🟢 Dear Unthinkable listener: Thank you SO much for your support over the years! I invite you to find and follow the new show, How Stories Happen, in your preferred podcast player in just 2 taps right here: https://episodes.fm/1736586770 Every episode, an expert, entrepreneur, creator, or communicator dissects a single story or draft piece by piece. Hear how they found it, how they developed it, how it might improve, and how they're using it to build their business and leave their legacy. You'll...
Jun 06, 2024•49 min•Ep. 225
🟢 Dear Unthinkable listener: Thank you SO much for your support over the years! I invite you to find and follow the new show, How Stories Happen, in your preferred podcast player in just 2 taps right here: https://episodes.fm/1736586770 Every episode, an expert, entrepreneur, creator, or communicator dissects a single story or draft piece by piece. Hear how they found it, how they developed it, how it might improve, and how they're using it to build their business and leave their legacy. You'll...
May 06, 2024•50 min•Ep. 224
Find and follow How Stories Happen in your favorite podcast player, or visit howstorieshappen.com to learn more about the show and find the appropriate link for you. Every episode of the show, we’re dissecting stories and drafts with incredible storytellers to understand how they found their ideas, how they developed their work, and how they’re using their stories to build their business and leave their legacy. You’ll walk away ready to differentiate on the impact of your ideas, not the volume o...
Mar 29, 2024•24 min•Ep. 223
Why do we constantly underestimate how long something will take in the short-term? In other words, we tend to over-estimate just how much we can achieve right now. Then, when we think long term, the reverse tends to happen: we actually UNDER-estimate what we're capable of achieving over time. Today, we want to know more about the promise of a popular trend, the creative streak, and whether they can help us overcome our constant battle with planning our time and achieving something greater. This ...
Feb 26, 2024•49 min•Ep. 222
As Ira Glass said, "Great stories happen to those who can tell them." This idea says everything we need to know to develop stronger stories in our work, so we can stand out easier and resonate deeper. But we're asking the wrong questions and searching in the wrong places. Let's rethink some things together... For the full transcript of this episode, read the original article. *** SUBSCRIBE TO THE NEWSLETTER: 💌 Playing Favorites is the newsletter from Jay about resonance, storytelling, different...
Feb 07, 2024•16 min•Ep. 221
The story of a surprisingly dynamic and captivating idea from a (sometimes) bland and boring space -- and what we can learn about crafting more resonant work. What does it look like when an organization, project, or individual’s work resonates so deeply that they have passionate fans and loyal followers who declare them a favorite ? This week we start in the sometimes bland, boring space of team training software and follow the story of a surprisingly dynamic, brilliant and captivating idea from...
Jan 29, 2024•55 min•Ep. 220
No matter your craft, when you develop an idea, a project, or a key moment within a piece, the power of what you're sharing tends to start with the same question: Can you be more honest with yourself? In this one-shot episode, a dense dose of a single idea that can help us become stronger storytellers and produce higher-impact content, so we can get off the hamster wheel and produce more work that actually works. Plus, the backstory of a high-stakes moment when this question was put to the test....
Jan 18, 2024•16 min•Ep. 219
We want to make things that matter. To our careers, companies, and communities. When THAT is our aim and THAT is our driving belief, and yet our work comes out feeling like THIS? The way it is right now? Oof, that can cause all kinds of existential crises or at least panic-induced researching and debating and analyzing and asking. It's time to get to the next rep. It's time to cross the gap. *** SUBSCRIBE TO THE NEWSLETTER: 💌 Playing Favorites is the newsletter from Jay about resonance, storyte...
Jan 10, 2024•38 min•Ep. 218
Have a wonderful holiday season and a beautiful start to your 2024! Back in the new year with more... UNTHINKABLE IS TAKING A BREAK -- BUT DON'T UNSUBSCRIBE We're back with more soon. In the meantime... BECOME A STRONGER STORYTELLER: Subscribe to Jay Acunzo's free newsletter, Playing Favorites, and learn what it takes to stand out easier and resonate deeper by communicating with greater power, everywhere you show up. Join free at jayacunzo.com . Join the Creator Kitchen, a mastermind of smart ex...
Dec 18, 2023•5 min•Ep. 217
Signature Stories is a miniseries where world-class business storytellers take us inside one important story and dissect it with us. It's like Song Exploder meets storytelling for our work! In our sixth and final episode of the series, bestselling author and Hall of Fame keynote speaker Jay Baer brings one of his oldest, most proven stories to the show -- and we learn the two habits most driving effective storytellers like Jay. And also Jay. Both Jays. (There are two Jays on this episode, is wha...
