mmm...what is storytelling?

I’ve read many books, watched countless movies, listened to a bunch of podcasts, gone through endless X threads, and still I couldn’t quite understand what storytelling really meant. Everyone talks about it. Musicians use storytelling to connect with their audience. “Storyteller” is suddenly a hot role in tech. Every VC tells founders: learn storytelling. And of course, as a founder, I would want to learn and apply whatever makes my company succeed. If storytelling is what it takes, then so be it. I thought it was about crafting narratives. Fictional characters, conflict, resolution. Something designed to make people feel. Boy, was I wrong. It’s not a side quest. It’s the thing everything else is built on. The shift happened when one of our hires asked: “Why are you guys doing this?” I went on to give a two-minute incoherent monologue. The history. Our thought process. The team. And somewhere in the middle of it, I realized I was telling a story, and more importantly, living the one…