What has Natalie Imbruglia to do with sustainability?!

Last Thursday I attended the Investors in the Environment (iie) Awards, as I was the judge for some of the categories.

At this event, I had the good fortune to witness one of the most intelligent and insightful keynote speeches I remember.

Mark Shayler is the best-kept secret of sustainability. How didn't I come across him before?!

Going from decade to decade, Mark told the story of sustainability via a series of witty anecdotes and the music and videos of the time.

One of his stories stayed with me:

Did you know that "Torn" by Natalie Imbruglia, wasn't actually by Natalie Imbruglia?

When Mark said that, I thought "What?! the soundtrack of my youth has a whole back story I didn't know at all?!"

Indeed, it had been written four years before becoming the 1997 international phenomenon we are familiar with and released TWICE before Natalie recorded it: first, by its writers and their band (Ednaswap), and then by another artist, Lis Sørensen.

Why did this song become so big when it was already old news?

A number of reasons, including the very cool video (even to today's standards, nearly 30 - gulp! - years on), shot on the set as things were prepared for Natalie to sing; Natalie being so cool herself... but frankly, it was probably because it was the right time for it to become so big.

But what has this to do with sustainability?! Sustainability is not new. In its modern message, it's probably 40 years old already. But the world is ready now to listen to the message and for this message to explode.

The time is right. True, there are still die-hard characters around the world who are holding on to the old paradigm with their claws and teeth, but they are a dying breed. Still dangerous, but on their way out. It is time for all of us to stand tall and share this message with the world.

The time is right.

I found Mark's story incredibly inspirational.

And I really wanted to share it with you because it's a magistral example of the value of storytelling. So, let's break it down so that you can do the same and tell some good stories as part of your presentations:

The hero of Mark's story is the song Torn. Mark shared the background: how it was written by some unknown artists; how the song didn't find success in its previous versions (the "struggles") until the "twist" of the story (Natalie Imbruglia - who is the magic potion if you like - records it) changes everything, as the song and her singer rise to stardom.

But there is more - when compared to the little illustration above: the second twist is that the song is also a metaphor for the sustainability message. This is the real, inspirational part of the story. This unusual parallel is what really captured the imagination of the public.

So in summary:

In order to make your stories memorable, you have to start from a relatable starting point (in this case, a song that most people know very well and love)
Then you need an unexpected turn of events (the song wasn't as original as we all thought it was): the struggles
The most important element is the twist, the surprising element that makes this story not just a plain recount of fact after fact: in this case, Natalie Imbruglia changed the fate of the song because the time was right (he defined it as Kairos, a time when conditions are right for the accomplishment of a crucial action)
You need to take the audience on a journey (Mark added details and interest by talking about the video, and sharing the audio of the previous versions)
Where possible, add another twist, which in this case, also ends up being the morale of the story.

Now over to you:

What do you need to change in your storytelling to make your messages and case studies more interesting and memorable?

This article was originally written for the Green Gorilla weekly newsletter. If you liked it, subscribe to receive more articles like this and learn how to communicate sustainability better, how to be more productive without selling your soul to the work devil, and how to make an impact in the world. Here is the link: https://newsletter.thegreengorilla.co.uk/

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