Story DNA refers to story elements, story structure, genre tropes, and modern tactics such as mystery box, meet cute, and save the cat.
If you don’t know what all those terms mean, that’s okay. What’s important about story DNA in a business context is that you don’t need to have a perfectly structured story in accord with the principle of causality. In business, think of story DNA like a giant grab bag of potential storytelling strategies and tactics.
In the world of storytelling for entertainment, story DNA could all be loosely grouped under the heading of story structure. This is because, especially in the world of film and TV, everything must be structured and organized precisely.
Screenwriter David Mamet analogized writing a novel vs writing a screenplay for a movie as the difference between building a car and a plane. A novel can vary widely in page count, and similarly, a car can be shortened or extended with a lot of flexibility. You can add another axle, more doors, chop off the trunk, beef up the engine, put a bike rack on top, etc. A movie, by contrast, can’t be of any length. In particular, there’s a need to curate the emotional journey to maximize the impact of the ending. This is more like a plane, where thrust and weight and wingspan all need to be in precise balance for the plane to fly (and land).
If you are storytelling for business, you’re less likely to be focused on a journey of emotional transformation which culminates in a surprise ending. A business story is designed around an objective to get a decision-maker to think, feel, or DO something.
For example, you may have heard of how stories are told in “acts,” as in Act I, Act II, and Act III. The story “beat” (read: story structure component) where one act transitions to another is called an “act break.” What’s important about an act break is that it represents a choice, a decision made BY the hero rather than something that happens TO the hero. Something that happens to the hero (in Act I) would be called a catalyst.
In storytelling for entertainment, there is a specific order to these beats. It starts with the catalyst, also known as the “call of the hero,” then there’s a section called “debate,” where the hero considers what to do, then there’s the decision to DO something – that’s the act break, called the “Break Into 2” (read: we were in Act 1, now we’re in Act 2). These beats happen in this order because that’s inherent to the process of emotional transformation.
In a business story, this specific structure is not required to manifest in the same way. You might design a story to highlight a particular catalyst, with the strategy of having the “debate” in the Q & A after the presentation to encourage the decision-maker to make a decision subsequent to the meeting. Or, you might lead with the decision you want made, then work your way back. You might ask a seemingly innocuous question which has the decision-maker’s story embedded within. It all depends on what you think suits your objective.
It’s important to understand that there is story DNA used in entertainment that won’t apply to what you’re doing in business. For example, as you know, entertaining stories are often full of surprises. It’s especially important to save a surprise for the end.
However, in business, surprise can work against you because you can’t count on keeping anyone’s attention, especially when presenting virtually. As you may know, you will typically have the decision-maker’s full attention for maybe the first 15-30 seconds of your presentation. So, if there’s something really surprising, consider putting it up front.
Decision-makers in business rarely want to be surprised or kept in suspense. They don’t want to spend any more of their attention on you than they absolutely need to. What holds their attention isn’t being delighted or intrigued by an emotional transformation – it’s the hope that you can help them get what they want.