Jewels Nistico: Mastering the Art of Storytelling in Business and Beyond

On this episode, we dive into the art of storytelling in business and everyday life with insights from the founder of Storyteller Marketing. We explore how effective storytelling can captivate and engage an audience, not just with the words you choose, but with tone, flow, and delivery. The conversation touches on the challenges of modern communication, the lost art of using our voice, and the importance of clear, concise messaging that holds attention. The guest shares personal anecdotes about reading to their kids, the lessons learned from crafting engaging narratives, and why great storytelling often involves tapping into your unique experiences. Plus, we discuss their book, which focuses on mastering communication in the boardroom but offers valuable lessons for anyone in leadership or public speaking roles. Learn how to present with confidence, build trust, and influence decisions through the power of authentic storytelling. 

Transcript

And in this world where everything is, you know, I'm starting to look a little bit same side to stand down, to have any sort of impact. There's nothing more unique than you. So why not use it? Leverage that. Tell stories. Give it a go. Say yes and you'll be. Say yes. Yes. Be the better for it. Today on the We Share podcast, we're joined by Jules Nestico, a speaker, an author, a podcaster, but most importantly, a storyteller.

Welcome to the We Share podcast. I'm Julie. I'm Alex. We share ourselves and we provide a platform for others to share. We believe everyone has a purpose and a story to tell. And we're back on the We Share a podcast. I'm Julie and I'm Alex. All right, Alex, we're hopping clear across the other side of the world today.

What you do, after all the way to Sydney, Australia, we've got Jules Nestico, aka storyteller Jules. He's a speaker, author and agency owner. Like I said, based out of Sydney, Australia. His book recently published called Nobody Effing Lessons six Reasons Why You Are Being Ignored in the boardroom. Also got a podcast called The Telling of Story.

So welcome, Jules. Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure to be here. Yeah, it was great. When you reached out, I was like, wow. All the way, all the way from Australia. How exciting. And was able to study and learn a little bit about you. But mostly I, I want you to share and then like, it's like you're sitting down to lunch with me.

Enjoy life. Like we're just going to shoot the shit. Yep. So introduce yourself to us. Excellent. So, as you said, I go by the moniker storyteller. Jules. And for a long time, I've been using that probably for the last decade or so when I started my agency called Storyteller Marketing. I really noticed a gap in the way we communicated, and I didn't really like what I saw necessarily from a lot of traditional agencies now.

And, I might annoy a few people by saying that, but I found that it became very formulaic and it didn't feel as natural as it could have been. And what I had noticed was people started to become what they thought was important and sort of communicated the way they thought. You know, they they were supposed to be communicating, but what they lost was all of their personality.

Right. Like authenticity out the door. Authenticity. Right. And it just started disappearing. It got to me. It was getting worse rather than getting better. You know, we have all these fabulous forms of communication available or mediums available to us now, you know, right through the social media through to, you know, you name it, we've got access to it.

You know, us three talking from the other side of the world, which wasn't possible not that long ago. So communication mediums have increased. And yet I think the art of us being storytellers and, you know, storytelling goes back thousands, if not, you know, tens of thousands of years. We just don't do it very well anymore. So that way I became my little mantra.

And, you know, here we are, sort of a decade or so later. And that's pretty much my entire focus these days. What's one of the first steps you give people when you're educating them? On getting back to that storytelling, what's the first step to get going again? Because we've lost the art. So it's almost like we have to relearn that there is a lot, a little bit of relearning, I guess.

But to me it's about really it's about the art and the practice. Right? So story telling for most people doesn't necessarily come naturally and then didn't necessarily for me either. And I still am trying to, you know, perfect the art. If you like. So storytelling starts with just getting out there and and putting in some practice. So whenever you get the opportunity and people are pretty charade in general.

People don't like being, you know, some people don't like being the center of attention. Others do. But for the most part, you know, public speaking, for example, was something people shy away from. So you don't have to go, you know, directly to a massive stage or anything like that. Just start really. Simply start telling stories around the kitchen table.

