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Lenny's Podcast / episode intelligence

How to tell better stories | Matthew Dicks (Storyworthy)

15 Dec 2023 24 published claims 2 attributable people
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Speakers in the public record

Matthew DicksLenny Rachitsky

Claim mix

belief 9evaluation 6recommendation 3preference 3uncertainty 2commitment 1

Evidence policy

Every row below preserves an exact excerpt. Identified speakers are linked; unresolved voices are labeled and excluded from people counts.

Claim ledger

The useful parts, with receipts.

24 published records

01 / recommendation

Recommends The Tale of Despereaux.

“Oh, so Nathaniel Philbrick's, Heart of the Sea, which is a non-fiction account of the whale ship Essex, which is the origin of the idea for Moby Dick. The sinking of the Essex is what gave Melville the idea for Moby Dick. It's an extraordinary non-fiction account of the whale ship Essex. So that book for sure. If you have children, but even if you don't, because this is one of those children's books that reads well for adults as Kate DiCamillo's, The Tale of Despereaux. It's a young adult novel. It'll take you two hours to read. I've read it 20 times. It is beautiful and extraordinary and fantastic. And then anything by Jessie Klein, she has two books. The only thing I don't like about her is she only has two books. Actually, Sedaris too, Jessie Klein and David Sedaris. Go read those two people too. I'm actually right now reading Bamford's book, the comedian, what's her first name? Bamford. I have Amy stuck in my head for Amy Sedaris. Maria Bamford's memoir right now I'm reading. Also, extraordinary. So there's four that I am now recommending.”
Speaker
Matthew Dicks
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

04 / belief

In a non-self-serving sort of version of your second part of the question, I think if you just tell stories, but more importantly, if you ask people to tell you stories, again, creating that space, listen for people who say things like, oh, something like that happened to me once.

“In a non-self-serving sort of version of your second part of the question, I think if you just tell stories, but more importantly, if you ask people to tell you stories, again, creating that space, listen for people who say things like, oh, something like that happened to me once.”
Speaker
Matthew Dicks
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

05 / belief

You listen to yourself, tell a story about yourself to yourself, which is the most narcissistic thing you could probably do in the world. But even if you're a visual learner, because it's so annoying to practice eventually, I think listening to it can be really helpful.

“You listen to yourself, tell a story about yourself to yourself, which is the most narcissistic thing you could probably do in the world. But even if you're a visual learner, because it's so annoying to practice eventually, I think listening to it can be really helpful.”
Speaker
Matthew Dicks
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

08 / evaluation

You build information into the audience's mind that will allow the surprise to land in an inevitable and yet surprising way. That is the best surprise you can offer someone.

“You build information into the audience's mind that will allow the surprise to land in an inevitable and yet surprising way. That is the best surprise you can offer someone.”
Speaker
Matthew Dicks
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

09 / belief

I think of Pulp Fiction and Tarantino in this often of just like, you know some violence is about to happen, and they go next door, and like, "Let's just eat a cheeseburger," instead for a while.

“I think of Pulp Fiction and Tarantino in this often of just like, you know some violence is about to happen, and they go next door, and like, "Let's just eat a cheeseburger," instead for a while.”
Speaker
Lenny Rachitsky
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

12 / belief

I think I was really having a hard time, and I know at the time two of my friends were not being my friend anymore, and they were my only two friends sort of at the time.

“I think I was really having a hard time, and I know at the time two of my friends were not being my friend anymore, and they were my only two friends sort of at the time.”
Speaker
Matthew Dicks
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

14 / belief

I was just listening to an interview with, I think his name is David Mamet, and he made this point that endings of books and movies always has to be both inevitable, and also complete surprise.

“I was just listening to an interview with, I think his name is David Mamet, and he made this point that endings of books and movies always has to be both inevitable, and also complete surprise.”
Speaker
Lenny Rachitsky
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

15 / commitment

When we fail we're going to take a moment to collect ourselves, to think about the mistakes we made, to decide what we're going to do differently, and then we're going to move on.

“When we fail we're going to take a moment to collect ourselves, to think about the mistakes we made, to decide what we're going to do differently, and then we're going to move on.”
Speaker
Matthew Dicks
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

16 / evaluation

If your location is paramount to your story because you want people to know you were in Aruba, then you have to understand, no one actually cares that you were in Aruba and you're just a terrible person for trying to dump that on someone and use up their time so you can relive your vacation and perhaps humble brag about how much fun you had.

“If your location is paramount to your story because you want people to know you were in Aruba, then you have to understand, no one actually cares that you were in Aruba and you're just a terrible person for trying to dump that on someone and use up their time so you can relive your vacation and perhaps humble brag about how much fun you had.”
Speaker
Matthew Dicks
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

17 / preference

You don't want to walk into a situation and say, "Hi, I'm a married elementary school teacher with two kids and two cats." But that's what I want to do because I know that that's going to make people feel connected to me.

“You don't want to walk into a situation and say, "Hi, I'm a married elementary school teacher with two kids and two cats." But that's what I want to do because I know that that's going to make people feel connected to me.”
Speaker
Matthew Dicks
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

18 / preference

" They're best friends already. So if you've run a marathon, and you're in a room and you discover someone else's run a marathon, you have to find a way to bring that out because the possibility of that connection is incredibly intense.

“" They're best friends already. So if you've run a marathon, and you're in a room and you discover someone else's run a marathon, you have to find a way to bring that out because the possibility of that connection is incredibly intense.”
Speaker
Matthew Dicks
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

19 / evaluation

Let's go back to the idea that in business, you have to accept the fact that nobody wants to hear anything you have to say, that is not accepted by most people, even after I say it. So once you understand that, and once you truly believe it, there's essentially four ways to keep people listening to you in any story really, but especially in business, because really no one wants to listen to you in business.

“Let's go back to the idea that in business, you have to accept the fact that nobody wants to hear anything you have to say, that is not accepted by most people, even after I say it. So once you understand that, and once you truly believe it, there's essentially four ways to keep people listening to you in any story really, but especially in business, because really no one wants to listen to you in business.”
Speaker
Matthew Dicks
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

20 / evaluation

It's a huge buzzword. They love to think of themselves as storytellers, but when they come to me, they don't really want to be storytellers because to be a storyteller means you have to separate yourself from the herd, and in their mind that risks them getting picked off, getting picked off by some predator.

“It's a huge buzzword. They love to think of themselves as storytellers, but when they come to me, they don't really want to be storytellers because to be a storyteller means you have to separate yourself from the herd, and in their mind that risks them getting picked off, getting picked off by some predator.”
Speaker
Matthew Dicks
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

21 / evaluation

I have said that to myself 100,000 times. And today there's one human being in the world who I think is more positive than me, one human being who I've met, who has more positivity than me.

“I have said that to myself 100,000 times. And today there's one human being in the world who I think is more positive than me, one human being who I've met, who has more positivity than me.”
Speaker
Matthew Dicks
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

22 / recommendation

If you're trying to do it, the best way to tell a story about something that you want people to understand is to do what I call speaking with adjacency, which means we're not going to match content to content.

“If you're trying to do it, the best way to tell a story about something that you want people to understand is to do what I call speaking with adjacency, which means we're not going to match content to content.”
Speaker
Matthew Dicks
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast
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