Tell Stories. Make Friends. Why Is That So Hard?

Last weekend, I was at a meeting in Chicago and met a man from Kentucky. I asked him what kind of things would help him sell more of the brand for which we create work.

"People want stories," he said. "Tell stories."

It helped that he delivered the news in his Kentucky accent, but it's stuck with me. Why are most of us, including myself at times, afraid to do this? People don't want bullet points and Powerpoint presentations. They want stories, whether they're in Kentucky or La Jolla.

Turns out the man that many consider this country's most compelling documentary filmmaker was framing the last election in the same terms in a recent New York Times editorial.

— Dean Gemmell