the ability to tell a story well can
literally transform your life it can
land you a job in a crowded applicant
pool make you stand out on a first date
or be the difference between your
business succeeding and failing today I
have a very special breakdown on
storytelling not just because
storytelling is so important to charisma
into life but because I am actually in
the breakdown as the interviewer and the
person that I'm interviewing is without
exaggeration one of the people that I
most admire on this planet his name is
Scott Harrison and as the founder of
charity:water
he's helped raise over 100 million
dollars by telling stories for a good
cause in his own words we can't imagine
660 million anything like quantity of
anything let alone people let alone
people without clean water mm-hmm it's
there's no connection so you know we
what we've been intentionally doing over
now 11 years is telling stories of
individual people one of the 663 million
names faces hopes dreams so in this
video you are going to learn three of
the most important principles that will
help you to tell more engaging stories
in any environment and I need to warn
you beforehand these stories that are
told in this video are heavy and they
contain really sad but important
messages which is necessary when you're
talking about the truth of why charity
water exists I'm also going to let the
clips run a bit longer so that you can
hear a bigger part of the story
uninterrupted and then I'll comment
later here we go as things had it I
happened to be in a five dollar night
hotel room in Ethiopia I was with a few
donors a small group I was sitting in
the kitchen of this hotel and the hotel
owner walks out recognizes me because
we've been doing work in this region for
a while and just sits down and
unprompted and starts telling me a story
about a woman who lived in his village
in a remote area village of about 3,000
people and he said all the women used to
walk for water for eight hours a day and
they would have these heavy clay pots
that they would carry on their back and
he said one day you know one of the
women in my village named leduc he rose
he had her name walks back into the
village and she slips and falls and she
breaks her clay pots and all the water
spills out into the dust and he said she
hung herself and she didn't go back for
more water she said we
we found her body swinging from this
Trainor village and then I remember he
kind of paused to watch the story's
effect on us and he said the work you're
doing is important you know keep it up
and he just disappeared back into the
kitchen
so obviously this story is heartbreaking
but there's more going on here than just
that an important principle of
storytelling is that when telling a
story in the first person meaning you're
talking about yourself you want to take
the listener on the same emotional
journey that you experienced so Scott
tells the story with this pause from the
innkeeper at this moment because that is
what you need to absorb what he just
said just as he did in the moment when
he heard it as he continues he also
talks about his emotional response and
mentioned that he doubted the truth of
this story just as the listener might
there's a temptation though to jump
ahead when you're telling stories to
tell the listener what you learned by
the end of the story as you're telling
it do not do that if you slow down and
you take people on the same winding
journey that you went on stories connect
much more just watch and I've you know I
remember sitting there with a group of
five people coming okay what like you
got you feel like you got hit with a ton
of bricks and then you start doubting it
you know is that story really true right
just tell the international donors a sad
story make us feel great about the work
that we're doing but I just couldn't
really shake the idea like that picture
of a woman who had slipped and fallen
you know like all of us have done yeah
and was in such despair in her living
conditions that she tied a noose around
her neck climbed a tree and then jumped
mm-hmm
so I sent our partners out to the
village and I said you know can you go
and go to this village and tell me you
know first of all did anyone named Leduc
hear us actually live there is it true
and I don't know a couple weeks later I
got an email from one of our partners
saying yeah we went to the village and
you know sadly it's a true story we saw
a grave
we met the family so then I asked my
wife I said well I want to go and live
there for a week and I want to pause
here because there's another big
storytelling point going on which is
that every story needs a near-constant
element of mystery to keep the listener
engaged you need to constantly raise
questions in the listeners mind and
every time you answer one a new one
needs to pop up if you're going to keep
their attention Scott hits on a bit of
mystery right before this by asking was
this story of Leduc heroes even true and
we just found out that it was solving
that mystery but he immediately raises
another question in the listeners mind
specifically what happens when Scott
goes to Ethiopia himself so let's see
