When big fights small, green grapes win

“I don’t know if this is dramatic enough to work.”

“Only one way to find out. Let’s hear it,” I said. 

I’m delivering a workshop at Cornell University. The students need to tell DEI stories. 

“Ok, so I went to this super liberal high-school, all sorts of kids in there, so being of Asian-descent was no big issue. 

Then one day I’m in the cafeteria, eating, and something hits me on the back of the head. 

I look down, and it’s a green grape. I go back to my food, but it happens again. Another green grape. 

Then I hear someone giggling behind me. I turn around, and it’s this kid I've never spoken to before. 

I challenge him, he calls me an Asian slur, and laughs. 

I don’t really know what to do. I never expected something like that would happen in a school like mine, so I just grab my food and leave. 

It was no huge deal or anything, but that was the first time I really felt someone dislike me just because of what I look like.

So… does that work?”

“Yes! That’s amazing, well done! First, it’s great you told it in the present tense, it really puts us there with you. 

Second, this really works because it’s so relatable. We’ve been students, we’ve eaten at cafeterias, we might have had some kid annoy or bully us.

The whole scene is super easy to picture without you needing to tell us a whole bunch of details, and that’s the mark of a great story.”

“What about the green grapes’ thing, should I include that? Does it matter?”

“That was one of my favourite things! There’s a good chance that me, and everyone in this room, will forever remember this one as ‘the green grapes’ story.”

The Everest-Cancer problem 

Many people think that big stories are the best stories: When you climbed Mount Everest. When you survived cancer. When you did this amazing thing no one you know has ever done. 

But that doesn’t work. Sure, it can make people curious, interested or even impressed, but it’s a bit like a Hollywood blockbuster: too far from our lives to be anything more than entertainment. And the type of storytelling we’re talking about here should do more than just entertain. 

What you really want are small stories. Stuff that happened to you but could’ve happened to almost anyone else (or like something that happened to everyone else). 

Small stories are relatable, and that might be the single most important thing a powerful story needs. 

Green Grapes

If you want to elevate your small relatable story, find your green grapes. That one tiny (and probably insignificant detail) that gets stuck in your audience’s mind like gum to hair (“Impossible to get off!”, if my wife is to be believed). 

It might be the colour and make of a car (“A bright red Toyota”). 

It might be a weird piece of clothing (“My Hulk T-shirt”, “My Aquaman underwear” - both real examples 😂)

But it might also be something even simpler: I’m working on a TEDx about human trafficking, and the story that I can’t shake is about a girl who ran away from home after having a fight with her dad about doing the dishes. I can see myself having that fight - which means I can see myself losing my kid too.

That’s the recipe for a story that changes someone’s mind, changes their behaviour, and sticks with them for a long time: 

Find the smallest, most relatable story you can tell, and then make sure there’s at least one detail that will give it colour. That’s it. 

And leave the “amazing” stories for Hollywood - they do them better anyway 🤘

-Francisco 

Whenever you're ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

1. Getting clarity through your story to stand out from all the other coaches, speakers and entrepreneurs out there 

2. If you dream of speaking at a TED-style conference, we can find your idea, book the talk of your dreams and deliver it with impact

3. If you (or your team) got any storytelling challenges, I’m sure there’s something we can do together ;-)

Thanks for reading! Reply any time.