How to Energize and Connect Your Team with Storytelling with Bill Blankschaen

Feeling disconnected from your team or struggling to communicate your vision? In this episode, I’m joined by Bill Blankschaen, the visionary behind StoryBuilders and a New York Times bestselling author. Bill takes us on a journey from his childhood love of books to a transformative career in education and pastoral work, showing how storytelling can revolutionize leadership.

Discover how storytelling—employed by influential leaders like John Maxwell and brands like Chick-fil-A—can deepen loyalty, drive retention, and amplify your message. Bill introduces a five-part storytelling framework and shares actionable strategies to integrate storytelling into your leadership approach.

This episode is packed with insights to enhance your leadership effectiveness and drive business success.

Connect with Bill Blankschaen and StoryBuilders:
If you’ve been thinking about writing a book or want to dive deeper into storytelling, I highly encourage you to connect with Bill and his team at StoryBuilders. Visit mystorybuilders.com/story to book a free session with one of their senior story strategists. They’re eager to help you develop your ideas and guide you on your storytelling journey.

Books Mentioned

• Four Dimensions of Culture by Greg Cagle
• First Things First by Stephen Covey
• Thinking for a Change by John Maxwell
• Today Matters by John Maxwell
• Never Quit by Glenn Cunningham

Ready to Finish 2024 Strong?
Don’t wait until December to address your challenges. There's a few months left in 2024, now is the time to plan for a strong finish! Book a free strategy call with Dr. William Attaway to create a plan for impactful results. 

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Bill Blankschaen and Story Builders
• 6:06 The Power of Storytelling in Leadership
• 12:08 The Impact of Story on Alignment and Retention
• 14:12 Using Storytelling to Shape Culture
• 20:45 Five Elements of Effective Storytelling for Leaders
• 27:45 Continual Growth and Evolution as a Leader

Transcript

Dr. William Attaway: 0:00

I'm so excited today to have Bill Blankshaen on the podcast. Bill is the founder and chief story architect of StoryBuilders, a creative team of storytellers who share his passion for helping people live a story worth telling and serving them with excellence in genuine high-trust relationships. StoryBuilders tell stories that make the world a better place by creating compelling books and learning experiences that turn ideas into greater impact, influence and income. A New York Times bestselling writer, bill and his team work with a variety of influencers like John C Maxwell and Maxwell Leadership, Kevin Harrington from Shark Tank, L ewis Howes, Michael Hyatt with Full Focus, Rory and AJ Vaden, Zig Ziglar and Family, Jeff Allen, Stu McLaren, entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, business coaches, consultants, political figures I could keep going. The books, resources and experiences they have created have already impacted millions of people and they are just getting started. Bill, I'm so glad you're here. I've been looking forward to this conversation. Thanks for being on the show.

Bill Blankschaen: 1:12

It's a pleasure to be here. I've been looking forward to it as well. It's not just because you have lots of books behind you either. I love books, obviously, but that's not all. I'm looking forward to talking.

Intro / Outro: 1:26

Welcome to Catalytic Leadership, the podcast designed to help leaders intentionally grow and thrive. Here is your host author and leadership and executive coach, dr William Attaway.

Dr. William Attaway: 1:43

Bill, I would love for us to start with you sharing a little bit of your story with our listeners, particularly around your journey and your development as a leader. How did you get started?

Bill Blankschaen: 1:54

Boy? That's a great question. It's hard to tell when leadership begins, right? I'll tell you how my love for story began, which has really driven my leadership development. I mean, as a boy, I was the one always reading the breakfast cereal box, 12 times every morning, same box. I just kept reading and reading again because I loved reading, and so I would just like the book behind you. I would suck up books and I thought everybody was like that. I just thought everybody loves to read like that. It took me many years to realize that no, I was different. Not that everybody can't read, but I was specially gifted and wired to be able to absorb just a lot of information quickly and then to communicate it as well in written form. So I always thought I was supposed to be a writer and a storyteller.

