Passion is contagious: A storytelling tip

I was on a call with a seasoned investor yesterday, discussing the storytelling needs of his company.

At the beginning of the call, although I had googled him beforehand, he felt compelled to introduce himself.

"I guess I need to say a few words about me," he said.

I could immediately see the energy draining from his body, and his tone of voice went into autopilot mode, reciting his bio as if he'd done it hundreds of times before. The fact is, he probably has done it hundreds of times before and will have to do it hundreds more.

At the end, he asked, "Any questions?"

I said I had none, but since I was here to help, I asked permission to be honest and then pointed out what I had just witnessed. He laughed and confirmed that he was already aware of this habit and knew it was a problem.

I asked him to tell me about himself again, but instead of listing CV items, I wanted him to phrase his story as a journey between three stations:

"I started as X, then I got interested in Y, and that brought me into doing Z."

This was like pressing the refresh button. The man sat up in his chair, his tone woke up, and he managed to find the three stations of his career in a heartbeat. In that short monologue, he used magic words like: "What I learned was...", "I became passionate about...", "It was fascinating to me...", and "What I love doing."

Taking me along on his life journey felt more intimate and personal to him, and much more interesting and engaging to me!

This time, I definitely had questions; I wanted to drill him about what he had learned, what he became passionate about, and what fascinated him.

You see, the trick to being interesting is to be interested!

When you have passion for something, you are contagious.