Evolving your brand requires more than just facts and figures – it demands compelling narratives that resonate with your audience. Stephen Steers, author of Superpower Storytelling, dives deep into the art of using narrative to evolve your brand and inspire action. With over a decade of sales experience, Stephen offers a practical framework for crafting compelling stories that engage audiences, strengthen connections, and drive results. He explores the science behind effective stories, outlines key story types every leader should know, and offers tips on building a story bank. Tune in to discover how to leverage the power of storytelling to transform your leadership and your brand.

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Listen to the podcast here

 

Stephen Steers – Evolving Your Brand To Stay Ahead Of The Market

On the show, we’re thrilled to welcome Stephen Steers. He’s a master of reinvention and a beacon for those looking to keep their brands dynamic and competitive. As a founder, principal, and consultant of his own firm, Stephen is not just a beacon of the market. He also shapes it. He has a blend of humor, insight, and experience that has enriched his capacity to influence and help leaders across the world.

Some leaders are in companies such as Google and Nike. He has a broad experience. His book, Superpower Storytelling underscores his philosophy that the core of sales and leadership is not only communication but connection. Join us as Stephen unpacks the secrets of evolving your brand to not only meet the market but also lead it.

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Stephen, welcome back. It is good to have you.

It is great to be here with you, Sam. Thank you again for having me. What’s up, Jackson?

How’s it going? It is good to see you again.

It is great to see you, too.

How Stephen Steers Helps Leaders Tell Their Brand Stories

Stephen, we do have a new audience. I know you joined us last time on the Rewards Mastermind, but here we are on the People Strategy Forum. We probably have some new audience here who would like to know who you are and what you’re all about. Tell us, Stephen, about your background and how you got to helping leaders tell their brand story.

First and foremost, I want to say thank you again for having me and letting me speak and share some things with your audience. I appreciate it. I’m a native of New York City. I’ve been in the sales profession for a bit over a decade. I’ve seen one of the key things that have helped me in my career and helped companies I’ve worked with and worked for be successful is using stories to guide the mission and the vision of the company to keep people engaged.

Stories close the sale, but they never close the conversation. Share on X

My hope is that I’ll get to impart some things to you that whatever role you have, whether you’re in a revenue-generating role or in the HR side of things if you lead people, there must be some type of story or legend that you all share in order to go forward. I firmly believe stories close the sale, whatever you want to substitute for a sale in your parlance for your role, but they never close the conversation. I want to share some ways that you can open more conversations, have deeper conversations, and share those with your team for better results.

Key Considerations For Leaders When Preparing Their Stories

That’s an important context. We have to tell our story in a lot of different contexts. Whether you’re selling a product, selling yourself, getting ready for that job interview, or trying to attract employees to work at your organization, it’s all around a story or a brand. We’re telling people either about our personal brand or a company brand. Those things that are quite important for leadership. What are the first things that leaders need to think about when they prepare to tell their story, Stephen?

The first question is for a leader, because storytelling can sound a little fluffy to some folks who are like, “I don’t know if I need it.” I want to cover a couple of things here. I want to cover why you should share stories at all. What’s the point? Let me run that through you. The first thing is when a story is recounted, the human brain releases cortisol, dopamine, and oxytocin. Each of these helps people retain knowledge and experience genuine empathy.

Why is that important? If you’re running a company and you have a team of people, you want them to retain the information you’re sharing with them so they know that they can act on it, but you also want them to feel something about it so that they feel included in what’s happening. If you’re telling a story about that, that’s the fastest way to shortcut to the person inside of your organization and get to their emotions so they also feel like they can be part of what’s happening. That’s number one. That’s the first piece.

The second thing is stories can be recalled up to 22 times better than facts. You want to think about this. If you’re running a team and you’re head of an HR organization. The story you pass on to folks inside of the organization is something that’s much easier for them to tell to others to keep everyone on the same page, in compliance, or whatever that is. It’s much more fun in conversation as well.

