
20 segments available
Wolfgang Hammer, acclaimed film producer behind House of Cards and former executive at Lionsgate, CBS Films, and Miramax, joins Patrick O'Shaughnessy to discuss the transformative power of storytelling in business. Now building a new film studio with backing from Marc Andreessen and Mitch Lasky, Wolfgang helps Fortune 100 CEOs and startup founders discover and communicate their company's story. This conversation serves as a practical manual for effective storytelling, covering Wolfgang's three essential story layers: external, emotional, and philosophical. Learn the specific questions and tools Wolfgang uses to help leaders understand what they do and why it matters, plus how to overcome the fear of embracing your company's full potential. Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 02:50 The Three Layers of Story 04:44 Prompts for the Three Layers 05:54 Why Companies Struggle to Tell Their Story 08:11 The 80/20 Rule: Familiar vs. New 10:17 Suspense from Minimal New Information 11:16 Understanding the Customer's Story First 14:07 What CEOs Can Learn From Filmmakers 15:30 The CEO's Job: Master Communicator 17:12 The Definition of an Iconic Character 18:23 All Stories Are About Death 19:20 Two Kinds of Stories: Desire Fulfilled or Anxiety Purged 21:09 Story as an Ultimate Concern 23:31 Deconstructing Great Stories 26:25 The Relentless Role of Status 30:57 The Story So Big It Terrifies You 32:29 Inner Conflict: The Heart vs. Itself 35:06 A Unified Theory of Storytelling 36:09 The Two Core Truths 38:15 Kindest Thing #storytelling #business #leadership #CEO #startup #film #producer #entrepreneurship #communication #strategy Presented by Ramp: https://ramp.com/invest Sponsored by AlphaSense and Ridgeline: https://www.alpha-sense.com/invest/ https://www.ridgelineapps.com/ ****** Patrick O'Shaughnessy is the CEO of Positive Sum. All opinions expressed by Patrick and podcast guests are solely their own and do not reflect the opinion of Positive Sum. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions. Clients of Positive Sum may maintain positions in the securities discussed in this podcast. To learn more, visit psum.vc
"Everything is a narrative. Really, anything in society is some version of a narrative. When predicate understanding of what is actually happening is made conscious and it's communicated in a way that ..."
"philosophy and ideally you do this you know there's four or five points and and you do it on a uh on a direct reputational basis. So each one you say everyone believes this I believe that when this is..."
"things working in concert >> picking up where the other leaves off and sort of having a trifecta dance. >> So, so maybe to rebuild it in the other direction, the questions are something like how shoul..."
"often the case that it's all there. It just hasn't been unearthed yet. Um, which is great fun because the second you give people these these tools, they're just frameworks to live within, right? They'..."
"able to present a an ultimate concern around around a business organization that makes a makes a product um of of some kind I think fulfills personal life picture for the people you're communicating i..."
"obvious, I think you have a higher chance at least in storytelling of of discovering something novel that will still feel intelligible enough to categorize in the world. Some people have an ability to..."
"more information about the room is absolutely riveting. Even just this tiny amount of new information being given creates enormous suspense because somehow we're good at anticipating. We're really alw..."
"interference so the thing can happen. >> What uh could CEOs learn from filmmakers or two groups that like lead a group of people to make a thing? I've always been have this weird obsession with filmma..."
"worldview and all the great filmmakers have a very particular worldview. I think it's extraordinary that this exists at all in the world. Someone like that exists who will do that even if it fails and..."
"communicate exactly what he was doing almost in these three layers to anyone but always adjusting never the philosophy, but always sort of adjusting the emotional component to whomever he was speaking..."
"doing because it's it is so unconcerned with the traditional hero trajectory is almost Greek and and this idea of the breaking societal rules if you will that um you get to some platonic ideal right t..."
"absolutely fascinating that you have someone willing to step out on such limbs all the time >> is that also just fighting death >> everything is in some ways a death project right yeah absolutely who ..."
"desire to rise in the world. It's a desire to to fulfill one's potential in the world. An anxiety or a fear purged is an idea of a an inherent fear of something that might happen to you that you reall..."
"you know, leave your consciousness. >> What is a great story to you? What does that mean? >> I think it's a character starting at an extreme point, going to an extreme point that they cannot imagine a..."
"how collectively you see this in Chinese mythology you see it in Indian mythology you you overcome through activity but through intentional action big or small doesn't doesn't mean and it can just be ..."
"even if it's very brief or maybe show some kind of transformation possible around these philosophical principles. And then there are two sort of technical components to it. One one being is in how we ..."
"if you know what you're doing, you're trying something, and you know it's a trial balloon, it's totally all right if it goes wrong as long as you really thought about it. And there's a calculated risk..."
"hemisphere brain the rational um analytical brain can handle. Uh um so I think there is a there's a fear of the of the bigness of the world and that that fear of the bigness of the world is also refle..."
"storytelling and mythmaking that we we have thoroughly enjoyed people realizing potential in the world right that there is an inner drive um to to reach one's potential there's probably a a fear of of..."
"a philosophical worldview that feels absolutely true to you at that moment. back to this exercise of a version of a story that's so big it terrifies you. Sounds like the model is the the just raw pote..."