Bill Blankschaen: 2:44

I went to college, majored in English and history right, how to tell stories and what are the stories that we're telling, so in those kind of things. And then did what I think a lot of people do as they enter adulthood right, they've got responsibilities, they've got things to do, they've got to pay the bills, they've got family coming into the picture and, and I went into education because of that and actually I was a pastor for a couple years in there as well, overlapping things, and went to education, helped start a private school, you know Northeast Ohio, and led that for a dozen years, and that's where I learned a lot about leadership. In the nonprofit space, the ministry space, you're dealing with white collar volunteers essentially. You know volunteer mentality yet well-educated, working with kids, working with families, teachers, curriculum, all that kind of thing. That's where I learned a lot about leadership. Had a great mentor there at the school who guided me through that as well.

Bill Blankschaen: 3:49

But then there came a time where I really felt like my calling within kept stirring to be a writer, to be a storyteller, and recognizing that I simply wasn't doing that. I was doing good work and leading a good organization, helping a lot of people. And it made it even more challenging that everybody kept telling me you're doing great work, you're helping us. This is wonderful because that's who you are, and so my identity really came to be shaped by that.

Bill Blankschaen: 4:18

But finally just reached the place where I had to realize only I can fulfill the calling that I have in my heart, only I can be that writer. No one else can do that for me, but someone else could lead this organization and so I stepped away from the organization, transitioned out of there and in one day my wife and I both went to. Our income went to zero. So we had six kids, no income. We went a year in that but I was doing what I love to do, diving into storytelling and writing and learning and all these things. And now what, 12, 13 years later? Storybuilders came out of that and now I get to do what I love to do every single day and help a lot of people in that process.

Dr. William Attaway: 5:01

I love that story because I think if I had talked to you 30 years ago, you would have had no idea.

Bill Blankschaen: 5:08

Sure.

Dr. William Attaway: 5:10

Yeah, there's so many winds and turns and curves and the unexpected, and that is so often the way it works with the high capacity, high performing leaders that I talk with.

Bill Blankschaen: 5:21

Yeah, not only would I have had no idea uh, at that time I didn't even know it was possible, right, it wasn't even a thing for me, right? I had? No, no, I no idea that anything, and so I think a lot of what I've, one of the things I've learned is that, um, when we keep moving forward, I have something I read every, every morning. I have several, you know kind of, I guess call them affirmations, I don't know, but they're more statements of truth that I repeat to myself, and one of the things is that good things come when I keep moving forward by faith, right.

Bill Blankschaen: 5:52

And that is the key, you know, I think of the story of Moses and the Red Sea, you know, and God's instructions to him, and standing on the Red Sea, the Egyptians are behind him, you know the seas in front of him. And God's instructions were first stand still, stop moving and, at the same time, keep moving forward. Right, so be still, stand still and move forward at the same time. And I think what happens is, I think what God was telling him was first, stop trying to do everything on your own and then trust me and keep moving forward. And as you move forward, you begin to see other things that you didn't realize were there in the first place. Right, and so opportunities open up that you never even realized.

Dr. William Attaway: 6:36

That's so good, I think about joshua with that too. You know it wasn't, as they were standing at the Jordan at flood stage. Yeah, and the command goes to go forward, right, and.

Bill Blankschaen: 6:50

Joshua Step in the water right.

Dr. William Attaway: 6:51

They have to step in the water first before the water parts. The water does not part first, right, they have to step in it. Ooh, yeah, wow. I think there's a word for that Faith, right, exactly, exactly, exactly, yeah. So tell me about StoryBuilder Sure what do you do and how does this help aspiring leaders, influencers?

Bill Blankschaen: 7:14

Sure, sure. Well, I mean, what we do is in the name, we build stories, right, we like to say that we tell stories that make the world a better place. Yeah, and we like to come alongside people who have ideas. They have a message that they're trying to get out and share with the world, and then help them, first of all, elevate that message right, come alongside and add value to their ideas and say, well, have you thought about this? Or what if we said it like this? And what if we added this other dimension to it? We could add so much depth.

