Start With the Story

Closing the week from the Fast Company Innovation Festival, Matt reports on a morning that ran Russell Wilson, the Walmart US CEO, Tyra Banks, and Martha Stewart back to back to back. The through-line he couldn’t unsee: Russell Wilson opened with bravado and business wins, high energy and blinding diamonds, and only near the very end of his thirty-minute slot shifted to his family’s story, his father’s struggle, the sacrifices that got him his start. The energy in the room transformed in that moment. And Matt’s takeaway is a question: what if he’d started there? The whole talk would have landed differently, everything recast in that light. The Walmart CEO followed a similar shape, opening on supply chain and trends before edging toward something personal later, never quite arriving.

That’s the lesson, and it ties the whole run together: your personal story is your best story, no matter how big you are. You can run the world’s largest retailer and it’s still the personal narrative that makes an audience lean in. Because if someone can see themselves in your story, you’ve got them. Matt’s image for it is sharp: no matter how big the diamonds around your neck, a person without them can look at you, and if they see themselves in you, the reflection they catch through those diamonds is themselves. That’s far more powerful than “look at me, I’m great.” He also clocks the crowds (Tyra and Martha packed the room), Tyra’s genuine but carefully bounded vulnerability, and the sheer value of being there in person: he met online contacts face to face, recognized them by their voices, and felt how different real-life connection is. His closing questions, heading into the weekend: what’s the personal story that makes everything else you do more powerful and relatable, and what can you do to be kind to yourself?