The Story Effect

Your customers can leave you over a weekend. So can your best people. So what makes anyone stay? Scott Wozniak went from child actor and musical theater major to youth pastor to the strategy guy at Chick-fil-A. In that role he spent half his time behind the scenes at the best companies in the world. Then he took a leap of faith, left the job he loved, and built Swoz Consulting, a firm that helps brands create raving fans from the inside out. Chick-fil-A was the firm's first client. He and Danielle discover they've lived uncannily parallel lives, and the conversation goes deeper than either of them planned. This story will teach you: Why AI is about to make switching companies as easy as a weekend project, which means the relationship is all you've got. The question every customer is secretly asking. It isn't "how do I feel about you?" It's "how do I feel about myself when I'm with you?" Why inconsistent excellence earns the same trust as consistent failure, and why the best companies geek out over clean tables rather than clever campaigns. The three gears behind every great company (operational excellence, personalized service, and memorable moments), and why they all crash within six months without a healthy leadership team. Why AI isn't a strategy, it's nitrous. If you point your company off a cliff and hit the button, you just go off the cliff faster. How to treat your employees like your first customers, and the real reason McDonald's ice cream machines are always "broken." Why a gift is not a calling, and how seeing life as a "tree-to-tree journey through a foggy forest" can free you from guilt over the path you left. You'll leave with a framework you can use Monday morning and a little more peace about where you've been.   Additional Resources: Connect with Scott Wozniak on LinkedIn  Learn more about Swoz Consulting The Story Effect: http://thestoryeffect.com/ Connect with Danielle on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellekrischik Follow The Story Effect on Instagram: http://instagram.com/storyeffectpodcast Learn about Knight Agency: http://knightagency.com/ Follow PeopleForward Network on LinkedIn Learn more about PeopleForward Network

I've had incredible conversations with CEOs, Navy SEAL psychologists, ghostwriters, cancer survivors, neuroscientists, pro athletes, and every one left a mark. This is me, solo, sharing the 50 things that changed how I lead and how I live. I revisited every voice that's shaped The Story Effect and pulled the one lesson from each that stayed with me, then added five more from my own year of writing a book and stepping onto stages across the country. The thread running through all of it is that connection is what actually moves people to perform, to stay, and to follow. And connection deepens when you become more human. 50 lessons will teach you: To be ok not having all the answers, no matter how high up you are That investing in people leads to a happier, healthier life That you are not alone, that whatever you're going through, you're in good company To find your story, share it and know you are holding the pen and can change it anytime That the summit is not where fulfillment is, that meaning lives across the whole journey That being human means being more of yourself Thank you for being a part of this journey with me. Here's to the next 50.   Additional Resources: Connect with Danielle for speaking, workshops or to be on The Story Effect podcast: The Story Effect: http://thestoryeffect.com/ Connect with Danielle on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellekrischik Follow The Story Effect on Instagram: http://instagram.com/storyeffectpodcast Learn about Knight Agency: http://knightagency.com/ Follow PeopleForward Network on LinkedIn Learn more about PeopleForward Network

Adam Miller walks into a room and somehow everyone in it feels like they belong there. Here's the thing you should pay attention to: the research says that his instinct might be the single biggest predictor of how long any of us actually lives. Adam is an organizational development leader at Lockton whose entire career, including his own consulting practice, traces back to a single ten-word axiom: uniquely positioning people to be the best version of themselves. He joins Danielle for a warm, funny, genuinely energizing conversation about connection and why the small things are the whole game. And, he reveals a little fun fact about his underwear. You'll leave this one lighter than you started. And probably ready to go add some good yourself.   This story will teach you: What the world's longest-living people reveal about longevity: it isn't just diet and exercise, it's community How to ask a question people can't answer on autopilot: swap "how are you?" for "what's giving you energy? what's draining it?" and watch real honesty show up The "what percentage are you bringing?" ritual that takes the scorekeeping out of a relationship: and why the two numbers were never meant to add up to 100 Why the small things done well are exactly what prepare you for the big moments, at home and on a team How to stop tolerating differences and start actually appreciating them and why bringing your real self to work is less exhausting than the alternative The story behind "go add good," a simple morning mantra for leaving an indelible, positive mark on everyone you meet   Additional Resources: Connect with Adam Miller on LinkedIn Learn more about Bespoke Consulting Follow Adam on Instagram The Story Effect: http://thestoryeffect.com/ Connect with Danielle on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellekrischik Follow The Story Effect on Instagram: http://instagram.com/storyeffectpodcast Learn about Knight Agency: http://knightagency.com/ Follow PeopleForward Network on LinkedIn