how it unfolds long story short you know
I went to the village I lived there for
a week I wound up meeting the priest
that gave her funeral I saw the pile of
rocks behind the church that was her
grave I met her mom I met her friend
that walked with her that day
I wound up writing about it on medium
and you know writing about the
experience and and seeing the tree and
you know it's kind of this
it's a frail tree and I didn't know
before I went into the the the village
that she was 13 Wow so that was a huge
shock for me I was expecting an old lady
but I was kind of imagining this hunch
60 year old woman who had walked for
water her entire life it's a 13 year old
girl the teenager and I remember through
you know all this through translators
asking her best friend why she thought
she actually did it you know why did
leduc heroes hang herself and her best
friend said you know she would have been
overcome with shame because she broken
the clay pot and she'd spilled the water
so that is the main action of the story
but it doesn't end here because the best
stories have lessons at the end kind of
like Aesop's fables there's an
overarching point which is shared
explicitly in the last portion so you
need to know your purpose when sharing a
story when you get to this point what is
the audience supposed to take away from
your story here's what Scott thinks that
we should learn from let it cure us a
story it says that this is an emergency
like not not on my watch right something
has to be done we're 13 your girls are
not hanging themselves on trees because
they didn't have water the first time I
heard Scott tell this story the lessons
stuck with me it inspired me to donate
to charity water and it's how I got
connected with Scott in the first place
point being at the end of your stories
don't just leave people hanging tell
them why they just went on that journey
with you and if there is some action
that they might want to take tell them
anyways this last story is both
emotionally moving and a fantastic model
for how to tell the story of a product
or a business idea
is the story of how charity:water came
up with the idea of donating birthdays
take a listen we just stumbled upon this
idea of asking people to donate their
birthdays and birthdays have become very
commercial a lot of companies profit
when when you know a guy like you turns
30 there's probably a big dollar sign
that is absolutely about right and now
it's digital right as iTunes and Amazon
but you know before it's wallets ties
socks like you still may just get a
bunch of crap that you don't want or
don't need really Scott begins by
setting the frame of the problem and if
you're telling stories for your business
or for your product this is where you
must start most people when they're
pitching want to rush right into what
their product does this is wrong because
if there isn't a problem we don't need a
solution so start with the problem that
your product solves and how the listener
can relate to it in this case that
people waste so much money on birthdays
what the problem established Scott will
now continue on to his idea for the
solution we said look you know today 660
million people don't have clean water
what if we could start a movement of
birthdays and instead of asking for
gifts right when you're 30 or accepting
and we're throwing a big party for
yourself you would turn your friends you
would turn your birthday into a giving
moment and your friends and your family
would give your age in dollars now we
have the solution instead of getting a
bunch of stuff you don't need for your
birthday
give sounds awesome but it is still
missing something and that is the story
of one person because our brains are not
wired to process numbers or abstract
ideas with the same emotional intensity
that we process a single person's story
this is where people are moved and I'm
going to go at this next bit run on
uninterrupted to give the full effect of
the story so I was in Seattle
another long crazy story where there was
a church who had thrown a keg party for
us young hipster pastor he's like I want
to show my town that we're not religious
so he threw a big keg party why not
raising $500,000 Wow from the town I
went out to thank the church and and
speak on a Sunday and at the end I asked
everybody maybe a thousand people there
to donate their next birthday and just
say look guys skip it donate your next
birthday charity what eight year old
girl Rachel Beckwith was in the audience
and she donates her ninth birthday which
was just a few weeks later skips the
gifts skips the party and asks for $9
from everyone she knew she only raises
to 20 now her goal was three hundred
dollars so she was bummed she told her
mom that she was upset that she hadn't
reached her goal and that she would try
harder next year I was in the Central
African Republic at the time deep in the
jungle basically while I was there she's
killed in a terrible car crash
there's a 20-car pileup on the
interstate and a tractor-trailer had
lost control she was the only fatality
so she was in the back of a car her mom
was in the front her sister was in the