Nov 20, 2023•52 min•Ep. 216
Signature Stories is a miniseries where world-class business storytellers take us inside one important story and dissect it with us. It's like Song Exploder meets storytelling for our work! In our fifth episode of the series, a globetrotting, bestselling, keynote-giving, smart-opinion-having, big-idea-distributing author takes us inside what was ultimately a tiny moment in his life that sparked all that "big" stuff. Simone Stolzoff is the author of The Good Enough Job: Reclaiming Life from Work....
Nov 13, 2023•44 min•Ep. 215
We interrupt the current series to bring you this message. Find and share this rant in essay form. Subscribe to Jay's free newsletter to become a stronger storyteller. (Sent every other Friday, these essays help you get off the content hamster wheel, escape social feeds, and get the perspective and frameworks you need to write and speak with greater impact, everywhere you show up). Recommended resources to help you do the work AI can't: The Idea Impact Matrix: how to craft more valuable, origina...
Nov 06, 2023•17 min•Ep. 214
In this episode, we're joined by Amanda Natividad, the VP of marketing at SparkToro, who shares a story about the time she met her marketing hero: her now-boss, Rand Fishkin. Amanda is a former tech journalist and also a former test kitchen cook for the LA Times. She writes the newsletter The Menu which includes marketing advice and delicious recipes (for actual food, not marketing). And she takes us inside three different drafts for potential intros of this signature story, where we learn about...
Oct 18, 2023•43 min•Ep. 213
Up next in Signature Stories, we're joined by Jenny Blake, author, speaker and podcaster. She's written three books and hosts the wildly popular podcasts "Free Time" and "Pivot." Jenny sits down with Jay to share a story about a walk with her dog. Jay and Jenny unpack how we can pull out moments of meaning from a small interaction, and how to reshape a story for an audio-only medium versus video. Throughout this series, we'll learn from how inspiring creators and experts craft their most valuabl...
Sep 25, 2023•45 min•Ep. 212
Up next in Signature Stories, we're joined by Michael Bungay Stanier, speaker, coach and author of the wildly popular book "The Coaching Habit" and the brand new book, "How to Work with (Almost) Anyone." Michael sits down with Jay to share a story about a very bad job. Jay and MBS dive into how to use open loops, comedy in storytelling, and crafting tiny stories to create a sense of safety for your audience -- plus, they add some seasoning to the main ingredients of Michael's story to make it ta...
Sep 11, 2023•43 min•Ep. 211
Up first in this mini-series, Creator Kitchen co-founder and author Melanie Deziel sits down with Jay to share a story about her time as the first-ever editor of branded content at the New York Times. Jay and Mel dive into the messy reality of crafting resonant narratives -- and using them to serve an audience and build your business. Throughout this series, we'll learn from how inspiring creators and experts craft their most valuable, most original stories that build connection and resonate dee...
Aug 28, 2023•43 min•Ep. 210
What is taste? And once we understand it, how do we use our own taste? In this one-shot, Jay dives into they days before dating apps to find something unexpected - Bryan Cranston showing us just want the power of having taste can do. *** KEEP MAKING WHAT MATTERS: 1. Learn more about Jay's 1:1 coaching and collaboration: https://jayacunzo.com/accountability-group-for-b2b-marketers-creators 2. Get a new story/framework from Jay every other week for making things that matter more to you and others:...
Aug 14, 2023•18 min•Ep. 209
Writing matters... a lot. You don't need us to tell you that. But what happens when you feel like you can't write? Yes, on this episode we're talking about writers' block - what it feels like, how it shows up, and how we can tackle it once and for all. SHARE THE SHOW: Help others find Unthinkable in their favorite podcast player by sharing this link: https://pod.link/jay SUBSCRIBE TO THE NEWSLETTER: https://jayacunzo.com/newsletter Every Friday, I send a new idea, story, or framework for craftin...
Jul 31, 2023•36 min•Ep. 208
In this episode of Unthinkable, why formats matter so much. If you want listeners to stay engaged, for readers to finish an article, for your whole experience to resonate deeply, then we need to go beyond grabbing attention to genuinely HOLD it. Today, we focus on why formats are mission critical to creative work, and how you can search them out for yourself and craft your own to hook an audience and get them to the end. We’re joined by the most format-obsessed person out there: Hugh Garry, co-f...
Jul 13, 2023•40 min•Ep. 207
How you define quality is contextual, it's in the eyes of the beholder. In this one-shot, Jay breaks down the three questions we each need to ask to define quality - Who is it for? What is it for? How will I know if it's working? - and then shares the two habits that can help us to create quality content. *** KEEP MAKING WHAT MATTERS: 1. Learn more about Jay's 1:1 coaching and collaboration: https://jayacunzo.com/accountability-group-for-b2b-marketers-creators 2. Get a new story/framework from J...