Bill Blankschaen: 7:40

You know, um, I literally just came in from a lunch meeting with a gentleman who's in that place where he's had a super successful corporate career and now he's entering a season where he's he's trying to do more business consulting and leadership and mentoring and so forth. And you know he's he's got all these ideas and he's put them together, but he needs someone who can trust to come alongside. And now next level, right, let's make sure they're really awesome and then help bring them to life. So that's what we do. We create compelling books first of all. So all things books related, from writing the books with someone to coaching them through while they write it to publishing, getting it up into print, finding the right publishing path, figuring all that out and then also creating engaging learning experiences. So, in addition to the book, maybe there's a digital course that someone's wanting to create, or a workshop or a training.

Bill Blankschaen: 8:34

I think I mentioned John Maxwell. We do all of John Maxwell's. With Maxwell Leadership, we've created most of their content for the last 10 years and helping them. Essentially, how do you monetize those ideas and turn them into things that you can then charge more for. So a book, you might charge paperback $15, $20, hardback $25, $30. But the book is really just an entry point into other ways that you can monetize and serve more people and that's why I think it's important we think of monetize as just a way of measuring how many people are we serving right, how much value are we adding to other people? So that's a lot of what we do Books and learning experiences, focusing on storytelling and helping people figure out what is my story, what is my message, how do I communicate that well? Why do you think?

Dr. William Attaway: 9:24

story is so important, like that's a, that's a theme that runs through everything you've said so far. Oh sure, why do you think that's so important, in particularly for leaders?

Bill Blankschaen: 9:32

Well, I'm going to answer that on two different levels. Let me start with, to me, the most important level. That's my faith level. You know, I think I think there's a, a, an ultimate storyteller, and we're all part of that story and that's unfolding and he's telling this story in time and space, and so our very existence occurs within the context of story. There's a verse in the New Testament that talks about in Jesus we live and move and have our being right in story. So I see us as, like JRR Tolkien said, to paraphrase, we're sub-storytellers and so we get to tell stories within his story. So that's kind of my motivation.

Bill Blankschaen: 10:12

But, as I often say, you don't have to share the details of my faith to enjoy the benefits of my beliefs. And so when we do that, for leaders to understand that, understand that people are wired for story, I mean, we've been telling story. This is from oral traditions were initially passed down to stories being passed. The history of humanity is the history of stories and we love them and they resonate with us. So, as a leader, if I'm not getting clear on my story and the message that I'm trying to share with the world, people have a hard time following it. It doesn't connect, it doesn't resonate.

Bill Blankschaen: 10:47

If the people I'm leading, also, if I'm not factoring in, am I telling the story of where we're going? Well, am I casting the vision in that way? Am I presenting it in a way that aligns with what we expect from stories? Then I'm leaving a whole lot of value on the table that I'm just not connecting with and often, often, we feel like we just don't connect with a leader or some vision that they're sharing. We may not even understand why, and I think a lot of it is because and I have this, this challenge as well, because I tend to be more analytical. So I just want to go.

Bill Blankschaen: 11:24

Let's go right to the numbers, right to the details, let's just get it Right. And so, if you tell, take that same content and put a story around it and bring it to life. I mean, pastors know this, right, that's what they do all the time is try to bring us, bring it to life with story. Jesus knew this. Let's tell a parable, that will be stickier, right? But I think I think that's a lot of what. What leaders, where the value of story comes in for leaders is that and it becomes unique to them, right, people remember where they heard the story and who they heard it from.

Dr. William Attaway: 11:57

What happens if a leader doesn't do that? What happens if they're not proactive about sharing and even shaping the story?

Bill Blankschaen: 12:07

Great question. I think what happens is, first of all, they don't resonate, right. People don't connect with their vision. They don't connect with it and even though they may not fully understand why, it's almost as if you can only go so deep and then you can't get good. The roots can't go any deeper because there's no rich story to tap into. Think of the story of the United States, for example. You know everybody who knows the founding stories and so forth. It's like imagine if those weren't there, right, the roots of our nation and our attachment to it would only go so deep, right, and they'd be more shallow in that regard. So you get a shallower impact with the people you lead, right, and so you don't have as much loyalty. And I think it begins to affect things like retention. People don't stay with the organization because they just don't feel connected as deeply when the story isn't as powerful.

