December 30, 2025
I analyzed 78 of the most successful people on the planet to find out how they tell stories.
After watching hundreds of interviews, I realized that they all use the same five storytelling techniques to hook us.
Once you master those, you’ll know how to tell stories like the top 1%.
These are the five storytelling techniques used by the most successful people on the planet:
Let’s start with a short story from one of the richest men on the planet, Jeff Bezos.
See if you can spot what makes his story work.
In the first month, I was packing boxes on my hands and knees on the hard cement floors, with somebody else standing next to me, kneeling next to me.
We’re packing and and I said, “You know what? We need knee pads. This is killing my knees.”
And this guy packing alongside me said, “We need packing tables.”
And I was like, “That’s the most brilliant idea I’ve ever heard.”
Did you catch it?
He didn’t start with, “Oh yeah, when I founded Amazon, blah blah blah blah blah.”
He skipped the backstory and he dropped us straight into the moment on the floor, knees hurting, boxes everywhere.
That’s what great storytellers do.
They start right into the action.
So, ask yourself: what are you doing in the crucial moment of your story?
Typing? Packing boxes? Walking? Screaming? Closing your laptop?
Those small actions pull people into the moment and give your story momentum.
For example:
“I’m staring at my laptop when this notification pops up.”
Or
“I’m putting my bags onto the security belt at the airport.”
Quick visual details like these tell your audience one thing: you’re not wasting their time.
You’re taking them straight into the heart of the story.
But, once great storytellers pull you into the moment, they move on to the next technique.
Let’s check out this quick story from Mark Cuban, who’s an investor on Shark Tank.
See if you can spot what makes a story so compelling.
I remember one day my dad was playing poker. I was like, “Dad, I need a new pair of Converse, right?” And he’s like, “I see those, you know, those shoes on your feet. They still work, right?” And I’m like, “Yeah.” He’s like, “Well, when you have a job, you can buy whatever you want, but until then, those shoes still work.” And, um, I’m like, “Dad, I can’t get a job. I’m 12 years old.” And one of his poker buddies speaks up and goes,
“Yeah, I got a job for you.”
I’m like, “What?”
He goes, “I’ve got these boxes of garbage bags and you can go sell them around the neighborhood.”
I would go to our neighbors and I go, “Hi, I’m your neighbor, Mark. Do you use garbage bags?”And of course, everybody uses garbage bags.
So I’ll never forget they cost me three bucks for a box of a hundred. I would sell them for six bucks and I would just take them to them every couple weeks, right, whenever they needed more garbage bags. And I’m making 20 bucks a week, which was like big time.
I got my shoes and, you know, but that taught me to be confident and that taught me that I could sell and that taught me that selling was helping, not convincing.
Here is what makes the story work so well:
Mark makes one thing crystal clear right from the start. He shares what he wants.
He wants sneakers, right? Pretty easy. And the moment he says that, we’re hooked. Like, hey, we’re wondering, will he get them?
That simple story gives the story a purpose, a direction. It gives us something to root for.
So share the goal upfront. Say it in one clear sentence.
For example:
“I had one goal and that was not to get fired.”
Or
“I just wanted to finish that marathon to prove to myself that I can do the hard things as well.”
The moment your audience knows what you’re chasing, they’ll stay with you until they find out if you got it.
But then once the goal is clear, you can then make the story even more powerful by using the next technique.
This time, check out this quick but powerful story from the actor Ryan Reynolds.
See again if you can spot what makes the story so freaking good.
I wanted to get an earring as a kid. I thought that that would be a good idea.
My brother said, “You’re you’re going to die. You’re going to show up at dinner tonight and and dad, there will be a messy stabbing death because dad will take one of the utensils and stab you.”
I went off with one of my friends and his mom and we went to Sears or wherever the hell you go and she signed the consent form. I got an earring. I came home and I remember my face being so flush with blood and heat thinking about this impending disaster that was about to happen.
And I get to the dinner table. He mutters some swear word under his breath or something like you or something like that. And I kind of look up and I look around and I see that all three of my brothers had gotten an earring to to sort of save me.
Ryan gives us this peek in his mind before this big moment. He tells us what he expects to happen, that dad is going to lose it, right? And that prediction pulls us right in.
We’re holding our breath waiting. What will dad do to him, right? Is he going to kill him?
That technique is what I call foreshadow the future.
Give us a peek inside your mind. What did you think would happen? What were you expecting? What were you hoping for? What were you afraid of?
Even if those thoughts are naive or over the top, share them. That’s what makes it human.
For example:
“I thought, this is it. This presentation is going to change everything. They’ll love it.”
Or
“I walked into the room thinking, this this is going to be a disaster. I’ll freeze. I’ll forget my words.”
Now your listeners want to know, did it go according to your prediction or did it go completely the opposite? Now your listeners aren’t just hearing your story. They’re anticipating the ending with you.
I love this technique, but there’s one technique that is by far the most common.
Let’s look at a story from business owner and investor Cody Sanchez.
