43. Once Upon a User: A UX Storytelling Adventure with Jeff White

Jeff White’s book and course are actually helpful

“Storytelling” is likely a skill you hear people talking about all the time. Very few of these people give helpful advice on how to improve that skill.

You’ve probably gotten advice that your case studies need to include more compelling stories. Or your presentations at work need more narratives. Less what. More why.

“Storytelling” has turned into a bit of a buzzword, but the fact is that being able to tell compelling stories to influence the conversation and get the results you want is critical. It’ll help you get buy-in for your ideas and it’ll help you stand out among your peers.

Unfortunately, “storytelling” often means something different to many different people. Depending on who you ask, you may get many different answers.

Jeff White has created a guidebook and course full of actionable advice on how to tie your work to the things your audience cares about most which will turn your ideas into reality.

This week, Jeff joins the show to talk us through his perspective on what storytelling means, and he offers some actionable advice on how to start telling more compelling stories.

Topics:
• 03:44 – Jeff’s storytelling lightbulb moment
• 06:43 – What do we often get wrong about storytelling?
• 11:16 – There are many different storytelling frameworks
• 16:59 – Understanding context is critical
• 22:02 – Storytelling in your case study
• 32:10 – Using personas in your story
• 39:59 – Storytelling during interviews
• 43:22 – Storytelling during meetings with stakeholders
• 48:25 – We often have irrational fears about speaking
• 55:07 – On finding your unique voice
• 58:30 – What can we expect from Jeff’s course?

Helpful Links:
• Connect with Jeff on LinkedIn
• Download Jeff’s Storytelling Guide
• Take Jeff’s Storytelling Course

Jeff White
Founder and Head of Design @ Stepladder

About Jeff

Jeff White is a UX designer and entrepreneur with more than 2 decades of design experience. He’s worked with companies ranging from Fortune 100 tech giants to tiny startups being run from a garage. Jeff spent the first half of his career as a full-time employee at Amazon and two other companies before going out on his own as an entrepreneur—co-founding a startup and then starting Stepladder, a UX and visual design firm. Jeff writes on LinkedIn and shares resources that help designers advance their careers w/ storytelling.

Connect with Jeff on LinkedIn

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