Bill Blankschaen: 13:02

Great example I was just in Chick-fil-A the other day. Right, and their story's on the wall. Right, and it's everywhere. You know what their story is and because of that they actually have a lot of not only brand loyalty but people loyalty. You know, I was just talking to someone recently who they've been there 20 plus years, 25 years, right, and they love the culture Right, and the culture comes out of that story. So I think when you don't tell the story well, you lose those things and all of that then impacts the bottom line. All of that directly drives in a business standpoint how much money are we making? Well, how are we connecting with people? Are we building those relationships in a church or ministry setting? Are we able to get the results that we want to get? And if not, why not? And I do think a lot of times that is what happens is we're not clear on our story.

Dr. William Attaway: 13:54

So there's friction in the telling of it, there's disconnect and we never really know quite why, because in our minds it makes sense, but we're not thinking of it in terms of the person hearing or seeing the story and how that's unfolding brought up retention, because I think often when a leader is thinking about how to strategically lead a team or an organization or a business or a church or a nonprofit or whatever they're leading, we do think about having the right people around us. We do think about making sure we have the right people there, and keeping the right people is a big deal. We know retention is super important to the bottom line and in an era in time these days where retention is a significant challenge, I love how you're describing story as a proactive tool that leaders can use to affect that in a positive way. Is it just retention or are there other things that story can help with when it comes to leading a team? Does it? Does it affect alignment at all?

Bill Blankschaen: 16:28

Well, the first thing maybe, uh, yes, the first thing that comes to mind is what I see right behind you on the shelf is you have a hat that says culture on it, right? Um, and I think that's one of the big things that it drives right, because culture trumps everything, yes, and so, at story builders, that's always been a big thing for us as culture, culture, culture, yes, does our culture. And then there's our culture aligned with our values, right? So, our core values living that out, that's good. So I think that's probably where a lot of that alignment takes place If, if, if, if.

Bill Blankschaen: 17:00

You know the stories that we tell and let me just give you an example of this. So I think of our, in our own team, I often find myself doing this where there'll be a situation and there's a decision to be made and and we often say, well, what do our values tell us? But that those values are our decision making filters. Right, that's how we make those decisions, we run it through our values, and I will often say, well, you know, imagine if, or some scenario of what would that look like if? And it's interesting how, when we run these different stories, we're able to better process the values in the context of stories. There's a reason as little kids we get told stories like you know, fables and fairy tales and all this kind of stuff. Um, you know the like aesop's fables right back in the day, like, uh, um, you know what was it? The fox trying to get the grapes and all those kind of things right. And they, they stick with you because the stories bring a value to life.

Bill Blankschaen: 18:02

So that's where I think the alignment takes place. And then that does affect retention, because I think actually stories bring tremendous clarity to values. And this is one of the things we try to do in books is tell some powerful stories to illustrate the examples. One of the first pieces of our storytelling structure that we use we call attention. How do you going to get someone's attention? And what we try to do is come up with signature stories that that really bring that principle to life and illustrate it in a powerful way that then the light bulb comes on the reader's head and they see why is that important? Why does that make? So? It's not just telling someone something, it's showing them, using words to create that story. So I think stories do create that alignment and the alignment then creates that stickiness, and the stickiness creates that culture that every leader needs to be trying to intentionally build.

Dr. William Attaway: 18:56

You make such a compelling case for this and I can imagine that there are listeners who are hearing this and thinking that's great, but I have never done that. I've got a team and I've never really leveraged the power of story. Sure, where do I start? Yeah, how would you respond to a question like that?

