Do you enjoy a great cup of coffee? Think of Starbucks. Do you realize that a driving force behind the success of Starbucks began in 1961 when a young father, Fred Schultz, broke his ankle while working as a diaper service deliveryman? His seven-year-old son, Howard, still remembers the accident. With his father out of work, the family had no income and no health insurance. That incident became the story behind today’s CEO and president of Starbucks, Howard Schultz.
As I read this story of Howard Schultz while thumbing through The Storyteller’s Secret: From TED Speakers to Business Legends, Why Some Ideas Catch On and Others Don’t at the local bookstore, I found I was unable to put the book back on the display shelf. I wanted to read more to learn the secret of people like Howard Schultz.
I became aware of some of Schultz’ details only recently when we visited a Northern Michigan University, Schultz’ alma mater, where our son will attend college this year. But, I didn’t know the greatness of Starbucks was linked to a young boy’s memory of his father.
Stories are what catapult ordinary people into greatness in the world. However, the greatness comes when the story can be told well. Gallo, one of the great teachers of storytelling, has compiled this book of the stories behind the greats. He examines the stories and mines the secret behind each.
Gallo reveals in the Preface that, “Ideas are the currency of the twenty-first century. In the information age, the knowledge economy, you are only as valuable as your ideas” (pp. xv-xvi). Later, he adds, “But an idea can only catch on if the person with the idea can persuade others to take action” (p.11).
Steve Jobs, whose story is also included, is known as the greatest business storyteller of our time. Jobs stated Apples’s core value is “that we believe that people with passion can change the world for the better” (p 14). Jobs further adds, “Your story begins with your passion. You cannot inspire unless you are inspired yourself” (p.13).
Great stories introduce three components: villains, heroes, and struggle. As a technical writer, I write stories users can use our products to solve their problem situations.
Gallo’s The Storyteller’s Secret, is an excellent source of inspiration. He closes the book with The Storyteller’s Toolkit, which contains such tools as Secrets at a Glance and The Storyteller’s Checklist. It includes such tips as “see the big picture before you dive into the details” (p.238) and “short words have long-lasting impact” (p.241).
After reading The Storyteller’s Secret, you can see how these people’s lives have impacted our lives today through not only your Starbucks coffee, but the iPhone, iPad, and Pixar’s Toy Story.
-Rhonda Lunemann
Technical Writer
Siemens