Proof Points: Issue 19

In April I’m delivering a short Story Stack session to a marketing agency.

Ahead of the session, I shared a LinkedIn carousel as a bit of pre-reading. The idea is simple: if the team already understands the model, we can spend more time discussing how to apply it.

The Story Stack is the framework I use to structure stories - particularly case studies and customer stories.

One of the easiest ways to explain it is through movies. In my workshops I often use Star Wars: A New Hope as the reference story.

But here’s a fun discovery.

When teams go through the “Going to the Movies” exercise themselves in my longer sessions, the film that comes up most often is actually The Lion King.

Why?

Because great stories - whether they’re films, novels, or case studies - tend to follow a recognisable structure.

The Story Stack breaks a story into eight simple elements:

Hero
The central character.

Goal
What they want to achieve.

Event
The moment that changes everything.

Obstacle
The challenge standing in their way.

Mentor
The guide, tool, or support that helps them.

Journey
The process of overcoming the obstacle.

Change
What’s different by the end.

Lesson
What others can learn from the story.

If we map The Lion King to the model, it becomes very clear:

Hero
Simba, the lion cub and heir to Pride Rock.

Goal
To become king like his father, Mufasa and lead the pride.

Event
Scar engineers Mufasa’s death and convinces Simba it was his fault.

Obstacle
Simba must overcome guilt, fear and Scar’s rule.

Mentor
Rafiki, Timon and Pumbaa guide him.

Journey
Simba rediscovers who he is and returns to Pride Rock.

Change
He goes from a guilt-ridden runaway to a courageous king.

Lesson
You can’t run from who you are. Leadership means facing your past and taking responsibility.

When companies try to write case studies, they often jump straight to the product. But the product isn’t the hero.

The customer is the hero.

That small shift changes everything. A strong case study might look something like this:

Hero → the customer
Goal → what they wanted to achieve
Event → the trigger that made them seek change
Obstacle → the problem they couldn’t solve alone
Mentor → you, your team, your product or service
Journey → the implementation
Change → the outcome
Lesson → what other companies can learn

Once you start thinking in this structure, writing stories becomes much easier.

Pick your favourite film and map it to the Story Stack.

You’ll quickly see that the same structure appears again and again.

That’s because humans are wired for stories that follow this kind of arc.

The Story Stack isn’t just a storytelling exercise.

It’s the bedrock model behind how I approach:

Once you understand the structure, the real value comes from learning how to apply it.

I run introductory Story Stack sessions for teams who want to improve how they tell customer stories and case studies. And, I also deliver this on a 1-2-1 coaching basis.

If that sounds useful, just reply to this email or drop me a message.