Bill Blankschaen: 19:16

Yeah, I think that's the first step. First of all, is being aware of it, right, so having an awareness of and I don't do this all the time, right, and I live this stuff every day, I don't always run every decision through all right, what kind of story can I tell about this? And there are some things that don't require a story, right, they're more administrative and so forth but always, first of all, thinking what's the story, what story am I telling? Because, first of all, thinking what's the story, what story am I telling? Because we are always telling a story. Everything we does, everything we do, tells a story. But the question is what story is it telling? Right? So we're either accidentally telling it or intentionally telling it. And then I would then, I would say, find, identify a place where it's like, hmm, all right, um, maybe there's a decision to be made or a problem has surfaced. Actually, actually, problems are a great place Find a problem and figure out. All right, how do I want to frame this? Because leaders are charged with defining reality for their team. What that means is that leaders at the core, are storytellers. They're telling the story to their team. This is the story, guys, that we're in right now and let's see the story in this way story guys that we're in right now and let's see the story in this way. Once you do that, we have a five part storytelling structure that we use. We use it for all of our content. It's a guideline, that's a framework that we use consistently and if it's all right, I can just talk through those five steps and because it gives a good framework for people to kind of all right, this is my problem I'm having. Let me think through these five things.

Bill Blankschaen: 20:43

So, first of all, it begins with attention. So that is about, all right, the people I'm telling the story to. How do I get their attention? What is it that they want at the end of the day? What are they? Where are they coming from? What is it that they're wanting? Secondly, attention, so attention, and then tension. So tension is all about what's the problem? Why aren't they getting what they want? Why aren't they? Why are they struggling in this situation? If this is what they want? Let's just make this up If I, hey, I want to be in a workplace where I feel connected and all that kind of not in stress-free, you know all right, well, why aren't they getting that? What's the. What are the problems? Well, this, this system's breaking down, it seems, and we're creating this conflict, and that creates this fear inside of me and I don't even know if we're good enough. Can we pull this together? I don't know.

Bill Blankschaen: 21:31

Often we run from tension as leaders, but as leaders we need to lean into that tension because that's where the growth can take place. So, attention, tension and then connection, and then connection. So connection is all about connecting in an organization or at the leader, the leader personally connecting with the people or connecting with the organization's vision. So, as a leader, first of all, I need to illustrate that I understand that tension. I've been there, I've done that, I've seen this before. Guys, I felt that what you're feeling, I understand it right. So empathizing, but also and I've overcome it in this way, or I've seen it handled this way with great results, and so this these are the credentials that I have to help lead in this, in this setting. With that often can come some vulnerability for a leader, right. So being able to say I have seen it and I have failed, I've fallen short, my story wasn't a great one, here's why, and from that I've learned this, and there can be tremendous strength in that. So attention, tension, connection and then solution. So solution is really.

Bill Blankschaen: 22:42

Here's the essence of the message I want to say to you guys. Right, here's the heart of it. If we do this, it will help us solve this problem, and here's why. But notice, we don't begin with solution. A lot of leaders do that. A lot of leaders simply show up and here's a solution. Everybody, have a nice day.

Bill Blankschaen: 22:58

Here's the memo. Let's run with it. Let's run with it without setting that up properly, without giving thought to what do they want, without giving thought to what are the barriers, what are the problems, without giving thought to am I being vulnerable? Am I connecting with people in this way? And then presenting that solution, uh, in a powerful way. And then, finally, action. What action do we want to take based on that solution? Right, so, maybe, maybe it's we're going to create this system where we're going to reach out to this person, or it could be a list of different actions that we're taking in in response to the whole situation. But that five step process is good, not just for leaders in communicating, but we can, we use it, all the content we create, as a guideline or a starting point to just break it down, so so it doesn't feel so overwhelming. And the storytelling process it just breaks it down and makes it feel more achievable and familiar.

Dr. William Attaway: 23:49

Bill, that is so helpful. I so appreciate you sharing that, because that's exactly right, it makes it. It makes it more accessible. Like, okay, I could do that, yeah, yeah, I could. I could step into that. I may not feel like a natural storyteller, but I could do that.

Bill Blankschaen: 24:05

Yeah, yeah, yeah. One of the gentlemen we work with, chris Fuller, with Right Path Resources. He calls it componentizing. Right, yeah, break it down to small enough components and you can do it, I love that Everything's doable From writing a huge book. We just break it down to the smallest components, right yeah, don't try to write it all in one sitting. Just take one, write that. Take one, write that and before you know it, you've got an entire manuscript draft on your hands.