front as well and in the tractor-trailer
just came into the back of the car and
crushed her
so I remember landing in New York
turning on my phone getting serviced
again and getting a text from her pastor
and her mom talking about this tragedy
and the family wanted to reopen the
campaign and just give people a chance
to honor Rachael's last wish and donate
nine dollars so you can imagine a story
like this begins to spread through the
church community and people begin to
give nine dollars then it starts
spreading around the Seattle community
starts spreading across the country
across Europe down into Africa people in
Africa started donating nine dollars
hearing about a little girl in Seattle
who wanted and people in Africa to have
clean water more than you know whatever
birthday gifts that she should be
expected long story short about 60,000
complete strangers give $9 or more and
Rachel after passing winds up going from
two hundred and twenty dollars that she
saw to 1.3 million dollars impacting
over 35,000 people's lives my wife and I
got to take Rachel and her family that
Rachel's family her her mom her
grandparents and her pastor on the
one-year anniversary of her death so
exactly a year later to Ethiopia to go
village to village to village to village
to village to see all the people that
had actually gotten in clean water so
this went from just the
you know the intangible to the real and
I'll never forget that trip cool thing
is now this this happened five years ago
so many of the people that donated nine
dollars to Rachael's campaign not only
gave money but were inspired to donate
their own birthday they have now raised
over two million dollars so Rachel went
from a 220 dollar campaign now she's
raised over three million dollars
impacting over a hundred thousand lives
so from you know eight people with clean
water to a hundred thousand lives and
then of course Scott ends with the
lesson how do we make sense of this what
do we take from it and I think that's
the power of just the story her story
which again speaks to values values of
it you know the pure of purity of heart
of a nine-year-old girl to consider
others more important to not succumb to
the apathy that so many adults it's easy
right we see the water crisis like what
do we do about that people don't have
water I mean a nine-year-old girl that's
not okay why are kids drinking from
swamps if I can do something about it
with my birthday so remember those three
points when you tell stories because
like I mentioned before these stories
told in this way had a huge impact on me
personally and they've literally shaped
where I've spent a good portion of my
time energy and money now I happen to
have a very special day coming up
personally and I have one more message
for you about that special day that is
coming up for me is my birthday and it's
in just a few days on Thursday and I'm
turning 30 which yes I know I'm
extremely old and I'm dealing with that
internally but I'm actually also very
excited for this birthday because this
is it's a special one because I get to
donate it to charity water it's the
first time I've ever done this I've been
excited about it for months and months
and I feel like it is the perfect one to
do it because $30 happens to be the
amount of money that gets one person
clean water for years and years and
years so I'm trying to raise $30,000
that would get 1,000 people clean water
which would be like the greatest
birthday present for me ever but also
just something really awesome to do so
if you want to donate there's a link in
the description below for my birthday
Ben's birthday was in August we both
turned 30 it's all coming together but
would really really appreciate it and
just be so quite frankly humble
and honored if you guys would join us in
this fundraiser any amount that you can
give is super appreciated not just by us
but by the people who are actually
receiving the clean water who don't have
it also something that I should share
with you which is awesome is that we
have a link below if you want to donate
your birthday this is super cool because
even if your birthday isn't coming up in
the next week or so you can go to that
link below drop your name drop your
email and your birthday which might be
say next June and they will send you an
email them being charity water so that
you can do the same thing and the
average person raises $1,000 from 15 of
their closest friends and family which
is incredible and it's the feeling that
I have even before starting this
campaign is better than any birthday
that I've had so I hope that you guys
decide to join us in this fundraiser
regardless I'm so appreciative of the
fact that I'm turning 30 and I have this
platform and my life is sharing the
things that I'm learning the ways in
which I am growing and it's just kind of
evolving with you guys it's it's amazing
and I'm at a loss for words which is not
something that is normal for me
especially when I'm on camera so I just
want to say thank you guys so much for
watching the channel I hope that you
decide to join us in the fundraiser and
of course I will see you in the next
video and I'll be 30