Start sharing, information with your friends. You know, when you're going out and having a good time, just actually spend the moment to think about the stories that you tell and the art and the craft are doing so. I often look at comedians as a really good, sort of as a methodology that they use when they go and start to become a comedian.

You don't see people going directly to an hour long special on Netflix, right? They always start at the local clubs. They start very small. They're often very short stints. So they'll get up on an open mic night. And it might be might be 2 to 3 or five minutes when they practice their material. And the intent is, you know, they'll they'll go in with ten really quick jokes and, you know, eight of them will try and burn.

And only two will work, right. So you, you, you test your craft over and over again. So you go from two to 3 to 5, and eventually they get a set of ten that actually kind of make sense and sound good, and they get the laughs. So storytelling really is about practice getting up there and practicing anywhere.

And any time you get the opportunity. So would you say I'd I mean, we we grew we have both grown up in a very like small community. But I remember my mom reading books to me out loud and telling stories. And then I also remember dragging my littles to the library when, in the young years, I mean, now, our kids, Julie and I both have adult children, and so, I don't see kids doing that anymore.

I don't I don't see young parents going to the library for storytime as much. It just seems like it's gone. It's all device is. And yeah, I that's what I was going to mention, is that I feel like my beginnings of becoming a great storyteller really surfaced with reading books to my kids, because I would do different voices, and I would do the appropriate pauses so that they could understand conversation, because that happens in books.

Do you think that we're we've lost that art, and that's some of the beginning steps of storytelling. Yeah, I think we, even though we might be connected more than we ever have in the past, I think we don't necessarily do that for our voice anymore. So storytelling is traditionally done. And I originally started as a as a voice exercise.

And so if you're not practicing the art of speaking so I, you know, I want my kids I to have almost adult children, you know, my children are like teens now and for forever. We have always had dinner around the table. And part of that, exercise is to actually find out a little bit about their day, because traditionally, and I right up until that point, everybody's running around pretty crazy, right?

Nobody, has time necessarily to to sit down and and chew the fat anymore. So that special time around the kitchen table is one and one of the few times that we head together as a family. So having those discussions around the table and so using our voice, I think is the part that's becoming a little less used.

And we tend to be, you know, on very short, text based type activity. You said anything online is very text based. So I think, again, coming back to that practice, instilling some of those times into your day and finding those times to actually sit down and talk face to face with a human. Yeah. Even if it's electronically like this, where, where perhaps, you know, somebody is on the other side of the world, but you can actually use your voice to, to have those conversations.

Now, storytelling is not just about voice. It can be video and it can be written the written word as well. Of course. But I think the the art of speaking is the one that we're starting to lose a little bit. Right? I know my I have a favorite storyteller. I'm gonna ask you who yours? Matthew McConaughey. He could tell me any story, and I'm just engaged.

I'm part of. It's the voice. It's his voice. And he is artful in not to like with his delivery and and and interesting choice of words. And. Yeah. Who's your favorite storyteller? Jules. Hey, he is actually right up there, with one of those because I. Yeah, I listened to his book Green lots. Rather than buying the book as a physical book, I chose to listen to it on audiobook primarily because of his voice.

As you say, the same thing is beautiful. Why to to express himself. It's the words. It's the flow, it's the tone. And it's just. It seems to be really natural. But I can guarantee you he's put in a lot of effort into the way he to story. And as part of his art and craft. I mean, you could voice, you know, James Earl Jones is a is another one.

You can listen to James Earl Jones. Or you could listen to James Earl Jones speak forever. He's just got one of those beautiful voices. So I think part of it is the tone and the flow and the thing, but or in in each of these instances that you do find a great storyteller, they tend to be very well practiced.

They've been doing it for a very long time. And so that art is, is created over, over long periods. It's not just something I mean, the, the natural deep voice and those kinds of things are obviously, a benefit, but the words that are coming out of your mouth and the way it flows makes a difference, too.

