This is the ‘Win with Stories’ newsletter. Every week I send an email with a message wrapped in a short story. I also share one actionable tip and a recommendation for you to enhance your storytelling skills.
Tanmay Bhat is arguably the most consequential English language stand up comic in India. His devil-may-care style, ability to court controversies and genuine wit are what his audiences dig. But was he always the amazingly funny guy that he is? No.
Is there something we can learn from him to improve the way we speak and write at work? Yes.
Read to find out how…
Tanmay Bhat’s Secret-Sauce:
Tanmay Bhat of 2021 is a star. Everything he does, seems to work(or at least it makes the news). But that wasn’t the case back in 2012-13, and I say this as a witness.
English language stand up scene in India was a non-starter. Many youngsters in cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore were interested in it, but there was no audience for it(Or at least, that’s what they thought). And then one day, everything changed.
The Comedy Store came to India.
And specifically to Phoenix Mills in Central Mumbai. They were looking for young and not-so-young standup comics who could make jokes mostly in English. That is when many of us(yes, yours truly included) started applying for Open Mics. It was like the Wild West, everybody knew everybody and there was a love-hate relationship between all aspiring comics.
That’s when I started noticing people like Khamba and Tanmay, the original founders of AIB. Tanmay would be there for every open mic and every event. He would keep delivering his stand up sets. His jokes were the same, but his enthusiasm always fresh. What he was doing was preparing himself for the big stage. The open mics were the place where he tested his stuff. The open mics was where he got feedback. And that’s how eventually he knew the good jokes from the bad ones. And slowly he built a bank of standup sets and jokes for the big stage.
Now this isn’t only Tanmay’s story. From Varun Grover to Kanan Gill to Kunal Kamra, every standup comic swears by feedback. And that is their not-so-secret sauce to cracking better and more consequential jokes.
So next time you watch Tanmay crack a joke, do remember that he’s probably cracked it a few hundred times before it got to you. But do we prepare for the big stage like good stand up comics do? That brings us to the communication tip for today.
Now the communication tip for today:
Our lives are similar to standup comics, at least in one respect. We have to present or communicate our thoughts, pitches or suggestions to others from time to time. The mistake most of us make is to not deliberately prepare your important pieces of communication.
Despite the fact that good communication can provide an edge in high stakes situations, most of us turn to the default mode.
Now, getting feedback for everything you say or present may not be practical or even possible. But just like stand up comics, we need to gather feedback and rehearse for the big stage.
So stuff like your company’s elevator pitch, your product story, values and promises and important highlights of your professional journey. For business leaders or founders, it is also important to have a clear and compelling answer about your personal and company beliefs. Vision is also something that leaders and founders could do with having evocative answers to.
Now the question is, how do you do this?
Here are three quick steps that I suggest:
- Deliberately block time every month with your team to create and improve on your pitch and story. I keep working on StoryCo’s pitch and stories here on this page(this is a dynamic document so it keeps changing), you can have a look and see if it helps you.
- Try to write each and every message with an example(or basically use stoytelling techniques so it connects better with people)
- Rehearse this with people outside your organisation(friends, family and acquaintances are fair game). Ask them what they understood. Note the lines and examples which work.
- Keep improving.
Over a period of time, you will get your cracking set like Tanmay’s. And wouldn’t that be really nice?
One thing you could watch today:
Kurt Vonnegut was a prolific American writer who was known for his sarcastic style and sci-fi elements. I really love this video of his where he talks about the shape of stories. Yes, the shape of stories.
You can watch it here. Well worth five minutes of your time, in my opinion 🙂
That’s it from me today. Hope you enjoyed this edition of ‘Win with Stories’ newsletter.
One last request – forward this to friends and colleagues who’d find this story and the tips useful. If you received this email from someone and liked it, you can subscribe here.
