Chief Change Officer
#155 From Buzzwords to Real Words: Chris Hare on Mastering Atomic Storytelling — Part Three
Fri, 31 Jan 2025
Chris Hare has helped big-name executives tell better stories. But today, the tables have turned—he’s the one sharing his story, and I get to ask the tough questions. In this three-part series, we break it down step by step: • Part 1: Corporate storytelling—how businesses craft messages that actually work (and when they don’t). • Part 2: The power of personal storytelling—Chris opens up about his own experiences and the most memorable stories he’s heard. • Part 3: Storytelling in action—Chris shares tools to help us develop our own narratives, and I put myself through the process (with a slight risk of emotional breakdown). If you’ve ever wondered how storytelling can shape careers, businesses, and even personal growth, you won’t want to miss this. Key Highlights of Our Interview: The Power of a Reflective Movie Theater Exercise “I have people visualize that movie that plays is actually not the blockbuster. It’s actually your life playing and your career…What might you call that movie?” Beyond the Corporate 360: Finding Stories That Matter “This is not the 360 that many of us from corporate America are used to…the goal here is to go and talk to three to five people who know you, care about you, and want you to succeed.” Feedback as a Double-Edged Sword “People could give feedback that might reinforce the wrong narrative…we just have to be careful and think about them as inputs, not absolute truths.” The Weight of Opinions and Invisible Biases “We unknowingly put more weight on some people’s opinions than others…whether it’s because of the friendship, the level of friendship, or the position they have.” Rewriting Stories with Every Interaction “I’m never telling the same story twice. I’m rewriting the story as I’m telling you based on your face, your facial expressions, your body language, your tone of voice. There are all those factors that play into it that make it incredibly complex.” Connect with us: Host: Vince Chan | Guest: Chris Hare --Chief Change Officer-- Change Ambitiously. Outgrow Yourself. Open a World of Deep Human Intelligence for Growth Progressives, Visionary Underdogs, Transformation Gurus & Bold Hearts. 6 Million+ All-Time Downloads. Reaching 80+ Countries Daily. Global Top 3% Podcast. Top 10 US Business. Top 1 US Careers. >>>100,000+ subscribers are outgrowing. Act Today.<<< --Chief Change Officer--Change Ambitiously. Outgrow Yourself.Open a World of Expansive Human Intelligencefor Transformation Gurus, Black Sheep,Unsung Visionaries & Bold Hearts.12 Million+ All-Time Downloads.Reaching 80+ Countries Daily.Global Top 3% Podcast.Top 10 US Business.Top 1 US Careers.>>>140,000+ are outgrowing. Act Today.<<<
Chapter 1: Who is Chris Hare and what is Atomic Storytelling?
In this three-part series, we'll journey through Chris' experiences in three stages. In the last two days, part one, part two, We've explored his expertise in helping businesses craft compelling corporate stories and understand the connection between story and narrative.
We've also looked at storytelling for personal transformation as Chris shared some of the best and worst stories he's ever heard or felt. He has also opened up about his own mental health challenges. Today, part three, he'll introduce tools we can use to develop our own stories and narratives. And here's a personal confession. I told him one of his exercises might just make me cry.
I'll also be sharing my own experience with another exercise, highlighting both its challenges and insights. So let's dive into the final chapter of Chris' story. So for those listening who might not have direct access to professional guidance What can they do to craft and shape their own stories?
Whether they are in career transition, facing personal challenges, or just feeling stuck, what would you suggest as essential steps for creating a story that truly resonates with who they are?
Chapter 2: What are the key tools for creating personal narratives?
Yeah, so there's two very practical tools that I recommend. And if it's helpful, I can share a worksheet with you that walks through these that you could share with your guests. But the first exercise is what I call the movie theater. And so it's a visualization where I have people think about their very first day of retirement. And some people say, OK, I'm never going to retire.
So maybe the last week of life. Right. When you're elderly. What I have people think about is, OK, yesterday you had a retirement party. They give you a watch or a plaque. And today you have no more title, no more power, no more paycheck. Also, no more emails. Hooray. And all of those things. And so you decide to go to the movie theater.
Chapter 3: How does the Reflective Movie Theater Exercise work?
You buy a ticket for the blockbust for this blockbuster and you go and sit in your favorite seat and you have your Coke and you have your popcorn. and there's no one else in the theater, and the movie starts playing. And so then I have people visualize that movie that plays is actually not the blockbuster, it's actually your life playing.
and your career, not just your career, but your entire life, one scene after the next play, and the good, but also the bad, the people that you brought with you, the people you left behind, et cetera. And so I have people not just think about that, but feel that and sit in it. And then I start asking questions of what are some of the themes that you're seeing? What are you feeling, good and bad?
What might you call that movie? And that sort of thing. And so what that does is help you see... the trajectory that you're on, what you want that future to look like, but also what does your past look like and bringing up those scenes. And so that is one way of, it's interesting because it feels very peaceful in one sense. You're in this
envisioning this quiet movie theater but the other hand it can be chaotic because you have all these stories that can come flooding in so that's one exercise that can really stir that up and then you can start to analyze okay what's the narrative that's going to get me there if i want a different future what's the narrative that's going to get me to that future
Chapter 4: What is the 360-degree feedback method for storytelling?
And then the other piece is the one that I think is the most practical. If you want to find, uncover atomic stories that you didn't know were there is doing the 360s. So what I would recommend is picking three to five people.