Why is this generally important? First, it helps you make better business decisions. Having a guiding principle that everybody is online with helps you make better business decisions. We’ll cover this a little bit later when I cover a little bit of the framework, but for example, you want a story that everybody knows. Whenever anybody has a question about, “Should I do this? Is this the right action to take on behalf of the company?” You can always point back to the story and say, “Is this helping this story become better and get to fruition faster?” That’s the first. Better business decisions can happen with storytelling.

 

The next is it humanizes your process. We are a business but we run with humans. We’re humans solving human problems in a business context. Stories are the currency of human experience. The more of them you have, the easier it is for the people on your team to feel seen, heard, and part of something larger than themselves, and to leverage that commitment to help you get to that point as well. The third thing here is you become more memorable and differentiated. Everyone else is dropping facts at you. They’re not telling you anything that you can take or feel.

Finally, it can increase your conversion rates. You might be saying, “I’m not in sales. What do I care about conversion rates?” For you, depending on your role, conversion simply means influencing. At any point in any role, you’re probably asking for someone to make a decision about a thing. Whether that’s creating buy-in on the technology you’re going to have that’s going to help you in your role or asking for someone to choose a certain candidate. You are selling something. Your conversion is you getting that decision that you want to happen to happen. Please substitute that in the way that you see fit. That’s why storytelling is important.

One thing, Stephen. Also, for our leaders out there, one of the big things as far as the importance of telling a story is this is often when we have to tell a story about why our mission or purpose of the organization is important when we’re trying to encourage new people to come and join us at the organization.

Also, even after they’re part of the organization, we continually need to tell the story to continue that linkage between what a person’s doing on a daily basis. It doesn’t make any difference whether they’re mopping the floors, designing a new product, or serving your customers. We need to connect what they do on a daily basis to how that impacts the organization and furthers the mission. Storytelling for leaders is on a daily basis.

I completely agree with you. Those that are doing it well, everybody’s in lockstep and moving towards that mission together, for sure.

Let’s go into the thing that you’re bringing up there, Stephen.

I was just going to share that storytelling can boost conversion rates by 30%. Whatever decision you’re asking somebody to make, whether that’s buying your product or service, working at your company, agreeing with you, backing you in a meeting, or whatever it is. You can increase the likelihood that someone does that by 30% by telling it in the form of a story. I don’t know any other way to say that. If you’re a leader and you’re managing people, that’s one of the fastest ways that you can get people to be on your team and act the right way for what your company represents.

The Role Of Vulnerability In Connecting With Audiences Through Stories

Stories are a part of our daily life. I know, Stephen, that you do standup comedy. That might be something that some people or our audience may not be used to. Standup comedy is a great way to weave our daily stories or what’s going on in our lives on a daily basis and share that narrative with people to make them feel more connected and so forth. Some of our leaders out there may be thinking, “That takes a certain level of vulnerability.” The stories that we tell, what makes them resonate with the people that we’re telling them to?

It’s the context in which you’re telling the story. I have a framework I call the Superpower Storytelling framework. Everything I’m going to share from is part of a vignette from my book, Superpower Storytelling, where I cover this framework ad nauseam with lots of examples and stories. There are four questions you should ask before you tell any stories, especially as a leader. You want to provide the right context to people. They are the following, and I’ll give you an example.

The four questions you need to ask start with the first one. What’s at stake for those listening? If you’re managing a team, why should they care about this thing? Is it going to help them do something better in their job? Is there something big happening in the marketplace that we are uniquely positioned to take advantage of? You need to get people in a mind-frame that something hangs in the balance here. How do we frame that for folks?

The next is, who’s going to win? Who’s going to lose? These are ways to frame it, and then what happens if no action is taken? Stakes add emotion and help people pay a little bit more attention to things. Be able to label that in any story you tell as a leader. What’s at stake for the people who are going to be listening to you? An example here is AI. We are hearing a lot about AI everywhere. AI is going to disrupt the software business. Are we ready for this? That’s a quick example.

