“Story is everything. Good content making is not a crap shoot. We know how this works,” the actor Kevin Spacey told a meeting of business marketers. Spacey is right. Thanks to neuroscience we’ve learned more about storytelling in the last 10 years than we’ve ever known. We now know what brain chemicals make us pay attention (cortisol), what causes to feel empathy (oxytocin) and what make us feel good (dopamine). We know exactly which type of stories trigger these chemicals, why they work and we can prove it scientifically.
Whether your goal is to pitch an idea, ace a job interview, sell a product, build a company, improve teamwork and employee engagement or give the presentation of a lifetime, storytelling is your ultimate competitive advantage. If you want to learn to sell your ideas more effectively turn to the people who know how to do storytelling best—hit filmmakers.
Nearly all successful modern movies follow the hero’s journey in a three-act structure: The Set-up, The Confrontation and The Resolution. The set-up describes the hero’s world, the status quo. The confrontation introduces the stuff of narrative—tension and battle between hero and villain. The resolution ends with the hero’s conquest over the villain and, most important, shows how the hero’s world is transformed for the better.
George Lucas is a student of mythology and followed the three-act structure perfectly for all six of the Star Wars movies he created (and Disney followed the template for Star Wars: The Force Awakens). Ridley Scott’s The Martian, nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, is also a perfect illustration of the structure. In act one we’re introduced to Mark Watney (Matt Damon) and his team of astronauts on Mars. We like Mark and that makes it easier for us to root for him, which is nice since we’ll be spending a lot of time with him (he just doesn’t know it yet). In act two Watney makes a decision that he’ll survive on Mars until he’s rescued. In act three a decision is made that will resolve Watney’s predicament.
The structure is well established in Hollywood because it’s classic narrative and has worked for centuries. Some screenwriters believe there is no story that hasn’t been told, just fresh takes on old stories. Game-changing business presentations and inspiring speeches follow a similar template. Here are two examples.
Act 1: Set-up (The hero’s world before the adventure starts)
It is 1958. IBM passes up the chance to buy a young, fledgling company that has invented a new technology called xerography. Two years later Xerox is born. IBM has been kicking themselves ever since. It is ten years later. IBM dismisses the mini-computer as too small to do serious mini computing and unimportant to their business…
Act II: Confrontation (The hero’s world is turned upside down)
It is now 1984. It appears IBM wants it all. Apple is perceived to be the only hope to offer IBM a run for its money. Dealers fear an IBM dominated and controlled future. They are increasingly turning back to Apple as the only force that can ensure their future freedom. IBM wants it all and is aiming its guns to its last obstacle to industry control. Apple.
Act III: Resolution (Hero conquers villain, but it’s not enough for the hero to survive. The hero or the world must be transformed).
Steve walks to the center of the stage and unveils the ‘hero,’ the first Macintosh. He pulls a floppy disk from his pocket, inserts it into the computer and let’s Macintosh ‘speak for itself.’ With the introduction of Macintosh the world will see why 1984 won’t be like ‘1984.’
The Macintosh story played itself out on stage just like a hit movie complete with heroes, villains, props, and surprises. Jobs even tapped Martian director Ridley Scott to create the first Macintosh television ad. Jobs even had a movie score, the theme song from Chariots of Fire playing in the background. Steve Jobs was a great marketer because he was great storyteller and he relied on great filmmakers to help tell the story.
Malala Yousafzai, Nobel Prize Speech Lecture: December 10, 2014
Act I: Set-up
In my paradise home, Swat, I always loved learning and discovering new things. We had a thirst for education. We would sit and learn and read together. We loved to wear neat and tidy school uniforms and we would sit there with big dreams in our eyes.
Act II: Confrontation
But things did not remain the same. When I was in Swat, which was a place of tourism and beauty, suddenly changed into a place of terrorism. I was just ten that more than 400 schools were destroyed. Women were flogged. People were killed. And our beautiful dreams turned into nightmares. Education went from being a right to being a crime.
Act III: Resolution
The terrorists tried to stop us and attacked me and my friends who are here today, on our school bus in 2012, but neither their ideas nor their bullets could win. We survived. And since that day, our voices have grown louder and louder. I tell my story, not because it is unique, but because it is not. It is the story of many girls.
There’s a difference between a story, a good story and a transformative one that moves hearts and minds. The classic three-act structure will help you tell transformative ones.