And that's the part that I help teach, right? Is like, what are the words that you're using? What are you trying to say here? And how do we take away the complexities or the ambiguities around what you're saying and really make it clear and concise so that when people listen to you, they go, yes, I understand, I hear what you're saying, I understand and I believe, right.

And once you get to those points, that's when you start holding people's attention, because they're now listening to what you have to say, not just because you've got a great voice or a great flow, but the words themselves can make a difference to you. Yeah, bring some impact. I just thought of another one. Jerry Seinfeld, he's a great storyteller, less of a voice.

They're less of a comfort voice. But still, he paints a picture with everything that he does, which is truly the art of storytelling. Well. And you'll. Yeah, you'll draw something from it. That is not intended, but intended. Right. He won't even say the word, but you'll know exactly what he's talking about. That's the way. Very clever. Very clever.

So you you've written a book. Please tell us the title of the book. Nobody effing listens is the title six Reasons Why you're being ignored in the boardroom. Okay. So through those. Yeah. I would love to talk about the book a little bit because I think, I mean, you focused it towards the boardroom, but I think that I could it, I could learn from this book in a radio studio because I have a co-host, or I could learn from this book in a, you know, a group meeting setting that's not necessarily a boardroom.

So we'd love to go over that. Yeah, absolutely. Like I did use the term boardroom, but really it's about communicating and both getting and keeping somebodies attention. The reason I sort of did it around the boardroom is, you know, that's where a lot of, I guess, business decisions are made. But communicating, if you're trying to get anybody to make a decision.

Now, that decision doesn't necessarily mean, you know, to buy something from you, but you just perhaps want to get them to take action, or you want them to take a step towards, you know, what you're trying to do or trying to say, really, that's a decision. So any, any form of decision making this will suit it is focused more on the business environment because, you know, often a little bit more complex talk decisions rather than sort of, you know, impulsive decisions as we do at a personal level.

Sometimes these are, I guess, considered decisions. And so the the six reasons why really is a six step process is what I noticed. The reason I write the book was what I started noticing, quite frequently, was when whenever somebody had the opportunity to present something, whether it's a, a business proposal, whether you're presenting anything, you know, on stage or whether you're, you're just having a conversation with somebody and trying to get them to do something for the most part, you know, is particularly, you know, let's take PowerPoint as an example.

Just in a in a business context, people would do one of two things. They would either start with a presentation that they've done before in the past that they thought maybe went okay, or kind of fits what they're trying to say this time, and then I would manipulate that in such a way that might it fit into this particular presentation.

Well, the other version of that or the second way people approaches, like they just they start with a blank slate, I have no idea what they're about to say. And they just things start coming to their head and I start, you know, stuffing PowerPoint full of things to say until they feel comfortable that they've said everything they need to.

But communication really isn't a random act. Communication done. Well, what you're actually doing is ticking off a lot of the questions that the other person, the person listening to you, as in their mind in order for them to stay engaged, but then B to believe and then C to take action. And so it is a little bit more formulaic than just blurting out everything you know about a particular product or service or whatever it is you're trying to communicate, rather than blurting it all out.

If you think about a at a process level, what people are trying to do is believe that they have what you are offering or they need what you are offering. Believe that you are the right type of person to engage with to get that thing, whatever that thing is, believe that the decision that they're going to make isn't going to either cost them dearly or high risk, and then ultimately they they must believe that whatever that is they're doing or buying or about to embark on is actually a benefit to them.

They really want this thing. They they want to take the transformation to where that's taking them. So the six steps really is a breakdown of what are the questions they are asking them on whether it's obvious or not, and making sure that you are ticking off all of those boxes along the way, keeping them engaged, and then ultimately getting everything that you need across for them to make a considered and strong, powerful decision towards you rather than, you know, scaring them away.