You hit the milestone everyone wanted, and the voice in your head only got louder. Now you have to be even better, and some quiet part of you is terrified you won't be. Michael Levin has been called the Michael Jordan of ghostwriting: more than a thousand books, New York Times bestsellers, a screen credit for Disney, and a client list of billionaires, CEOs, and world-changers he mostly can't name. He's also a marathoner and triathlete, still racing at 68. And after decades sitting across from the most successful people alive, he's noticed something they almost never say out loud, no one ever told them they were enough. If you've spent your career proving you're enough, this is the conversation that finally lets you off the hook.   Additional Resources: Connect with Michael Levin: https://www.michaellevinwrites.com/ The Story Effect: http://thestoryeffect.com/ Connect with Danielle on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellekrischik Follow The Story Effect on Instagram: http://instagram.com/storyeffectpodcast Learn about Knight Agency: http://knightagency.com/ Follow PeopleForward Network on LinkedIn Learn more about PeopleForward Network   Key Takeaways: The fear never fully leaves, even at the very top of your field, and that is not the problem you think it is. Many high performers never developed a sense of "enough," and a single sincere "I'm proud of you" can change someone who has heard everything but that. There is a difference between people who want to win and people who have to win, and you never bet against the second kind. Build your own definition of success and failure so the scoreboard stops belonging to everyone else. The freedom in "I can't turn down everybody, but I can turn down anybody" means the honeymoon always tells you what the marriage will be like. The real question underneath most frustration is "what am I tolerating?" and raising that one standard raises everything else.

We've gotten good at blaming the environment. Especially at work. David Lapin has sat with people who kept their humanity intact inside concentration camps and Hamas tunnels. And he has a much harder question for the rest of us. Lapin has been teaching leadership authenticity and vulnerability since long before the rest of the world caught up. A consultant, advisor, and author of Lead by Greatness, he built his entire body of work on ancient principles that have outlasted every management fad, which is why his talks from decades ago still sound like they were recorded this year. He studied briefly under Viktor Frankl, advises leaders across the globe, and lives in Israel, where much of this conversation was shaped.   Additional Resources: Connect with David Lapin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidlapin Lapin International on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/lapin-international/ Visit Lapin International: https://www.lapininternational.com Lead by Greatness by David Lapin: https://amzn.to/4kxb7gU David Lapin on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LeadbyGreatnessVideo/ The Story Effect: http://thestoryeffect.com/ Connect with Danielle on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellekrischik Follow The Story Effect on Instagram: http://instagram.com/storyeffectpodcast Learn about Knight Agency: http://knightagency.com/ Follow PeopleForward Network on LinkedIn Learn more about PeopleForward Network   Key Takeaways: What separates the people who break from the people who come out whole Why faith (in anything bigger than you) turns out to be the real differentiator when everything else gets stripped away The difference between belief and knowledge and why belief is the one thing AI will never be able to fake How to chase efficiency without quietly letting it become your entire culture Why happiness and safety are inner states you build, not conditions your job is supposed to hand you How your energy travels, reaching people you'll never meet, and showing up everywhere from a company's share price to whether you actually bothered to get dressed for the Zoom

Randall Tucker, Chief Community and Belonging Officer at Mastercard, has been welcomed into palace conversations in Europe and restaurant kitchens at 2 a.m., and he'll tell you the exact same thing gets him through both doors. It isn't polish. It's the willingness to show up as exactly who you are. From a dirt road in rural southern Virginia to a global career leading belonging and inclusion work at Marriott, Starwood, and now nearly a decade at Mastercard, Randall has spent his life proving that authenticity is what actually connects people. He joins Danielle (an old friend and former Starwood collaborator) for a conversation that moves from imposter syndrome to ancestors and lands somewhere unexpectedly emotional. It builds toward one of the most quietly emotional answers we've ever gotten to our closing question. Stay for it.   Additional Resources: Connect with Randall Tucker on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/randall-m-tucker-0a93905/ The Story Effect: http://thestoryeffect.com/ Connect with Danielle on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellekrischik Follow The Story Effect on Instagram: http://instagram.com/storyeffectpodcast Learn about Knight Agency: http://knightagency.com/ Follow PeopleForward Network on LinkedIn Learn more about PeopleForward Network   Key Takeaways: Why authenticity isn't the soft option, it's a strategic advantage that "activates something in other people" long after you leave the room, because people are always watching The counterintuitive truth about belonging: the small stuff is the big stuff (did you say hello, did you wave someone into the circle?) We over-architect a solution that starts with basic human decency How to take brutal feedback as a gift Why saying yes to the opportunity that scares you is how a kid who'd never been on a plane ended up circling the globe The difference between a tribe that heals and a tribe that harms and the one question to ask about your own