See if you can spot what makes her story so memorable.
What happens when you hang out in rooms with other people who have way more zeros than you do is your problems are so small to them that, like, often they can see into your future. It’s a really weird thing.
And I remember back in the day, one of my mentors, David Osborne, who was like worth a hundred million at the time. I thought that was like the richest any human could be.
We were on a walk and he was like, “How much money do you have right now?” And I was like, “I don’t know. Probably like X. And let’s say I have 100K in the bank right now.” He’s like, “No, no. How much money exactly do you have in the bank?”
And I was like, “Well, I don’t know. I’d have to look.” He goes, “You have to look.”
He’s like, “How much money do you make a month?” And I was like, “Well, about this.” He’s like, “You don’t know exactly?” And I was like, “I also don’t know that.”
How much money do you spend? I also don’t know that.
And he goes, “Money is a cruel mistress. If you don’t pay attention to her, she will leave you for somebody else.”
And then I said, “Well, okay, let’s take that one step further. So, if all I have to do is follow my money, look at her, pay attention to her, and she’ll grow.”
And he said, “I can guarantee you if in one year from now, if you look at your money every single day and you look at your spendings and you look at your savings, and you think about an ability to grow both, one year from now, you will be richer.”
And I was like, “You guarantee?” And he’s like, “I guarantee.”
And that conversation changed my life because now I am at a point where I realize she is a cruel mistress, and so give her attention or she’ll leave you.
Cody could have just said, “Well, my mentor told me to track my finances,” but that would have been quite forgettable, right? Super boring.
Instead, she replayed the exact words of that moment.
Money is a cruel mistress. If you don’t pay attention to her, she’ll leave you.
Boom. Right? That’s what makes it stick.
The technique: share the dialogue.
Most great stories involve another person, a boss, a client, a friend, a mentor.
One of the easiest ways to make your story come to life is to include what they actually said in that key moment. What were the exact words?
So instead of saying, my manager was disappointed, say, my manager looked at me and said, “Why didn’t you ask for help?”
Or instead of saying, “My friend gave me some great advice,” say, “My friend looked at me and said, Phillip, you don’t need a new plan. You just need to follow your heart.”
Do you see the difference?
Dialogue adds life. It makes the story feel like it’s happening right now.
So the next time you tell a story, don’t just summarize the moment. Replay it. Let your audience hear the words that made it matter.
And finally, there’s one last thing that all great storytellers do. Technique number five.
Let’s look at a story from one of the greatest storytellers of all time, Steve Jobs.
Now, for this last one as well, see if you can spot what makes it so unforgettable.
Most people don’t get those experiences because they never ask. Uh, I’ve never found anybody that didn’t want to help me if I asked them for help. I always call them up.
I called up, um, this will date me, but I called up Bill Hewlett when I was 12 years old and he lived in Palo Alto. His number was still in the phone book and he answered the phone himself.
He said, “Yes.”
I said, “Hi, I’m Steve Jobs. I’m 12 years old. I I’m a a student in high school and I want to build a frequency counter and I was wondering if you had any spare parts I could have.”
And he laughed and he he gave me the spare parts to build this frequency counter and he gave me a job that summer in Hewlett-Packard working on the assembly line putting nuts and bolts together on frequency counters.
He got me a job in the place that built them and I was in heaven.
And I’ve never found anyone who said no or hung up the phone when I called. I just asked.
And when people ask me, I try to be as responsive, you know, to pay that that debt of gratitude back.
Most people never pick up the phone and call. Most people never ask. And that’s what separates sometimes the people that do things from the people that just dream about them.
Steve used everything we’ve talked about. He starts right into the action. There is a clear goal and there is wonderful, wonderful dialogue throughout.
But there’s one more thing that he does perfectly. He ends with a lesson.
He says something like, “That’s what separates the people who do things from the people who just dream about them.”
That line makes us reflect on our own lives, and that’s the secret of great storytellers. They end with one clear takeaway.
They don’t just share stories to entertain. They tell them to mean something, to leave the audience with a thought that sticks.
So, when you finish your story, ask yourself, “What’s that one thing I want people to remember?”
Maybe it’s, that’s when I realized asking for help isn’t a weakness, it’s wisdom.
Or that moment taught me success doesn’t start with confidence. It starts with courage.
Do you see?
Keep it simple. One sentence, one truth.
Because when you end with a single clear takeaway, your story doesn’t just end. It echoes.
The best storytellers don’t rely on talent.
They rely on technique.
Today, you learned five powerful storytelling techniques, but to make them stick, you need to practice a little bit.
So if you want to train that storytelling muscle even further, check out this next article where I share how to become a better storyteller than 99% of people.
See you there.
P.S. Want to become a stronger communicator?
Here are two ways I can support you:
👉 Want to tell more engaging stories? Join our next Storytelling Workshop.
👉 Want to speak with confidence and clarity? Check out our Communication Skills Training.
Both are fun, practical, and designed to help you grow fast.
Are you ready to transform your storytelling skills?
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