Dr. William Attaway: 24:36

So good, bill, I want to talk about you for just a second. You know you are leading at a different level than you led at five years ago. Your team needs you to lead at a different level today and five years from now that's going to be true again. How do you stay on top of your game? How do you level up as a leader with the new skills that you are going to need and that your team and business are going to need you to have?

Bill Blankschaen: 25:02

Great question and I hope and pray every day that I'm doing that. Yeah, and, as I think every leader and I think that's probably the first key, though, is that I have found in my life I have to stay teachable. Right, what worked yesterday isn't going to work today, necessarily, right, I can learn from it, but I can't just rinse and repeat. And those leaders that get into that they just rinse and repeat. Eventually they begin to decline, their organization begins to decline, but you have to always be reinventing yourself. My friend Chris, once again, he says for every 30% of growth in an organization you have to reinvent your systems right. So every 30%. So if you're growing quickly, so you're hitting 60%, you just jumped over right. So it requires that you have to keep moving forward if you're going to do that. So I think, first of all, it begins with humility, recognizing that I don't know everything. There's a lot I don't know everything. There's a lot I don't know. And I have a concern with myself, and I think any leader that's had any level of success should have the concern that it's so easy to get comfortable and to settle into the status quo.

Bill Blankschaen: 26:22

Another book I'll recommend that we wrote with a gentleman, greg Cagle called the Four Dimensions of Culture. He does a phenomenal job of unpacking this and he talks about that status quo as the complacent dimension of culture. And that complacent dimension is always with us and it's our default setting. If we don't intentionally push in a different direction, we'll just we'll slip right back into it. And so, as a leader, our main job is to keep moving forward in the, in the positive dimensions, in order to avoid the negative dimensions, cause if we don't, it will inevitably happen. Right, and so I think that's the case, too, of constantly learning, constantly growing, maintaining vigilance on that and continually casting and recasting the.

Bill Blankschaen: 27:09

And one of the challenges that I have, frankly, is I don't want to be a micromanager, and yet culture is in the details, and so, as a leader, we have to kind of balance that. And to me it's a storytelling thing too, because, for instance, you read Charles Dickens. Charles Dickens tells stories in such a detailed way He'll spend three pages describing the leg of a table or something. But other writers I think some of the, the more contemporary british writers, for example are much more poetic and and short and concise, and john maxwell writes entirely different. The writing styles can be different and as leaders, our storytelling styles can be different and as leaders, our storytelling styles can be different.

Bill Blankschaen: 27:54

But in all of that, so, balancing details, big picture, details, big picture it's like we're constantly as my friend John Foley described it kissing the envelope. He was a former Blue Angel lead solo pilot. Right so, fighter pilot, you take it to the max and then you pull back. You take it to the max. It's that kind of pushing the boundaries and growing and then pulling back and saying, all right, what happened? How was that? Where do I need to push next? Let's push, pull back, reassess, and I think that's the way to keep moving forward and growing in whatever area we're in.

Bill Blankschaen: 28:28

But that's a little bit of what I, what I try to do maybe not always successfully, but what I try to do as a leader to keep that, um, keep that, keep it in a place where I'm not settling into the leader I used to be or who I am. But what's next? Who do I need to become? And being willing to let go of what was before to do that. In fact, I'm in the middle of this right now um, redefining my role and resetting my role over the next several weeks. As we've grown, I see, all right, I need to do that, I need to change some things, and so what do I need to let go of? What do I need to lean into?

Dr. William Attaway: 29:01

I love that teachable spirit and the humility that you approach that and really everything we've talked about. You're coming from that place and you're starting from a place of saying I don't know all the answers. I'm not the answer man, so to speak. Right, what can I learn here? What can I learn? How can I position myself in such a way that I'm going to be, instead of being, an obstacle to growth, I'm going to be, a facilitator of it? I think that's so healthy.

Bill Blankschaen: 29:31

Well and my team has heard me say this many times is that, you know, the greatest barrier to our growth is me, and so if I'm not changing and growing and morphing, then, no, I become a lid on the entire team. So I have to have to let that go.

Dr. William Attaway: 29:48

So good You've. You've mentioned several already, but I always ask the leaders that I talk to this is there a book that you would recommend that every leader listening and if they haven't read this, they should put this on their to-read list?

