HO.

LY.

SHIT!!!

My voice is still hoarse from shouting last night, after watching Canada win 3-2 in overtime over the United States at the 4 Nations Tournament.

That’s a key word there:

Nations.

And that’s what I want to talk about on this week’s Greenblast:

The vital importance of STORIES

This was more than just a hockey game.

This was a symbol, a proxy, a metaphor for Canada’s national pride.

To really understand why that was, you need to know:

• what hockey means to Canada

• what being “Canada” means to Canadians

• & what’s happening in US-Canada relations at the moment

  (Btw, can we all agree, Greenblasters, that this is stupid and Canada-US should go back to being friends?)

All of the above are STORIES we tell ourselves as human beings.

Hockey is a story.

It’s set of rules, and a tale of importance, that we as fans and players believe in.

Likewise, “Canada” is a story. “The United States” is a story. National sovereignty is a story. The money we exchange between countries is a story. And the rules that dictate how we can treat each other is a story.

None of these things exist in the natural world, we made them up and they exist purely based on our collective belief in the stories.

(Yuval Noah Harari was the first one who really opened my eyes to this fact in his books Sapiens and Homo Deus. If you haven’t read them yet, what are ya doing?).

Story = context

People misunderstand the word story.

They think “story” means something that happened in the past, OR a made-up series of events for entertainment purposes.

But it ALSO means:

The important & emotionally resonant facts surrounding an event or idea.

In other words, CONTEXT.

(This definition is far more important to you as a speaker, coach, entrepreneur, or leader. It’s how you make people CARE about a product, a topic, or a recommendation that seems boring at first.)

Back to the game: here are the facts that gave it context and a STORY:

• Canada invented the game of hockey

• Canada is a young nation, with hardly any unifying cultural aspects

• Hockey is one, and NOT being America is another

• We also live under the US’s shadow internationally (everybody knows a lot about them, no one knows much about us)

• Beating Americans at hockey is one of the few things we have

  

  2010 Olympics. The “Golden Goal.” IYKYK.

And finally:

• Donald Trump has been threatening Canada’s sovereignty by constantly referring to us as the “51st state”

• Canadian’s have been booing the US national anthem as a result

• The 1st US-Canada game in this tournament started with 3 FIGHTS IN 9 SECONDS

• The US beat Canada in that game, on Canadian soil in Montreal

• And Donald Trump CALLED THE US TEAM BEFORE THE FINAL GAME, while his staff mocked Canada at a White House presser the morning of.

THAT’S why this was so much more than a hockey game for Canadians.

So, what does this mean for you?

You might be wondering at this point:

“Who TF cares Will?? This is supposed to be a newsletter about becoming a better speaker and storyteller, not a rant about hockey, Canada, and politics.”

The 1st US-Canada game drew 10.1 MILLION viewers.

Last night’s game might have been more.

The point of this all is:

STORY is what makes people care. Not numbers, not data points, not a few facts…

The STORY. The CONTEXT.

So when you speak in public, about yourself, your work, and your ideas…

Put some fucking story in there.

And your audience will CARE.

That’s it for this week!

To my American readers, I love you guys, even though your president is a colossal asshole. Even if you voted for him, if you’re a reasonable, respectful, and empathetic person, I love you too.

Let’s stop all this nonsense soon eh?

Greenblast… out 🚀