Be the Hero of Your Own Journey: How Storytelling Can Lead to a Breakthrough for Your Brand

At Greenough Communications, we were fortunate to have the opportunity recently to sit down with Reed Frerichs, Founder of The Lesson, former Deal Flow & Portfolio Manager, Intel Ignite US and a former Hollywood actor and producer. At Intel Ignite and in his current role at The Lesson, Reed coaches founders, executives and MIT Sloan students on how developing their storytelling skills can unlock new opportunities and help them create successful businesses. Reed gave us an overview and mini-session of this work – including putting your faithful blogger on the hotseat to show how he works with execs in a collaborative story development process.

Reed pushes the people he works with on storytelling to not be afraid to share and be vulnerable, including sharing tough times in their lives and careers. And, Reed kicked off the session by sharing his own story, and did not shy away from being open about his own difficulties and vulnerabilities.  

From ‘Powder’ to Powerful Storytelling

Reed started off his career as an actor – landing a role in the Disney movie ‘Powder’ and others that filmed in Texas after taking an acting class his final semester at the University of Texas and realizing acting could be an effective vehicle for his need to have an outlet for self-expression. Following some early success, Reed described his optimism at the time – saying that he felt like the road to success was going to be a pretty easy one. That is, until he made the move to Hollywood. While in Los Angeles, after doing a few guest starring roles in TV, Reed got what he calls a “pretty close callback” to the final round of auditions for Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings.  

While the role ultimately went to Elijah Wood, a few years later, Reed was called back for a final audition with Tommy Lee Jones for the movie The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, during which Jones started “asking me personal questions to get to the depth of who I was, not the character,” said Reed. “Then, we started developing the character, and when Jones directed the scene again, the audition ended up being much more rich, and having much more emotional depth than it did before our discussion.”

The Neuroscience of Storytelling

The audition with Jones led to an epiphany for Reed, and ultimately some of the building blocks for his current work at The Lesson – demonstrating that a person’s life experiences and inner life are key to great storytelling, and creating “a story that inspires action.”

However, storytelling isn’t only made up of an emotional response, there’s also science at work here.

Reed described the neuroscience of storytelling, which creates “brain mirroring between the storyteller and the listener” and that “emotional charge triggers the release of dopamine, which leads to empathy and connection,” said Reed. Thus, we, as humans, not only enjoy a good story to be entertained, we are also hard-wired for storytelling as a way to connect with our fellow humans.  

‍The Hero’s Journey

So, how do you bring someone along on “your hero’s journey” so that you can build that science-backed connection? In simple terms, you can follow the script. Reed recommends breaking down your story into 3-act structure, much like a movie script, where the 3 acts cover the setup, conflict and resolution, respectively. While the 3 acts of your life may not have been written yet – as Reed acknowledges, “in most of our lives, we’re evolving our story, it’s a work in progress.” And, that’s okay – while you don’t have to tell you entire life story, you can still break down a snippet of your life and one anecdote into a 3-act structure.

Reed advises people to empower their hero – themselves – “to find your flow, your why and your emotional charge.” He counsels the people he works with to think about what life experiences they’ve been through, and use them to their advantage. As he puts it, “everyone has one unfair advantage – you. No one else is like you, so you must lean into the things that are unique about you.”  

Reed has also worked with startup founders on how they can use sports psychology to maximize their performance and achievement, and that of their team, including getting into a state of peak performance that psychologists and neuroscientists call “flow states.” Flow also plays an important role in storytelling. “When storytelling, you should think, how do I tap into areas of my life where I find flow and bring that through and share that,” said Reed.

The Courage to be Vulnerable

Another key part of effective storytelling is finding the courage to be vulnerable. While your story needs to be ground in your “why” – your values, vision, mission, what drives you, what you stand for and what problem you’re solving – it also needs to include your emotional charge, which requires showing some vulnerability. “Vulnerability creates opportunities to share how you overcame a challenge, were able to build character and embody resilience as a leader,” said Reed. It also helps you empower your hero by getting to the source of your motivation.

Earlier in his career, while in Hollywood, Reed’s agent at the time gave him the difficult counsel that his career wasn’t on the trajectory that he would have liked because he didn’t have the hard life experience upon which to build the characters for the roles for which he was auditioning. In the years that have followed, Reed has had those life experiences, and then some, going through highs and lows. However, you should also be sure that you’re continuing to hit the positive notes in your storytelling too.

“You can share the hard things, but also focus on the good things in your life and be able to share those effectively in your storytelling,” said Reed.

How to Connect with Reed

If you’re interested in leveling up your storytelling and learning more about Reed’s approach, you can connect with him through The Lesson, or find him on LinkedIn. He’ll also be at SXSW in Austin in March.

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