Bill Blankschaen: 30:02

Well, I certainly would recommend the one I just mentioned, four Dimensions of Culture by Greg Cagle. It's a phenomenal book man. There's so many oh my goodness, not all of them that I've been involved with and written. Necessarily. I've been, have been blessed to have been involved in hundreds of books and book creations and some of them are just exceptionally well, exceptionally good books that have really shaped me.

Bill Blankschaen: 30:24

I'm going to go back a few years here to Stephen Covey's book First Things First. Yes, I've read that at least three to four or five times. I lost track. Those kind of books really good. Some of John Maxwell's are really good and actually, with John's, some of the ones that don't get a lot of the fanfare actually are some of the best ones. In my mind. The name has escaped me right now. Thinking for a Change is what it's called. Yeah, phenomenal book, just a phenomenal book. Today Matters is another one that's really good, super practical. Those would be some of the top ones I would recommend. There's probably many, many, many more. If you just ask for one, I just gave you three or four that's because you over-deliver.

Dr. William Attaway: 31:12

That's how it works.

Bill Blankschaen: 31:12

That's what great leaders do they start talking books with me and you'll get a bunch of them in a hurry. So, uh, you know what? Let me just, let me just pull this one out right here sitting on my desk. Um, this is a. I say this for a reason. This book by glenn cunningham called never quit. Incredible story by. About glenn cunningham. Uh, I would never have known it if not for this book, and I don't know where I got this at a library or book sale, or probably picked it up for a quarter somewhere, I don't know.

Bill Blankschaen: 31:42

But Glenn Cunningham is the guy who broke the four-minute mile barrier. Oh wow. First to do it unofficially, he did it, and then somebody else became the official person, but he was like the first. The incredible thing about his story, though, is that, as a young boy, he and his brother went to school one day, and somebody had mistakenly switched the kerosene for gasoline, and they went to light the fire, and the whole building just burst into flames, and so, unfortunately, his brother's life was lost, and he you know, the doctors didn't think he would make it either. They said he'd never walk again all these kind of things, and yet, over the years, he simply refused to quit and kept going with it and this came to the point where he was just running everywhere and eventually became one of the fastest men in the world.

Bill Blankschaen: 32:34

It's an incredible story. It really is, but I never would have known it if somebody hadn't put it in a book. And to me that is the power of books Like when we put our story and our message in a book, it can go places we will never be. I mean, you know, glenn has passed now for many years and yet his story is still inspiring to me and I tell it often, and inspires other people, all because it was in a book. So there's a book I'd recommend. It's going to be hard to find.

Dr. William Attaway: 33:02

I want to check it out now.

Intro / Outro: 33:03

That sounds absolutely fantastic.

Dr. William Attaway: 33:05

I love that. I've never read that. Yeah, I'm looking forward to finding it somewhere.

Bill Blankschaen: 33:19

And one of the best things was not just that, but Glenn went on to found a ranch for young boys who were in troubled settings and families and pass, and tens of thousands of guys went through his ranch over the years and had their lives transformed because of that.

Dr. William Attaway: 33:47

So it's so amazing, Huge impact. I love it that we have been through or encountered or experienced and it's never wasted If people walk away from an episode or a conversation like this with one big idea and you got to decide what that one big idea would be. What would you want it to be?

Bill Blankschaen: 34:04

I would want it to be a passion, a stirring up within someone of the desire to live a story worth telling, to live in such a way that your story is one that, like Glenn Cunningham, that people want to tell and want to share. Not that you want to be burned in a fire, right, but those painful things in your life that you didn't ask for then become the fuel for you to really live out a life in a way that people talk about. That makes an impact. So I would say that is the question of are you living a story that's worth telling? And to think who's going to tell it and when and where will they tell it and how will it be told?

Bill Blankschaen: 34:47

Because what I have found is that so many people undervalue their own story and by story I mean what has happened to them and their response to it and their ideas around it and their message, all of that. So many people just don't value that. And so, because they know it, you know they're used to it, it's normal to them, just like with our strengths we generally don't see our strengths because they feel normal to us. Me reading cereal boxes when I was a kid, right? Doesn't everybody do that? No, actually not right.