The second question you want to answer is what do your prospects want to learn or achieve about what’s at stake? Insert prospects as your audience. Whoever you’re speaking to, whoever you’re trying to convince, or you’re trying to have on the same page as you, what do they want to learn or achieve about that thing that’s at stake? Think about it. What steps can they take for success? What should they avoid? What should they be thinking about? These are all ways that you can frame and prime them for the action you want them to take. The other example is, “How can I leverage AI to grow my software business? Is there a way I do that? If AI’s going to disrupt, how can I leverage it?”

95% of decisions are made subconsciously. We are making them with our emotions. When decision-making is present, stories bring emotions to full display. Share on X

The third question is, how do you want your prospects or your audience to feel about this? This is a little weird but I want to point this out to you, it’s 95% of purchasing. We’re going to substitute purchasing with decision-making in general. It’s not necessarily buying. Ninety-five percent of decisions are made subconsciously, which means we are making them with our emotions.

The animal brain is in full display when decision-making is present. If you’re going to tell a story, you’re going to get people in a space where they’re ready to make a decision if you can label the right emotion to put them into to get to that decision-making point. As a leader, you want to share stories that get people to feel something because when you feel something is when you take action. I have one more example here. Those that don’t make the necessary changes will be left behind. This is how you might frame that question for your audience.

The final question is, as a leader, you want to tell your prospects and your audience what to do next. Confused people do not take action. Since you’ve shared your story, you told them what’s at stake, you told them what they’re going to learn or achieve about that thing, and you’ve labeled the emotion. Tell them what to do next. If you’ve labeled that clearly, you’ve got it well-outlined.

Sixty-five percent of information is retained when shared through a story so you don’t have to worry about as much of them. Forgetting what you said if you can tell it with a proper story. Those are the four questions any leader should ask if they’re going to tell any story. That should give them some good context on what story to tell that they can leverage with their company.

The learning here for our leaders is when we’re telling a story, we’re telling it for a purpose. First is establishing that emotional connection so that somebody can remember. We know when we’re telling a story that interacts with our census as far as our experiences or it creates an emotional reaction, more apt to remember it.

The next is what is the purpose of the story and how do we want to drive action given that we’ve told the story? Is it we’re trying to get somebody to join our company or is it trying to have somebody perform better or feel more connected with the clients? There are a lot of different reasons. Making sure that we’re articulating the moral of the story is important so somebody can take action from it.

That’s it. It’s providing the frame.

The Inspiration Behind Stephen’s Book On Storytelling For Leaders

All this originates from your book. When we’re thinking about storytelling overall and why you wrote the book, what was the real driver that we were trying to get to? Who’s the audience that you’re trying to appeal to?

The tagline at the bottom says A Tactical Guide to Telling the Stories You Need to Lead, Sell, and Inspire. I’ve worked with a lot of founders in my career and a lot of sales teams. Across that board, it’s for anyone who is working to convince somebody to take action. The plainest way to say it is for revenue folks, but if you are a leader, you’re working to convince people to continue to produce, move forward, stay at your company, or whatever that is.

I wrote the book because I saw in my consulting life the amount of times that folks lead with product. They slink products around. They talk about features and this, that, and the other thing. I am not saying that those are unimportant, but they’re not nearly as important as the outcomes people get from agreeing to work with you or buying your solutions.

I saw a lot of friction from folks who were like, “No one’s buying my stuff.” When I would listen to their demos, it’s like, “You didn’t ask them any questions about them. You don’t even know why they would potentially look to invest in something like this. You made it all about you.” I saw this consistently enough to say there’s got to be a better way, number one.

 

Number two, the most interesting thing about what we do is who we are. I don’t think enough people leverage that. With a lot of the noise you see on places all over social media and everything else, the best posts I have are ones where I get vulnerable and share examples about what’s happening in my life. That gets me the most traction. It gets me the most conversations.

If you’re not doing that, you’re missing out on building a real rapport with real people in your business. I saw that gap. I’ve noticed how storytelling has been helpful in my career and I said, “Let me codify this in the way I’m using it so that I can empower some folks to use stories as a better way to move conversations forward and get to the results they want for themselves in their business.”

