#545: How Curiosity and Stories Rescue Your Corporate Training, With Damon Lembi
Release Date: 12/08/2025
Business of Story
Discover how to transform “artificial intelligence” into “artful intelligence” and inspire your brand storytelling in this must-listen episode of the Business of Story. Park Howell is joined by Jen Perry, Executive Creative Director at Vagrants, who shares her journey from building creative teams for brands like JetBlue, IKEA, and Dunkin’ Donuts to leading Vagrants’ evolution into a creative powerhouse. You’ll learn why “artificial intelligence” is a branding problem, and how reframing it as “artful intelligence” helps you keep your storytelling human, emotionally...
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Chris Vogler, legendary story consultant and author of The Writer’s Journey, joins Park Howell to reveal how the Hero’s Journey is more than a Hollywood formula—it’s a living, breathing blueprint for personal and brand transformation. You’ll discover why wish fulfillment is at the heart of every great brand story, how to turn obstacles (“threshold guardians”) into opportunities, and why stories have the power to heal, orient, and energize us in a chaotic world. Chris shares behind-the-scenes stories from Disney, explains the science of story energy, and offers practical advice...
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The content marketing pioneer who coined the term in 2001 reveals the urgent reality: creators have 12-24 months to build discoverable human audiences before AI-generated synthetic content makes it nearly impossible. The 99% Problem and the Vinyl Solution Joe Pulizzi drops a startling statistic: 99% of content being created today is heavily influenced by AI. Instagram recently admitted they can't keep up with the flood of AI content and won't even try to block it. But Joe isn't running from AI—he's running WITH it while building something AI can't replicate: authentic human relationships...
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Why This Episode Matters This milestone 550th episode brings the Business of Story full circle to its foundational inspiration: Joseph Campbell and the Hero's Journey. Host Park Howell interviews John Bucher, PhD, Executive Director of the Joseph Campbell Foundation, revealing why the Hero's Journey is more than a story framework - it's a neurological blueprint for business success. What You'll Discover The Neuroscience of Storytelling Modern research shows the Hero's Journey mirrors the exact neurological patterns your brain uses to solve problems. When you structure business communications...
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What good is reach if you don't have resonance? In this transformative episode of Business of Story, host Park Howell sits down with Jay Acunzo to explore why clarity isn't enough for brand stories and how to transform expertise into influential public voice through premise development. --- ABOUT JAY ACUNZO --- Jay Acunzo is an author, speaker, and public speaking coach who helps experts become stronger public voices. He's written books about creativity and storytelling, and he's traveled the world giving keynotes to marketers and managers, dentists and designers, leaders and landscapers. His...
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Miles Spencer's SoulTech platform brings loved ones' voices back from just 10 seconds of audio, transforming grief into connection through interactive AI conversations. Discover how Reflekta created the Soul Technology category, why spontaneous conversations beat static videos 10x, and what happened when Miles heard "Tiger" eight years after his father passed. Show Notes: You know those moments when you desperately wish you could ask your mom or dad for advice one more time? When you're facing something only they would understand? This episode is both curious and a little creepy—curious...
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What if working LESS is the smartest business growth strategy for 2026? Michael Walsh went three years without a vacation—grinding relentlessly, believing scaling required personal sacrifice. Then his wife forced him to take time off. The result? He generated $10,000 in new sales—more than any previous week. He tested further, taking the last week of every month off. His income kept growing. After 30+ years helping $2M-$20M companies scale, Michael has proven that people-first business growth outperforms systems-first approaches every time. What You'll Discover: ✅ The $10,000...
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Discover why 80% of new ideas fail—even with perfect execution—and how to test market desirability before wasting time and money. Alberto Savoia, Google's first Director of Engineering who launched AdWords, reveals the pretotyping method he developed as Google's Innovation Agitator. Learn the XYZ hypothesis for turning fuzzy ideas into testable assertions, the YODA framework for collecting data that predicts success, and skin-in-the-game validation techniques that reveal real market interest. Author of The Right It: Why So Many Ideas Fail and How to Make Sure Yours Succeed. Essential...
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Damon Lembi is a 3x bestselling author, the host of The Learn-It-All Podcast, and CEO of Learnit – a live learning platform that has upskilled over 2 million people. Drawing from his more than 30 years in the learning industry, Damon brings invaluable insights into what helps organizations grow, how great leaders learn, and why learn-it-all companies outpace their competitors every time. It's all about bringing curiosity and storytelling to your corporate training, and he'll show you how in this episode. Craft your brilliant brand story strategy in minutes, not months, and instantly create...
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Are your leadership meetings killing engagement with PowerPoint bullets and 45-item agendas while your team's eyes glaze over? You're stuck in what Park Howell calls the "voice vacuum"—and there's a stupidly simple way out. Julie Lancaster, founder of Lancaster Leadership and author of Beyond Words: How Our Stories & Strategies Inspire Action, reveals the REST method that's helped her team coach over 75,000 leaders through succession planning challenges. She used to hate storytelling—until she discovered how to do it right. Discover the four-step REST framework (Relate, Engage, Short,...
info_outlineDamon Lembi is a 3x bestselling author, the host of The Learn-It-All Podcast, and CEO of Learnit – a live learning platform that has upskilled over 2 million people. Drawing from his more than 30 years in the learning industry, Damon brings invaluable insights into what helps organizations grow, how great leaders learn, and why learn-it-all companies outpace their competitors every time. It's all about bringing curiosity and storytelling to your corporate training, and he'll show you how in this episode.
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