Your team is nervous. AI is coming for the copy, the campaigns, the creative. And here's the uncomfortable part: it can do a lot of it. Dan Roth's argument is sharper than "the robots can't." It's that the copy AI hands you is the copy that makes you sound like everyone else. Dan has spent his career in the trenches of communications, from local TV spots to direct-response advertising, to internal comms at Ford and Slate Auto. Now a fractional communications strategist and podcast host, he joins Danielle for a fast, funny, occasionally furious conversation that every leader watching AI reshape their org needs to hear. Equal parts gut check and permission slip. If someone on your team is quietly panicking about AI, send them this one.   Additional Resources: Connect with Dan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rothdan/ Listen to Dan's Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6VSKnp7OEKXKRfrTgmKeI3 The Story Effect: http://thestoryeffect.com/ Connect with Danielle on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellekrischik Follow The Story Effect on Instagram: http://instagram.com/storyeffectpodcast Learn about Knight Agency: http://knightagency.com/   Key Takeaways: Why AI is a trend-following machine and why standing out requires the exact opposite The double standard that should stop every leader cold: you'd never let AI near your financials, so why hand it the message your entire company is judged by? How to separate the deliverable from the goal and why the request a client hands you is almost never the real problem to solve Why the stories that build trust come from the ground up, not a corporate mandate to "share this on your socials" The neuroscience of being forgotten: 70% of a fact-based town hall is gone from your people's brains within 24 hours, and what to do instead What "nobody cares about the science" really means for anyone still selling features when they should be selling the benefit

Somewhere in your family there's a story only one person still remembers. When they're gone, it's gone, and no amount of Googling brings it back. Danielle knows this one firsthand. That ache is what Roy and Yvette built a business around. As founders of Lifebook Memoirs, they've captured personal and corporate legacies across more than 40 countries, 20,000+ books and counting. Additional Resources: Connect with Yvette and Roy: Follow Yvette on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yvette-conn-5825b1140/ Follow Roy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roy-moëd-lifebook-memoirs/ Visit their website: https://www.lifebookmemoirs.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifebook_memoirs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LifeBookMemoirs YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/LifeBookUK Connect with Danielle: The Story Effect: http://thestoryeffect.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellekrischik Instagram: http://instagram.com/storyeffectpodcast Knight Agency: http://knightagency.com/ Connect with PeopleForward Network: Follow PeopleForward Network on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/peopleforward-network/ Learn more about PeopleForward Network: https://peopleforwardnetwork.com/  

There's a difference between sacrifice and torture. Sacrifice is doing something for a known period of time and for a clear end in mind. Without either, sacrifice becomes torture." That's the quote that made Stephen "Shed" Shedletzky quit his miserable corporate job and start the career he actually wanted—which led to 10 years on Simon Sinek's team, a book on speak-up cultures, and a worldview that will make you rethink every "I'll just stick it out" you've ever told yourself. In this conversation, Shed and Danielle dig into why the trusted circle of people who don't clap for everything you do is the antidote to narcissism, why "I want you to speak up... so long as you agree with me" is the most toxic phrase in corporate America, and the story of his grandfather—a Holocaust survivor who walked home at night for two months that gave him the courage to demand more from his own life. This is the episode you send to a friend who's stuck. Don't sit on it. Connect with Shed: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenshedletzky/ https://www.shedinspires.com/ https://shedinspires.substack.com/ https://www.instagram.com/shedinspires/ https://www.youtube.com/@ShedInspires Connect with Danielle: The Story Effect http://thestoryeffect.com/ Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellekrischik Instagram http://instagram.com/storyeffectpodcast Learn about Knight Agency http://knightagency.com/ Connect with People Forward Network: Follow PeopleForward Network on LinkedIn Learn more about PeopleForward Network  

If you've ever clenched your jaw in a meeting, said "sounds good!" while screaming inside, and then come home only to bite your spouse's head off, this episode is for you. Karen Thrall, executive coach and author of Lose Your Sht At Work*, has spent her career coaching leaders through their tempers, their silence, and everything in between. She joins Danielle for a conversation that gets personal fast (Danielle confesses, Karen confesses, you'll probably confess to yourself by the end). You'll learn why your anger is almost never about the thing in front of you, how to find your "first one," the difference between placating and enabling (and why both cost you confidence), and Karen's idea that every leader needs to steal: forget the recognition program, write your people fan mail. This is the rare conversation that makes you feel more capable by the end. Don't skip it. Additional Resources: Connect with Karen: Follow Karen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karenthrallinc/ Visit Karen's website: https://www.karenthrall.com/ Connect with Danielle: The Story Effect: http://thestoryeffect.com/ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellekrischik Instagram: http://instagram.com/storyeffectpodcast Learn about Knight Agency: http://knightagency.com/ Connect with People Forward Network: Follow PeopleForward Network on LinkedIn Learn more about PeopleForward Network