Welcome to How Stories Happen, a show for business storytellers focused on standing out easier and resonating deeper through substance and stories, not hollow stunts. Each episode, an expert, entrepreneur, or world-class communicator breaks apart a single story piece by piece, sharing how they developed it and how they're using it to grow their brand and leave their legacy. Hosted by Jay Acunzo

As Ira Glass said, “Great stories happen to those who can tell them.” He doesn’t mean worthy things only appear to those who are already masters of the craft. He means, this is in fact a craft. But if that's the case, shouldn't we learn storytelling by getting closer to the actual crafting? Enough theory and technique. This show puts on display the posture, process, and practice of incredible business storytellers.

Storytellers don’t experience extraordinary things. They know how to imbue meaning into things that are ordinary.

How do stories happen? They don’t. Life happens. Then you turn that INTO stories. I guess you could say great stories happen ON PURPOSE.

I’m your host, Jay Acunzo. I’m an author, speaker, and podcaster, with more than 15 years of business storytelling experience. I’ve held marketing and editorial roles at Google, HubSpot, and ESPN. I’ve consulted Fortune 500 brands and hosted documentaries and podcasts for exciting startups, and I’ve traveled the world imploring builders of brands and communities to bridge the gap between what best practices claim you have to do and what your intuition is urging you to try.

In all of that, I’ve spotted a problem with the way we learn story: it’s an abstraction. It’s external to us. We start seeking answers “out there,” when in reality, that’s not how stories happen. You don’t experience the extraordinary. You see meaning in the ordinary. EVERYTHING is inspiration in the hands of an effective storyteller. To understand that is truly the difference between “learning story” and actually being a storyteller.

Join me in an original series where world-class storytellers break apart their signature stories and piece by piece, share how it was made, how they used it to support their cause, and how it might still get better. Because stories aren’t snapshots of life. Stories are built with intention. This show puts that intentionality on display, from inception to development, marketing and selling to growing a following or changing the world – everywhere being a storyteller empowers you to lead.

You’ll walk away thinking more about the power of your words and less about the volume of your content.

It has never been more urgent to become an effective storyteller, so you can stand out easier and resonate deeper than all the mediocrity flooding our world.

Join us as we explore How Stories Happen.

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SUBSCRIBE TO THE NEWSLETTER:

💌 Playing Favorites is the newsletter from Jay about resonance, storytelling, differentiation, and getting off the content hamster wheel to make things that matter more (because when your work matters more, you can hustle for attention less).

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WORK WITH JAY:

✅ Jay consults entrepreneurs, execs, and expert-based businesses to help them develop stronger IP—your premise, storytelling, frameworks, and pillar projects—so you can differentiate easier and resonate deeper. You can't own your audience, but you can own an idea in their minds. Learn more about Jay's consulting and coaching.

👋 You can also book Jay to speak to your organization or event. He's given keynotes in 25 states and 3 countries and delivered talks to audiences as big as 4,000 marketers and as intimate as 40 CEOs in a room, with clients including Harvard Business School, Zillow, Blackbaud, Dometic, James Hardie, Fidelity, 

📚 You can also explore Jay's books. Jay writes business books with soul and story at the center, including Break the Wheel: Question Best Practices, Hone Your Intuition, and Do Your Best Work (2018) and The Creator’s Compass: The Journey to Make Your Audience's Favorite Things (2021).

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ABOUT JAY:

Jay Acunzo helps business leaders develop more original premises — the big ideas they become known for publicly. His work focuses on his core belief in prioritizing resonance first, not reach.

After starting his career in media and marketing roles at Google and HubSpot, Jay authored the book about questioning best practices, Break the Wheel, toured as a professional speaker, giving keynote sin 25 states and 3 countries, and cofounded the mastermind for business storytellers, the Creator Kitchen.

As an advisor, he’s worked with more than 200 individuals and teams to help them differentiate through the impact of their ideas, not the volume of their content. Past clients include Salesforce, GoDaddy, Wistia, Drift, and Help Scout, as well as hundreds of individual thought leaders and experts, including the author behind Google’s innovative employee training program and the performance coach who helped Kobe Bryant develop his Black Mamba persona.

Jay is a proud New England resident, a troubled Knicks fan, and an obsessive grilled pizza chef. His grandest aspiration (though he’d say delusion) is to be the Anthony Bourdain of business storytelling.

💛 Keep making what matters!