-CREATED
EVOLVED PORTFOLIO

58.
VALUECREATION
20122011 2013
INNOVATION ENGINE

59.
TEACHING TEAM
STEPHANY YONG
syong@stanford.edu
SIMAR MANGAT
smangat@stanford.edu
MADILYN ONTIVEROS
madilyn@stanford.edu
JENNIFER AAKER
jaaker@stanford.edu

60.
A Personal Story

61.
Social media

62.
I was skeptical.

63.
networking
powerful
understandingamazing
fun
innovative friends
sharing
connecting
Social Media

64.
Social Media
inaccurate
passing fad
dangerous
frivolous
invasive
time suck
lonely
wastage of time
demanding

65.
MY VIEW OF SOCIAL TECHNOLOGY, CIRCA 2008

66.
I was teaching Creativity and Innovation…

67.
USING SOCIAL MEDIA
TO SAVE LIVESROBERT CHATWANI

68.
Sameer

69.
SAMEER BHATIA, 32
Grew up in Seattle
Co-Founder, roommate, best friend
Married Reena in 2006
Stanford undergrad, serial entrepreneur
Diagnosed May 2007
VINAY CHAKRAVARTHY, 28
Grew up in Fremont, CA
Doctor in Boston
Married Rashmi in 2005
Berkeley undergrad, MD from BU
Diagnosed November 2006

70.
US ESTIMATES of leukemia (2009)
New cases: 44,790
Deaths: 21,870
Mortality: 49%

71.
For many patients,
the only cure is a
bone marrow transplant
from a human donor.

72.
FINDING A DONOR
Marrow infusions require a near
perfect genetic match (10/10).

73.
The highest probability lies
in the same ethnic pool.

74.
Non-profit that
operates a bone
marrow registry of
7.5 million
individuals.

75.
For European
Americans, there is an
80% chance of finding a
matched donor in the
NMDP Registry.

76.
Of the 7.5 MILLION registrants in
the U.S.,

77.
20% are minorities.

78.
But only 1% are
South Asian.

79.
So if you are
South Asian…

80.
your chances of finding a
match are slim.

81.
V E R Y S L I M

82.
1 in 20,000

83.
Sameer and Vinay
did not find matches that they
desperately needed in the
registry.

84.
To make matters worse,

85.
in India…
a country with more than 1 billion
people

86.
nothing
There was no
National Bone
Marrow Registry

87.
What to do?

88.
Friends got together.

89.
We all knew that
we needed to
do something.

90.
What were our options?

91.
Do nothing.
Do something.
Do something
SEISMIC

92.
THE CHALLENGE
We needed to move fast.
We needed to scale.
We could not fail.

93.
Our simple answer…

94.
If the odds were 1 in 20,000…

95.
Then all we needed to do was…

96.
hold bone marrow drives…

97.
and register 20,000 South Asians.

98.
And then we’ll find a match.

99.
Just 1 problem.

100.
We had a matter of weeks to
get this done.

101.
First, stay focused.

102.
One goal:
20,000 South Asians

103.
GOT ORGANIZED & FORMED
TEAMS
TEAM VINAY TEAM SAMEER
team lead
marketing
drive operations
education
regional leads
team lead
marketing
drive operations
education
regional leads
bridges

104.
HelpSameer.org HelpVinay.org
BUILT INSTANT BRANDS

105.
Executed, like CRAZY.

106.
Blogs
Facebook
Widgets
Video
Viral Email
Pledge Lists
Fliers
Celebrities
Donor Orgs
Literature
Web Links
How to Videos
Homes
Local Events
Clubs / Lounges
Universities
Temples
Corporate Drives
TV
Public Relations
Posters
Newspapers
Magazine
Telemarketing
http://www.helpsameer.org/strategy/
Instant
Brand
Mass-Micro
Mobilization
HELP SAMEER STRATEGY
SOCIAL MEDIA EDUCATION
REGISTRATIONTRADITIONAL MEDIA
AWARENESS ACTION
STRATEGY

107.
10 Simple Steps—You Can Do It!
Let’s find Sameer and Vinay a match! Hosting a bone marrow registration drive at work take
some effort, but your drive can be a big success with the right planning and coordination.
This playbook is designed to make it easy as possible for you. Since each company is
organized differently, think of this as a general guide. The various steps are laid out in
sequence, and sample emails are included for you customize for your own use. Replace the
text in red with your own text.
THE DRAGONFLYEFFECT

108.
The result in 11 weeks…

109.
470 bone marrow drives

110.
24,611 South Asians registered

111.
Sameer = 10/10 match

112.
Vinay = 8/10 match

113.
Sameer shared his
story from the
hospital…

114.
So, what lessons did we learn?

115.
Develop a clear goal.
There is elegance in simplicity.
1

116.
Reverse the rules.
How might others might address the
challenge? Do the opposite.2

117.
Tell a good (truthful) story.
Tell stories that connect on
an emotional level.3

118.
Design for collaboration.
Enable others to contribute and
choose their own weapon.4

119.
Sameer, relapsed within 3
months of his transplant.
He fought hard – but sadly,
passed away in March 2008.

120.
We celebrated his life by sharing
his memorial service with the
world.

121.
Vinay had a successful
transplant, but then relapsed.
He underwent alternative
drug treatments but, sadly,
passed away in June 2008.