Right. It's that the art of cells right there. I mean, that's what it's like. A lot of you know, that over the years, training and marketing. Yeah, that's Alex Wheelhouse is, the art of sales. And so you're speaking her language. Yeah. And communication is really selling, right. And at his purest form, whenever you are trying to say something, if you want them to believe that you're selling something, doesn't matter what you're saying, you're actually selling your perspective or your point of view.

The thing that you want them to do, the thing that they you want them to come with you on the journey, you want them to come on with you, the thing you want them to buy. It's also right. Trust and just even trusting in you and building that relationship, not even knowing where it might go down the road, but just connecting, right.

So that's one of the steps, is trust that you are the correct person to take me on this journey, whatever that journey might be. Okay, I would assume with that trust step, there's got to be a decent amount of knowledge behind what you're talking about in order for people to trust you, because the knowledge comes first, then the delivery comes second.

And that's where you get the storytelling, right? Yeah. So the steps in the process are actually quite considered. And it is a building up of the entire process really is about building trust. One of the steps is trusting that it is you. But the entirety of the six steps is really about trusting the entire the entire process. And so each of those lies is adding to that trust.

So every time you speak, you're, you're, you know, creating a layer of trust so that they say, yes, you know, continue to say yes in their minds that this is where they want to go. And they continue to listen to the next step and that's the hard part, right? If you lose them on the journey, you know, if you lose them at step two, then everything you stay safe to step two, it's kind of wasted, right?

So every step is designed to layer, the trust, but also keep them engaged enough so that they want to go to the next step. So step three then step four, etc.. Do you address body language in the book that the part of the delivery, especially if you're in the boardroom, is what you appear is you're as you're telling the story.

It's not just words, it's it's an overall package. Yeah. I don't go into body language. And, and I don't actually go into, you know, the art of the speaking part either, you know, delivery of a presentation per se. There's a whole ton of books around those subjects. I didn't go down that route. The the book really is focusing on the content itself.

And what are you trying to say? What do you need to say at each one of these stages? So volumes. Yeah, the foundation of what we're delivering totally makes sense, because if you don't have that, then it doesn't really matter what you do in front of people. You have to have the foundation first because you can't you can't sell it if you don't have the foundation.

Exactly, exactly. So maybe it's, volume two and volume three is the is the, the speaking part and the delivery. That's right. More work for you to do. Yeah, yeah. And more titles. Yeah. The effing I don't know what it would be. I have a question I like lost it because I'm laughing, at myself, which I often do.

Oh. Formal education. So did you go to college or what did you do before you got to this point where you decided it was storytelling for you? Right? I'm. I often refer to myself as an accidental entrepreneur. I did not go to college, so I finished high school way. Why a long, long time ago, back in the late 80s.

Finished high school and really didn't know at that point what I wanted to do and chose not to go to college. I grew up in a small town as well, and, you know, for me, it was an entire move to go to to college, and I didn't know what I wanted to do anyway. So the I chose not to, so I fell into I accidentally fell in one when I was, I accidentally my, my brother and sister in law were looking at buying the local store.

It just around the corner from our family home and during the process they, they said to me, would you like to come in as partner? And I'm 17 going on 18 at this point. And my instinct since from that, from that point in probably my entire life was to say yes and then think about the consequences later. So for the most part, I just keep saying yes, and it takes me to the, to the next level to whatever that might be.

So I said yes to my brother and sister in law and we went into business together and ran the local store. And, you know, from the age of 18 to 21, we were in business together and we bought three different stores in, in that period. They chose to opt out after a few years. So I continued on and bought a couple more.

And by the age of 25, I think, oh, is that, business number five? I think it was well done. And yeah. Thank you. I want to know the name of the store working crazy, crazy hours and, you know, being young and, you know, full of energy. I was also adding a lot and going out and, you know, those kinds of things.

And by the age of 25, I kind of burnt out a little bit. I was working myself pretty hard and did pretty well, but, I felt like I needed a break. So at that point, I chose to, sell everything, all my possessions, everything. And I, went overseas as a, a lot of Australians do at about that age.