Jun 19, 2023•17 min•Ep. 206
In marketing today, there's the widely used, noisy way to market yourself and your business, but then, just maybe, there's a calmer, quieter, perhaps more effective way. Stories from one of the world's most surprising speakeasy lounges, based in London, as well as one of Jay's favorite marketers who doesn't show up much publicly -- least of all on social media -- yet has found a way to build a business which is in-demand and even overbooked. (Now that sounds pretty unthinkable.) In this episode:...
Jun 05, 2023•46 min•Ep. 205
A list of steps isn't helpful if you're facing the wrong way. That's why in this one-shot, we try to pivot the right way... as it relates to story. Jay unpacks three common misconceptions about how we understand story and why it's actually more important to understand how to be storytellers than to understand story. *** KEEP MAKING WHAT MATTERS: 1. Learn more about Jay's 1:1 coaching and collaboration: https://jayacunzo.com/accountability-group-for-b2b-marketers-creators 2. Get a new story/frame...
May 22, 2023•18 min•Ep. 204
In a 4-part Mini Series, we're unpacking how we create little pockets of resonance. Through conversations with sound designers, copywriters, comedians, and creatives, we are mapping out how we can create work that can make audiences feel connected, validated, and seen. First up is a conversation with brilliant copywriter Margo Aaron who walks us through some of her most powerful copywriting blogs, her opinions on watching the news (links below) and what copywriting can feel like when it’s done r...
May 10, 2023•52 min
In 2016, Pharrell Williams dropped by NYU's Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music to speak to a class. There, he met a young Maggie Rogers and sampled her song "Alaska." His reaction, captured on camera, went viral. This is a relatively known moment on the internet. What's not known is just how the words Pharrell shared and the element he noticed from Maggie's work can be applied to the work we do. In this shorter, monologue episode, we take a closer look. *** KEEP MAKING WHAT MATTERS: 1. Get ...
Apr 24, 2023•17 min•Ep. 203
If you're going to reject conventional thinking and instead trust your intuition, you'll find yourself sharing tons of ideas with others. But this can feel scary, like our ideas are secrets we'd prefer to keep inside. And when someone shoots them down, we assume they just don't "get it." But what if the point of sharing our ideas is NOT to get the approval of others? Today, we go outside our echo chamber with Unthinkable contributor Andrew Littlefield to hear the story of an unusual art project ...
Apr 10, 2023•24 min
Any story you find can serve your cause -- if you know how to mold it and change it appropriately to tell it your way, for your specific goals. Today, the four things we can change in any story we find to tell it better. "Better" doesn’t mean more epic or popular. It means more purposeful, more customized to your specific situation and needs — your audience, your goals, your desire to express yourself a certain way, to connect deeper with the world and others around you, and get your creative fi...
Mar 27, 2023•26 min•Ep. 204
Hrishikesh Hirway is a musician and creator/host of the popular podcast Song Exploder. The show has a simple but powerful premise: each episode, a musician breaks apart a single track and, piece by piece, tells the story of how it was made. He's interviewed Madonna, Billie Eilish, Rick Astley, Lorde, U2, Yo-Yo Ma, and plenty of lesser-known artists creating beautiful music. Vulture even called the show "the best use of the podcast medium ever," and in 2020, Song Exploder became a TV show on Netf...
Mar 13, 2023•50 min•Ep. 202
In this shorter, monologue episode, we explore how we arrived at a place where so many creators view AI tools like ChatGPT at a killer robot coming to beat down their doors and crush them and why we worry that these tools are greater masters of our craft than we are. We're obsessed with only one part of the craft, and it's the same part AI is getting alarmingly good at owning. What if we focused on the 3 Ps instead? Posture, process, and practice. For a full written version of this episode, read...
Feb 09, 2023•22 min•Ep. 201
To be driven by creativity is to become a walking, talking collection of contradictions, but one conflicting notion sits at the center of the intertwining thoughts and emotions in our work -- the jumble, if you will. Today, we dive into that jumble to try and find an answer to this mysterious yet ubiquitous contradiction at the core, and it leads us to meet some of our listeners and experience their questions, conundrums, and even their creative work. REFER A FRIEND: Love the show? Help others f...
Dec 08, 2022•57 min•Ep. 200
For years, the promise of content marketing far exceeded its reality. But more than ever, brands -- even in B2B, the more "boring" cousin to consumer businesses -- are creating content that gives us reason to believe: creativity, community, and capitalism and not only co-exist, but for-profit can be used for-good. Today, the story of In the Works , a publication from the software company Help Scout. We go inside the decisions and the strategy of both the company's CEO and the head of content res...
Nov 15, 2022•41 min•Ep. 199