122.
Of the 24,611
newly registered
Purpose Revealed
people were matched in 1
year alone.

123.
FINAL THOUGHTS…

124.
Most revolutions are sparked by
the actions of a few ordinary
people.

125.
Your biggest asset is a clear mind
and a very large idea.

126.
Find the ignition point,
and light it.

127.
What do I do now?
Could I water this?
Would this story grow?
How would that make me feel?
THE DRAGONFLY EFFECT

128.
Happy

129.
What could we do to help
quickly
effectively
powerfully
harnessing social media

130.
Collect stories.

131.
SINGLE FOCUSED GOAL
1

132.
GRABBED
ATTENTION
2

133.
ENGAGED
3

134.
ENABLED
OTHERS TO ACT
4

135.
One story well told.

136.
june july august
www.Cooper.com

137.
100K
cheek
s

138.
IDEO

139.
1,000,00

140.
COURSE OVERVIEW
In the beginning, …
We start by looking at the behavioral science revealing the power of story (day 1), and
dive into how to use both story and data (day 2), depending on the audience and
context. Next, we’ll explore how humor can be used in creating stories (day 3), and how
story can be used to lead a team and an organization (day 4).
In the second half of the class, we’ll analyze how story can be used as an accelerant to
fuel growth and innovation for your company (day 5), and build a global brand (day 6).
Then, we‘ll reveal how story, humor and improv can drive culture (day 7), and what story
looks like in an immersive virtual world (day 8).
By the end, we hope that you understand what it means to be in the story mindset and
how you can harness the power of stories to further you and your company’s goals (day
9).
The End.

141.
“Great stories
happen to people
who can tell them.”
- Ira Glass
THE SCOOP | DAY 1
Why Story: In the Beginning
You!

142.
Stories can be a powerful tool for
persuasion, useful in the context of
understanding customers and building
brands but also in leading teams. In this
class, we’ll focus on the role of both story
and data to build engaged and productive
teams by taking a business chemistry quiz
to help you understand the individual
differences and contexts where story vs.
data (vs. both) are differentially important.
THE SCOOP | DAY 2
How to Harness Data and Story
Naomi Bagdonas,
Deloitte
Purin Phanichphant,
IDEO

143.
Naomi Bagdonas,
Deloitte
A good story takes you on a journey, one that
can make you think, cry, and laugh. Today you
will explore the role of humor in story and how
to cultivate a comedy mindset at work and life.
You will also embark on a Dish Walk with a
“Mover and Shaker” partner for a practice pitch
of your signatures story.
THE SCOOP | DAY 3
How to Cultivate Comedy Mindset

144.
Effective leaders are also effective storytellers.
In this class, you’ll learn how to leverage stories
to build trust and respect from your colleagues.
The goal is to help you develop skills to
influence the key stakeholders in your
organization, advocate for your ideas, and build
your own personal story bank of experiences
from your career to clarify both your past and
future.
THE SCOOP | DAY 4
How to Harness Story to Lead
Reminder: Story Off!
Complete Chapter 4 of workbook and share
your 1 minute story
Amy Brooks,
NBA
Yvonne Cagle,
NASA

145.
What is the innovation story that you want to tell?
In this class, you will be briefed on an innovation
challenge posed by our brand partner. Your team
will ideate solutions to key challenges facing your
user. Then your team will develop a “story map”—
showing how your user faces extraordinary
challenges—ultimately to achieve something quite
remarkable by means of your innovation.
THE SCOOP | DAY 5
How to Develop the Innovation Story
Your
Team

146.
It takes great storytelling on at least three
levels to accelerate a digital business globally.
People need a reason to “shop your store”
when other alternatives are a click away.
Investors need to understand why your
strategy will create real shareholder value.
Internal partners need to be inspired to lean in
and provide support. We will dive into how you
reach distinct audiences with distinct goals,
and end today with an interactive session with
Nike leaders.
THE SCOOP | DAY 6
How to Tell a Global Story
Christiana Shi,
Nike
“Articulate ideas, instigate change”

147.
How do you build strong cultures by harnessing
story, comedy and improv? Cultures that do so
are not only high performing, but they also tend
to be innovative, relevant and fun. Leaders from
Second City and David Hornik from August
Capital will join us to delve into these questions.
THE SCOOP | DAY 7
How to harness Story, Comedy + Improv
to Build Culture
David Hornik,
August Capital
Kelly Leonard & Anne Libera,
Second City

148.
Telling stories in an immersive
environment will change the
future of storytelling in
dramatic ways.
THE SCOOP | DAY 8
Hot to Tell a Story in a Virtual World
James Buckhouse,
Sequoia
Patrick Ewing,
Firewatcher

149.
Final Presentations
THE SCOOP | DAY 9
Innovation Pitch Finale
You!

150.
MOVING FORWARD
POLICY ON FOOD, COFFEE.
ALSO, CELL PHONES
OPENING ACTS + HALF TIME SHOWS (5 MIN)
TWO OPTIONAL WORKSHOPS
- 4/19 Visual storytelling (Purin, IDEO)
- 5/27 Designing experiences in a Virtual World
NEXT UP: CHAPTER 2 OF WORKBOOK

151.
THE
ENDJennifer Aaker
Stanford Graduate School of Business
jaaker@stanford.edu

152.
BOOKS
The Story Factor
Annette Simmons
The Power of Personal
Storytelling
Jack Maguire
The Art of Storytelling:
John Walsh
The Leader’s Guide to
Storytelling
Stephen Denning
Story Juice
Julie Fuoti & Lisa Johnson
Slide:ology
Nancy Duarte
Resonate
Nancy Duarte
Storytelling as Best
Practice
Andy Goodman
The Dragonfly Effect
Jennifer Aaker and
Andy Smith
Story
Robert McKee
Made to Stick
We Feel Fine
Chip & Dan Heath
Jonathan Harris &
Sep Kamvar