35. Make Your Audience the Hero!

“When you position your customer [or audience] as the hero and yourself as the guide, you win the day.” -  Donald Miller in his book Building a StoryBrand 2.0: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen
 
 

Donald Miller’s book, Building a StoryBrand 2.0: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen (Harper Collins Leadership, 2025), discusses making your client the hero of your interaction. You are the guide who leads them to the solution to their challenge. 

This is directly applicable when you speak to your audience. Do you know their challenges, and do you lead them to the solution to their challenges through your speaking?

This podcast episode outlines three ways to make your audience the hero

References

• Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences, by Nancy Duarte (John Wiley & Sons, 2010)
• Building a StoryBrand 2.0: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen, by Donald Miller (Harper Collins Business, 2025)
• Connect, Then Lead, Harvard Business Review article (Cuddy, Kohut, Neffinger, 2013) shows that warmth, affirmation, and empowerment foster a stronger speaker-audience connection: