Hey Storytellers!

I’m writing to you from Berlin, where I’m prepping to give my signature Innovation Storytelling workshop at Innov8rs Berlin. I can’t wait, as it’s a gathering of top European innovation leaders across industries and the vibe and energy is just electric. I’m coming off two weeks of events, like moderating two blockbuster panels at the Board Summit – a gathering of corporate and startup board members and recording fresh, live podcast interviews of Nordic Visionaries with the CEO of Mastercard Payments in Copenhagen in Copenhagen at TechBBQ, the biggest tech and startup conference in the Nordics. I also had incredible meetings with Volvo’s Innovation Team in Gothenburg, Professors and Experts at Swedish Royal Institute of Technology and the Niels Bohr Institute, and SEB Bank, KPMG and Electrolux in Stockholm. So much brilliance [and really great bread] in Scandinavia. 

In other news, The Innovation Storytellers Show is getting a much needed facelift. With the help of fellow podcaster & consultant Lou Diamond, we’ve updated the look and feel, get a lot more personal and we’ve done away with the boring zoom background in favor of a peek at my new podcasting studio. I hope you’ll check it out wherever you get your podcasts or right here.

And now, back to some real tips for the shortest story ever told.  

How often do I hear, “My company culture doesn’t want a story. They want just the facts, Jack.” Well…maybe you are going on too long. I used to make clients get their whole story down to 144 characters – the limit of a tweet. 

If you can’t boil your story down to one sentence, it might be too complicated. 

Before you craft a 10-minute presentation, test it in a single sentence—because if that sentence isn’t compelling, the full story won’t be either. 

Relatable Problem: Your stories feel too long, complex, or unfocused. 

Pro Tip: Use the One-Sentence Story Test to refine any narrative: 

1. Boil it down to this format: “Someone wanted ____, but ____. So, they ____ and now ____.” 

2. Check if it makes sense. If not, your story might need streamlining. 

3. Use this as your North Star. This one sentence should guide your full narrative. 

Example: A B2B SaaS company launching a productivity tool wrote this: “Managers wanted their teams to be more productive, but distractions kept derailing work. So, we built an AI-powered focus assistant, and now employees finish deep work 40% faster.” 

That’s clear, concise, and powerful. 

You can add more details, more data and stats that are specifically designed to support THAT storyline and ONLY if they matter to your audience. 

Can you tell your story in one sentence? If not, keep refining.