Once upon AI time.

AI is driving demand for one of the world's most "storied" professions.

“The job of the comedian is to lead an interesting life and share it with others on stage.”

If you read my work semi-frequently, first, thank you. Second, you’ve probably seen this quote before and heard me regrettably complain that I can’t find the source for it. I heard it many years ago and it has stuck with me since, popping into my head at various moments of my life that have been “interesting.”

Like when I, along with some friends, were booked to do a private comedy show in Joshua Tree. We were put up in a remote house in the desert and escorted to a lonely tavern where, to our surprise, a completely packed audience waited for us.

Or when I had the chance to audition for America’s Got Talent for a live audience and producer team. It was untelevised, and it did not go well, but it was – without a doubt – an interesting experience.

Or when I, in my early 20’s, moved to New York City but kept working on a theater cast in Boston. Twice a week I would take a cheap bus overnight to get to shows, returning to Port Authority at 5am the next day and taking the train to work (ah, to be young).

Surely, none of these experiences are flattering – particularly the last one! Still, pursuing an interesting life matters because it enriches your perspective, igniting opportunities for connection with others and arming you with stories to tell about your experiences. And regardless of your business or creative pursuit, having compelling stories to tell is a critical differentiator.

Storytelling: the oldest creative skill.

Storytelling is one of the oldest professions in the world, existing before written language as a way to document and pass down history, traditions, and skills. From a scientific standpoint, the ways in which we tell and receive stories can impact how we remember them.

Across all vectors, storytelling is a uniquely human experience. And in business, it is often used as a heuristic for building a strong brand. I wrote once about the art of “storymaking,” that is, how the best brands have shifted into an era of exceptional storytelling, blending the line between commerce and entertainment.

While there are numerous examples of organizations that are still getting this right, I see a troubling trend emerging.

Throughout recorded history, we could simplify the process of storytelling as follows:

Experience source material —> craft a story —> distribute the story.

Increasingly, driven by social media, the chronology of storytelling has fragmented, with much more weight being placed on distribution than on compelling source material. What do I mean?

Consider how many “experts” and “coaches” you see on this and other platforms selling courses and lifestyles. Or the pressure exerted from these channels for everyone to have an opinion, regardless of your individual level of education on the topic.

We have inverted the storytelling process to our own detriment. And it is understandable. Over the past 15+ years, advertising has become much more targeted and tactical. We can personalize content and optimize keywords for search, realizing predictable outcomes and returns on investment.

I want to be clear, in a vacuum there is nothing wrong with this approach. But when we allow the pendulum to swing full bore toward predictable, targeted output, we miss out on the unexpected magic that happens when human beings live, craft, and tell stories that are themselves uniquely human.

The rise of the corporate “Storyteller.”

This matters more than ever, as we shift into a new paradigm of AI-derived experiences. What was search engine optimization (SEO) is becoming answer engine optimization (AEO), as businesses try to game out how to make their content the most reliable for LLMs to deliver to specific queries.

Yes, the nuances and strategies associated with this approach are technical, and complex, and must be applied for brands to succeed in the new normal. But an over-reliance on technical content placement will result in the same flat output that an over-reliance on SEO, keyword harvesting, etc. did in the trailing decade.

With more agentic-derived content flooding the zone, the ability for brands to tell compelling stories - one of the oldest tricks in the book - will reemerge as a valuable moat.

And some companies are already waking up to this fact. According to The Wall Street Journal, job postings with the term “storyteller” have doubled year-over-year.

So, how can we each become better storytellers in an age that requires it? The good news is there is a blueprint that is tested and timeless.

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Lead an interesting life. Get outside, meet people different than yourself. Say “yes” to experiences that enrich you, even and especially if they do not directly map back to your professional path. For brands, make intentional space (even 10-20% of your marketing efforts) for surprising initiatives that are designed for connection-first rather than to hit predictable engagement patters on digital spaces.

In the age of AI, human-driven stories will rise above the fray of homogenous content. It is time that we invert the storytelling chronology back: as people and as organizations.

Photo by Etienne Girardet on Unsplash.