That’s the big learning. If we want our story to connect with somebody, it’s not telling them about us. It’s more about if you want your story to connect with somebody, you need to relate to them and relate to their needs and so forth. Even if it’s sharing a story with a friend or something like that. We want it to be powerful.

It’s got to be about them. That’s why people buy. They’re like, “I’m going to buy to solve my problems or I’m going to decide to go with you on this thing because you’ve properly addressed how I’m involved and what my needs are.” There’s no other way you can do it if you don’t do it that way.

What Drives Consumers When Purchasing New Products

That’s another thing. Jackson, I know that you’re an outdoor enthusiast. You love to get out in the snow and so forth. Ski season is coming up. You can take the snow machine or snowmobile out. If you’re going to buy a new product, what is the first thing that you do when you’re interested in purchasing a new product or interacting with the company?

As with anybody, when you’re looking to purchase something, you want to know why that product or that thing you’re purchasing is going to be best for you. Everything is the latest, greatest thing on the market. It’s like, “This one can go the fastest,” or, “This one can jump the highest or this one has the most features,” but what does that mean to me? That aligns with what Stephen is saying.

For me, I know when I think about telling a story, sometimes, it can be daunting. What is a good story when you look at it? I’m sure a lot of what you talk about in your book is how to structure stories. I found that the people who motivate me the most to buy are those who don’t just talk about the product.

They talk about what the product’s going to do for me. They’re like, “This is why you’re going to go out and see your friends or this is why you’re going to be the person that makes it the farthest up this mountain,” or whatever it is. It provides a lot more meaning than saying, “This is this big, this faster, or this strong.”

It’s speaking to the outcomes you want for yourself.

Whether you’re looking for a job or whether you’re trying to buy a product, people do their research first. They don’t stumble upon, “This looks okay. Let’s talk about this and buy it.” They want to know, “What’s going to help me climb the hill faster or make better turns?” or whatever it may be for what you’re trying to achieve in your own personal life. If it’s a business, you’re saying, “Are they going to provide the right opportunities? Is this company aligned with my beliefs?”

We’re doing that research ahead of time so that when we are coming to a conversation with a leader, a salesperson, or whoever it may be that is a part of that organization, we already have a set of knowledge about what that organization is all about or what that product provides. The opportunity there goes to that connection. It’s like, “How do I get validation from what I read compared to what this agent at the company or leader at the company is saying?”

The next step of that process of convincing somebody is that once they have their interpretation or data from their resources, the friends they’ve spoken to, or the research they’ve done on the web, the next thing that they want to do is to validate that information, like, “Is this true?” Talking to somebody at that organization, whether it be a salesperson or a leader is a good way to do that validation.

Storytelling is a quicker way to help the listener tell their own story. Share on X

You’re spot on, Sam. One thing I’d add too is the whole reason we tell a story and use a story, especially as a leader or maybe even in sales, is to better help the listener tell their own story. It’s a quicker way. I can share a little bit about myself but in reference to you. It’s not me bloviating for my own sake. It’s like, “This is how this affects you.” If you can properly outline how that is and make the person feel seen, you could help them make a decision.

Essential Elements For Leaders To Create A Resonating Brand Story

Stories are powerful. When you’re thinking about the other pieces in your book that you mentioned there, Stephen, as far as the importance of developing that brand and communicating that story, what are the pieces that leaders need to know to ensure that story sticks and resonates with people? We talked about the emotional context. We talked about validating and confirming the main parts of that story which are the intent and then taking action. Are there any other elements that we’re missing out on?

The types of stories that you have and you need to lead. A question I get all the time is, “I don’t know what stories I should be telling.” Let me assuage that little bit of fear for you and give you the three stories you already have. The first one is your mission. I want you to think about this. Where’d you get started? What’s the moment you knew you had to share this message with the world? Where did one of your well-known traits come from?