So mid 20s, I packed my bags and decided to go to Europe and spent the next two years backpacking and working through Europe, in the UK. Ended up in Africa and Eastern Europe and Russia and, you know, Scandinavia and all sorts of beautiful places and had an absolute fall. And at that point, I think you, I think you made a lot of stories there.

Yeah. That's a heck of a walkabout. Yeah. There was a ton of stories that came out of that. And my kids actually asked me what, you know, if you had to pick a year, that was your favorite year of your life, you know, what would that be? And I said, am I allowed to obviously exclude, you know, the birth of my children, of those kinds of things?

You're like, is this allowed to, you know, where's that going? So, yeah, it was that it was those years, you know, the 25 to 26, 27 that I spent traveling was a constant barrage of learning, mind expanding stuff. You know, I again, I came from a small country town and in rural Australia, and I hadn't seen the world.

I hadn't experienced almost anything outside of my my local district up until the age of, you know, 25 or so. So when I went, I just couldn't believe the things that I was seeing and experiencing the history and the stories. I wasn't a history buff. I didn't understand history and didn't really like history at school. But when you see it and experience it in person, when you start seeing things that are hundreds if not thousands of years old, getting Australia is is a very young country.

So we don't have a lot of history, a physical history, if that makes sense. We have a lot of history from, indigenous perspective, but not so much at, you know, buildings and architecture and, you know, wars and those kinds of things. We don't have much of that history at all. So going through Europe was was just eye opening for me.

It's beautiful. It's. Yeah, I was lucky to backpack through Europe. In my college days. So. Yes. How much time we might have crossed paths. We might have about that time. And, I do have a brother that actually served a church mission in Australia, too. And he is a he's a little bit older than you, though. But he would say it was very small, their Greek speaking mission, in fact.

And I'm half Greek, right? Yeah. We are in Australia. Melbourne. Right. Okay. Yeah. We're almost out of time, Jules. So I'm going to ask you one final question. If you could, if you could leave anything with our listeners, it can be life advice. It can be from the book. It can be whatever you choose. What nugget of information would you like to leave with them?

Probably, if I can, I'm going to cheat and say there's two little things that I would like to, to, to share. I think that attitude that I had as a youngster of saying yes and then working out the consequences or how to's afterwards has served me incredibly well over the years. It's the way I've progressed through business and through life is just having the attitude of yes, I want to experience something new and I'll, you know, whether it frightens me or not, I'll give it a go.

And it often takes me to another level. It will take me both at a, at a, at a knowledge level, but also sort of at, at a in a spiritual level, almost to some degree. I'd just go another, another stage by trying new things. Even at my age, I'm not afraid to to say yes and and give it a go.

And from a storytelling perspective, I think it's really important to from us at a story level is to use you as the subject. The reason I like storytelling and injecting some personality about you and you and and your life and and childhood and all sorts of weird and wonderful things can come out even in a business context, is that there is nobody who has lived your life like you write.

It is your story, it is your journey, and therefore it is incredibly unique. And in this world where everything is, you know, starting to look a little bit same sign to stand out, to have any sort of impact. There's nothing more unique than you. So why not use it? Leverage that. Tell stories. Give it a guy. Say yes and you'll be say yes.

Yes. Be the better for it. Yes. And figure it out later. Yeah, I have a saying. Jump and the net will appear and. Exactly. Yeah. All right. Give us all of your social media handles and the title of your book. Again, we want people to be able to find tutorials. Excellent. So, so the easiest way to find me online is to, to search for hashtag storyteller.

Jules. Now that's Jules j e l s as in the Crown jewels. So hashtag storyteller Jules. And you'll find me absolutely every year on every, platform you can think of. Pretty much. And the book title is nobody effing listens. So effing who is f hush hush hush, I and G and you will find it on Amazon. So search for Nobody Effing listens on Amazon.

Wonderful. Thank you for being generous with your time, Jules. We appreciate it. It's an absolute pleasure. I had a ball. Thank you so much.

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