And this is not the 360 that many of us from corporate America are used to where you have people that there's all kinds of politics and they're evaluating you, potentially putting you down, being very critical. The goal here is not that. The goal here is to go and talk to three to five people who know you, care about you, and want you to succeed. And they know you in different spheres.
And ask them, spend 30 minutes, ask if you can record the call, and ask them the first question. Based on how you've seen me live my life, what do you believe my number one value is? Or you could ask what are my top two values, whatever. And then the next question is, please tell a story that you believe best demonstrates that value. And there's other questions that you can ask.
So if you're wanting to know thought leadership, for example, potential directions for thought leadership, what's the one thing that Vince should write about forever? If Vince could only talk about or write about one thing, what would that be to put constraints on it? So you take...
those interviews you record them and then start looking at the patterns from them and seeing and looking at okay what are those stories that they told and how do they make me feel how do they challenge my thinking how might i synthesize those to shift the direction that i'm going The great example of this was how I ended up bringing 360 into my methodology.
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Chapter 5: How can storytelling impact leadership and career growth?
But I had on Art Delacruz, who's the CEO of Team Rubicon, an amazing nonprofit that deploys veterans, gives veterans community and purpose by creating opportunities for them to go and serve after natural disasters. And so Art had an entire career in the Navy and was a Top Gun instructor as a fighter pilot or naval aviator and was a Top Gun instructor.
He said the only thing that was true in the first Top Gun movie was when their plane went into a 360 spin. And that happened to him. For 57 seconds, their plane was plunging towards the desert, and they did desert floor, and they did all of the things to get out of the spin, and they couldn't. And so they had to eject.
A $40 million plane blows up in a fireball with, I think, 14,000 pounds of fuel. And then... They're parachuting down and have to maneuver their parachutes so they don't land in the fireball. What was interesting, he talked through the narrative, the internal narrative, and then how he navigated through that, and then how he came back from that to fly again.
A lot of people wouldn't be able to fly again. He took ownership, even though he was mostly not at fault. What was interesting, though, is I posted about that on LinkedIn. It was the highest true engagement of any post I've ever had on LinkedIn because what was fascinating is person after person from across decades who have known him.
came and commented on who he was as a leader, how they owed him for what he'd taught them or people within the nonprofit that he works in telling just remarkable stories about who he was as a leader. And so this wasn't him saying, how do I burnish my executive brand? And how do I tell this story that positions me as a thought leader? It was him telling this very raw and vulnerable story.
It was also the fact that he lived in those moments. He led in those moments across his career, even when no one was watching or seemingly no one was watching. But because he had the guts to tell this story in that environment, that opened up for people to come and share these perspectives that gave him an opportunity to hear those things that he might never have heard.
So that's what sparked that. But I would say those are the two tools is one, that future visioning, and then the other is the 360 piece.
First, let me admit, the movie theater exercise is something I'll definitely want to try. Please do send me the worksheet. I can imagine that if I were in that theater alone, I would likely cry even though I'm not typically one to shed tears, not even happy ones. But picturing myself in that situation, not so much at retirement, but maybe at the end of my life, it would move me deeply.
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Chapter 6: What personal insights can be gained from narrative exercises?
As for the 360-degree feedback, I actually did a version of this a few years ago, not with just three to five people, but with about 50 people across different periods of my life. Some friends from 30 years ago, others from 20 or 10 years back, covering a range of relationships and contexts. I asked each of them to answer, what do you see as my superpower?
and to share words that came to mind when they thought of me. Each one responded with their unique insights, elaborating on their thoughts. I took notes on everything, gathered the data points, and even created a spreadsheet to track common themes. My Chicago training pushed me to analyze these patterns, and it was fascinating to see the traits that surfaced across the board.
That exercise gave me meaningful clarity and reinforced aspects of myself I felt aligned with. It was incredibly helpful.
Yeah, so I think some of it is what will people take on? And so for some of my clients talking to three or four people, that might be a lot for them. But on the flip side, I'm actually working with a founder named Dr. Tammy Wang. So she used to be the VP of machine learning and analytics at Korn Ferry and her co-founder is a leadership development professor at Columbia.
And so we're actually taking my storytelling frameworks and the first one we're doing is Atomic 360 and we're putting it on their AI leadership development platform. So it'll give you a tool where you could actually do that at scale. And so stay tuned on that. So I'll definitely share that with you so that you could go to 50 or 100.
But yeah, I think absolutely if somebody wants to do that and can do that, I think that's amazing. There could also be the danger with people can give us feedback based on the version of us. So if we're living by a particular narrative and we're presenting in the world based on that narrative, people could actually end up reinforcing that narrative that needs to change.
I had a client recently when I met with one of his 360 interviewees, highly successful businessman, phenomenal. And what I actually realized is. What my client's internal narrative was had been shaped by an interaction that he had with this friend and business leader years ago.
And what this business leader had done is he had actually projected his narrative on my client and kind of infected his narrative. And so my client took that on and it created significant discontent and shifted his trajectory based on that.
So if I had said, hey, this is truth, or if you'd had 50 people that were also saying, and I actually did have other people say similar things that would have kept my client embracing the wrong narrative. And so I think we just have to be careful and think about them in terms of these are inputs, but we need to synthesize them and frame them up against that future that we want to create.
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