Here’s what I mean by this. A lot of folks get confused when they hear the mission. They think this is what the company does. It should be why the company does what it does. The why behind it helps people align with the mission. You could think of these two ways as a leader. This could be for your company or it could be for you specifically as a leader of your team. You should know these stories so that you can share with people why you’re doing this. This is a massive part of an emotional output to be vulnerable.

Imagine, if you run a business like some of us here, it’s one of the most stressful and difficult propositions. It’s fulfilling in many ways but it’s so hard. We could potentially, depending on how successful we are, be making more money working inside of a company instead of choosing to be the leader that we are in this company. Why did you choose to stay here instead of going to get a job? That’s something I want to know if I work with you. That helps me endear myself to you.

Here’s another thing. For instance, you might sell coffee. You’re the owner of a coffee shop. There are five other locations in town and maybe 100 different locations in any given city that sell coffee. The real thing is what is the story behind that? Why do you do that? That’s what differentiates us from others. Is it driving down, Stephen, into how we are differentiated or are there other factors involved?

There are other factors as well. I’m sure you and Jackson could look at many businesses and be like, “I don’t know why this person’s doing this. I have no clue.” It makes you a differentiated person because you understand why you’re doing things. What does that translate to as a leader? You can help other people understand why they’re doing what they’re doing. That alignment creates a cohesive team. That’s where I’d say it’s one of the most important pieces.

Other factors to consider here as well are when you’re telling a story like this. When would you be sharing a mission? When you’re onboarding somebody and they’re a new member of your team, this is the perfect time to let them know, “We’re grateful to have you here. Here’s why I’m doing this. Now, I’m on the same page as you.”

Context is important for the type of story, but I say that to say there are three types of stories. You already have this, and I’m willing to bet you haven’t sat down and asked yourself why you’re doing this. I am willing to guarantee that when you talk to your team and this question comes up, you’re going to get a lot more resonance and respect from the team because you’re aware of what’s getting you up in the morning that you do this particular task.

You mentioned that there are three. Mission is the first one. What’s the second?

Mission is the first, which is why you’re doing what you’re doing. The second story is your vision. What does it look like when your mission is completed? What is it you want to bring into the world? Who do you want to empower? The larger this vision, the easier it is to draw attention to the vision and the more likely it is that you can attract high-quality talent that dreams big because they want to impart their blood, sweat, and tears to make this bigger thing happen.

Once you’ve labeled why you’re doing this thing, you’re able to say, “Here’s what it looks like when we’ve completed this. I would love to have your skills and abilities lend to this big thing.” We’ve got deep emotions, understanding, and vision for where we’re going. Vision stories are super important for leadership because this is the thing that you can always point back to as the thesis for every action we take inside of a company.

For example, you’re managing a team of 12, and 2 of your account managers are coming up and asking, “Is this the right decision to make?” You want to empower those folks to make great decisions. You would then say, “Here’s our vision. Is what you’re thinking about doing helping this happen fast?” They can run that through their own whys and everything else and say, “It’s important but it’s not as important as doing this. This is going to help us go fast.” We’ve created a parody of action and parody of vision and it moved people to the right appropriate action because we have a unifying thesis of why we’re doing what we’re doing and what the picture looks like when it’s completed.

If we were saying, “We’re selling shoes,” the vision is, “Wear our shoes and you’ll be a champion.” Is the vision being the champion? Whereas when we’re thinking about the mission, it’s why we develop these shoes to help people become champions. Is that about it?

That could be one way to say it. You could say, “I got shin splints in the state championship on the fourth lap, the last lap of the race. My shin splints were so bad that I fell over and lost my 1st place lead, and wound up getting 3rd by crawling to the line. I had to do research to figure out what was happening here. I developed these shoes because they prevent shin splints and strengthen your ankles and your joints. Anybody who’s out there on the track can have full-on confidence that when they’re running, their ankles and legs are going to support them to win. My vision is to get these shoes on the feet of two million athletes worldwide to build championships from the foot up.”

Thank you for clarifying that, Stephen. That was perfect. What is the final question that we’re going to talk about?

