Five things I learned telling stories for The Financial Times
Ten years ago I got a commission for a wonderful side gig, writing for the Financial Times..
Full disclosure - I'd never taken a journalism class before (nor since), but I guess the FT liked how I looked at an alternative side of business life. My pieces featured stories about quirky trends and people doing things differently: running an independent coffee shop; entrepreneurs with side projects; productivity hacks; the rise of co-working spaces; how creatives were selling their products direct to market online. Things I was interested in then; stuff I still go on about today!
I’m grateful they took a punt on me, someone who simply loved writing about what he’d discovered. And in fact, I ended up learning a lot during that time about how to tell a good story. It feeds into my work today:
Walk in the audience's shoes. How you tell a story depends on who’s reading or listening and what you want them to take away from it. The FT has a broad global audience, and I wanted to make sure that whoever stumbled on my piece would find a fresh take on a business-related subject.
Zoom in tight. One of my favourite stories was when I wrote about independent coffee shops and their challenges in competing against the big chains. I chatted to Ben at The Espresso Room in London and to Matt at Stumptown in the US. Tell big stories with universal appeal by zooming in on a couple of characters. One or two people and their challenges root a story in context and make it gettable. Too many characters and the essence is diluted.
Set the scene. I was issued with no FT style guide, so I set about developing my own way of doing things. I started each story by setting the scene. “More than 20 people are in the queue at Stumptown Coffee Roasters on West 29th Street in Manhattan…” or “It is Monday lunchtime in London’s Soho and there is a line of people waiting outside Honest Burgers on Meard Street.” Painting a picture helps the reader clearly visualise the story and places it firmly in time and space.
Ensure it’s accessible. My editor Ravi was always quick to call me out for using any industry jargon. Keep language simple and clear, so as well as no jargon, it means ditching overly complex sentences and high-brow language. And if you have to use acronyms or technical terms, then make sure you unpack them.
Keep it human. Remember it’s always about the people. The dude from Seattle who’d travelled to Wales to attend the Do Lectures. The woman in Lausanne, Switzerland who set up a coworking business when she realised she needed a separate place to work. And if it doesn’t feature humans, then it’s not a story.