Bill Blankschaen: 35:18

And so, understanding the value of our own story you know, even you know my stepping out from the school and stepping out into this entrepreneurial path so many people have reached out and said, hey, I'm thinking about doing this, what do I do with this? Right? How do I go about it? You've been there, done that. How do I, how do I not do that Right? And so, having that sense of the value of your own story, appreciating the value of your story, and then having the faith to lean into that and say, all right, what am I going to do with that and how do I want to live it out today and every day in a way that will make it a story we're telling. I think that's the thing that I would want people to walk away from, because when you do that, it's transformative, it changes how you approach everything.

Dr. William Attaway: 36:05

Well said, I know our listeners are going to want to stay connected to you, bill, and continue to learn from you. What is the best way for them to do that?

Bill Blankschaen: 36:13

I'd say a couple of ways. First of all, any social media LinkedIn, instagram, facebook, anything like that Just look up StoryBuilders. You'll find us. You can also visit our website mystorybuilders. com mystorybuilders. com. And check out our website If you think you, hey, I think I've got a book idea. Somebody said I should write a book and I've been kicking it around and talking to people Um, we would love to come alongside and help you figure that out, whether it's working with us or pointing you in a different direction, whatever that might be. We're again. We're about telling stories that make the world a better place, and if that's us, wonderful. If not, we want to get out of the way and let people live and tell their stories. But we do offer a free book idea session that you're welcome to book with one of our senior story strategists. We'll walk through and hear your ideas and be candid with you. If we think it has merit, we'll tell you that. If not, we'll point you where to work on it and how to develop it and where to go from there.

Bill Blankschaen: 37:11

You simply go to mystorybuilderscom, forward, slash story and just book a time that you can pick, a time that works for you. And again, no obligation. We're just here to help and come alongside books, learning experiences, any of that stuff. If you're maybe just saying, hey, I've got this idea and I've kind of done this and I've kind of done that or I've done a lot of this and a lot of that. But you know, let's talk, let's see if we can be of help to you. That's mystorybuilderscom forward slash story and you know, if we can help you do that, we'd love to do that.

Dr. William Attaway: 37:43

Bill, thank you for your generosity today, for your time, for the open-handedness you've displayed and sharing so much of what you've learned so far displayed and sharing so much of what you've learned so far.

Bill Blankschaen: 37:57

Well, you're more than welcome and I appreciate the opportunity. You know I love the idea of catalytic leadership. I think stories are catalysts, right, and so I love what you're doing, and I love what you're doing in the group coaching space, by the way, also. I've seen you doing some things in that space as well, and you've got a lot of great things going on, so hopefully, even our conversation moves people to connect with you and take advantage of all the value that you're bringing to the table too.

Dr. William Attaway: 38:21

Greatly appreciate that. Thanks for joining me for this episode today. As we wrap up, I'd love for you to do two things. First, subscribe to this podcast so you don't miss an episode, and if you find value here, I'd love it if you would rate it and review it. That really does make a difference in helping other people to discover this podcast. Second, if you don't have a copy of my newest book, catalytic Leadership, I'd love to put a copy in your hands. If you go to catalyticleadershipbookcom, you can get a copy for free. Just pay the shipping so I can get it to you and we'll get one right out.

Dr. William Attaway: 38:59

My goal is to put this into the hands of as many leaders as possible. This book captures principles that I've learned in 20 plus years of coaching leaders in the entrepreneurial space, in business, government, nonprofits, education and the local church. You can also connect with me on LinkedIn to keep up with what I'm currently learning and thinking about. And if you're ready to take a next step with a coach to help you intentionally grow and thrive as a leader, I'd be honored to help you. Just go to catalyticleadershipnet to book a call with me. Stay tuned for our next episode next week. Until then, as always, leaders choose to be catalytic.

Intro / Outro: 39:43

Thanks for listening to Catalytic Leadership with Dr William Attaway. Be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts so you don't miss the next episode. Want more? Go to catalyticleadershipnet.