The final story you have, and these are my favorites and the toughest ones but the most valuable, are your milestones. Mission, vision, and milestones are the three stories. Think about this. What are some of the most challenging things you’ve been through in your life? We talked about why you’re doing something.

The reason I do what I do is because I got let go from a sales gig, where the founder sent me an email after blowing me off when I left and told me how much I got the short end of the stick while I was at the company for the couple of years I was there. I said, “This is horrifying. I want to work to make sure that this doesn’t happen to anybody else.” That’s my why I do what I do.

Milestones are how you’ve gone through difficult scenarios and different things. As a leader, you’ve probably experienced some of the difficulties that your team is experiencing. Label those things and talk them through how you’ve gone from difficulty to triumph or even when you’ve failed. It creates a much more human dynamic with you. If you’ve gotten past it, chances are that that person also feels like they can as well. Remember, help them better tell their own story. Talk through how you overcame it and what you learned, the lesson that you got out of it. There are two ways to think about milestone stories.

There’s you as the leader, as the individual, and then there’s also your customers or people that you affect. For example, you could talk about your own milestones or you could talk about milestones of people you’ve managed in the past and how they’ve been through difficult things and how you’ve helped them understand and move forward. Milestone stories are the most human of all of them. That’s where you’re going to have the deepest resonance with people because it’s you sharing your own stories and how you’ve accomplished things. Those are the stories I recommend leaders tell, their mission, vision, and milestones.

Leading With Stories: Key Takeaways For Leaders

That’s great. Thank you so much, Stephen, for sharing those three main stories with our leaders. As we wrap up, what are the things that you want our leaders to walk away from this discussion with?

The first thing is you have a great story to tell and your team needs to hear it, especially in weird times like this. I talk to founders, entrepreneurs, and revenue leaders every single day, and it’s been a strange year for a lot of folks in B2B and in business. Stories are what keep people together through tough times. If you are a leader and you want your team to stay with you and you want to encourage your team, a story is a great way to start.

You might be asking, “How do I start?” I’ll give you the same advice I give everybody. Start with a story bank. What I mean by this is get a pen and pad or a Word document and start throwing stories down. These could be interesting things from your life that you’d like to remember that you think are interesting. Run them through those four questions we talked about and you’ll have the right story to tell at the right time. That’s where I would start. If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch with me. I’m happy to give you more context.

Stephen, with our audience out there that wants to learn more about storytelling and telling those right stories and putting them in the framework, how can they get a hold of you? Also, where can they find your book?

You could get my book on Amazon or directly from my website. My book is called Superpower Storytelling. You can get in touch with me on LinkedIn if you’d like. If you want resources, you can go to StephenSteers.com/Podcast. All of them will be there for your download pleasure.

Thank you so much, Stephen, for joining us and speaking to our leaders. This is a great discussion.

Thank you very much for having me, Sam, and great to be here with you as well, Jackson.

 

Important Links

• Stephen Steers
• Superpower Storytelling
• Stephen Steers on LinkedIn
• Resources – Stephen Steers | Sales Consulting
• Sales Call Perfection: 9 Steps to Boost Conversion Rate Success

 

About Stephen Steers

Stephen Steers is a storytelling and sales expert who helps SMBs, MSPs, and professional services teams craft narratives that excite customers and drive results. By focusing on clarity, confidence, and actionable strategies, Stephen empowers businesses to communicate their value effectively and close deals with impact.

Stephen has collaborated with top organizations, including Google, BELCHAM, Parallel 18, and Capitol Innovators, and his insights have been featured on renowned platforms such as the Startup Selling Podcast, The New P&L Podcast, and eCommerce Disruptors Podcast. With a track record of transforming how businesses approach sales and storytelling, his clients often highlight his ability to simplify complex ideas and instill confidence.

Notable testimonials from CEOs and industry leaders emphasize Stephen’s role in strengthening brands, boosting confidence, and delivering measurable results. His dynamic approach and deep expertise make him a trusted advisor to teams across industries.