Episode 13: Navigating Change: Leadership Lessons at 30,000 Feet

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (00:01.068)
Well, welcome back, you storyteller mind movie makers. Welcome back to the show. I'm Melissa and I'll be your host today. And we are so excited to have Ben Morley here as our guest and say hello, Ben. Yes, we're very excited. We're going to have a great conversation. So let's just start with how you and I know each other. Let me do a quick intro that Ben is a 27 year Air Force pilot that's now retired.

Ben Morley (00:14.025)
Hello everyone. Nice to be here. A pleasure.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (00:30.764)
retired. has seen the world including Antarctica. He's been everywhere. He's been on mission critical flights where President Clinton's in there. He has quite a career flying those big giant machines through the air. He's also a consultant, an executive leader, and he works with companies in merger and acquisition. So when companies are ready to sell, he helps find the buyers or he helps them get ready to sell. So you're very, very multi-

talented in business, which is great, but the big stuff that's coming is that he's about to be an author. An author of a book called Caterpillar Soup at 30,000 Feet, The Leader's Guide to Surviving and Mastering Your Greatest Transformation. I love that. As a storyteller, like you have to have transformation. So welcome and congratulations. So how are you feeling with

Ben Morley (01:28.459)
Thank you.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (01:29.684)
All of this going on, Ben.

Ben Morley (01:31.675)
I'm thrilled. It's fantastic. It's been one of those things on the back burner that I'll get to sometime, maybe, and to see it coming together as we record this. The editing is done. We're dealing with book design and for it to become a thing. It's tremendous. I'm very humbled by the process and thrilled to see what's next from it. Yes.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (01:56.419)
This is the closest you will ever be to having given birth.

Ben Morley (01:59.809)
Yes, which I have huge respect. Right, it is real. Yep.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (02:02.382)
He's in contractions and they are not Braxton Hicks. This is real. Yes, no, congratulations. It is quite fun. And you said you're in formatting stage and that's always fun. At one point though, my advice is you just sometimes have to put the pen down and be ready to go because it's just time, right? But I'm so excited for you.

Ben Morley (02:24.192)
Yes.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (02:26.781)
So the way we met was we got to work together with a show for the National Speakers Association, the Northwest Chapter, and they have the show called Last Story Standing. And a few episodes ago we had Bryan Gross on and he was one of the contestants and he did an amazing job sharing his story. And we're gonna have a treat. You will be sharing your story so you can kind of get an idea of the content of his book.

from this story. Yes, would you agree?

Ben Morley (02:56.669)
Yes, yes. So the book is intended for leaders. have a sense that there's a greater impact, a deeper alignment of yourselves that you want to bring to the table.

Transition is that fifth season in life, right? There's winter, spring, summer, fall and transition. It is the season in between seasons of which we feel and we're aware of, but we may not have language for it and we may not be able to prepare for it and how to act or how to dress or what to do. And so maybe there's a disconnect from the impact we're currently making, but you feel that there's something more to you in whatever role that may be. You might not even be in an official role. You feel that there's something more.

and that's what the book was written for, sensing that there's another chapter in life. I'm happy with where I'm at. I'm happy with what I've done, but there's this yearning for this transformation. So the metaphor that I use as a thread throughout the book is the metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly.

and there's some wonderful great books on how to be a great caterpillar and some wonderful books on how to maximize yourself as a butterfly but maybe not so many for the transformation biologically as chrysalis i call it the cocoon phase that

that dissolving, that transferring from what I was to where I'm going in that middle stage of I'm no longer that, but it is not developed yet inside me enough to call it the next thing.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (04:38.978)
Right? It's like you're in it. And the thing that I love about your topic is that change is going to happen. If it doesn't, then you're dead. know? it's going to happen and so many people fear it. And it is scary because it's unknown. But it's also, I think it's an attitude thing that you're working and helping people with. It's like you're changing.

Ben Morley (04:46.933)
Yes. Yes.

Right

Ben Morley (04:59.51)
Yes.

Ben Morley (05:06.357)
Yes.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (05:07.392)
and trust it's gonna be okay. It's like a snake shedding its skin or an adolescent becoming involved with their whole body changing. It's like that, but it's more on a spiritual level when you become an adult.

Ben Morley (05:12.811)
Yeah.

Ben Morley (05:20.469)
Yes. Yes.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (05:22.51)
So I just think that your topic is gonna be really, really well received and leaders too. Like do you find like when you're working with your executives, how are they overall, if you're like looking at all your clientele, how are they overall when they see change is gonna happen? Like maybe they're going to be asked out.

or they leave the company or maybe they're going to be invited in. And that's another level of change. One's a little happier, one's a little more intense. What do you feel as though their comfort zone is with change?

Ben Morley (05:57.363)
A few are comfortable and have already gotten up to the rhythm with it. And have their sea legs, if you will, but many don't. I was one of those in my time when going through my transfer, I didn't. I didn't know. There's this resistance that now you have the imposter syndrome or who am I? It really speaks to identity. I've built this business. I am this executive. I have built this and

I am losing my identity and who I am if I sell this business and I tell a story of exactly that in our mergers and acquisitions firm representing a client, there's a buyer, it's pretty much an easy floater across the plate, buyers ready to make a deal and the seller torpedoed the deal to the point where the buyer's like, do you even want to sell this? And the answer was no. Now this guy's wife was ready to sell it like yesterday.

But because he could not see himself without the business, he torpedoed the sale. And it's that identity from, you know, teenager to 20s or single to married or with kids now empty nester to, right? So it fits in all of these different categories that's new and it doesn't say it may not feel right. Doesn't feel great. But to your point, transformation is coming.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (07:00.942)
because was his identity.

Yeah.

Ben Morley (07:22.093)
So how do we create a language for it and to be comfortable in that uncomfortableness and to create some orientation through it?

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (07:33.314)
What do you think some of the key tips are that help us get through it?

Or can be tips, you know, is it journaling? Is it having faith in the universe? Like what do you think helps the person?

Ben Morley (07:44.321)
Yes. I think it's yes to all of that. The phases I speak to is number one awareness. Right? So where transformation begins for everybody. It's the moment the caterpillar first senses the cocoon calling, if you will. You cannot change what you cannot see clearly. So that's the awareness, the self-awareness of where I am at currently that then always poses into resistance.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (07:54.072)
Mm-hmm.

Ben Morley (08:13.225)
Right. And you spoke about that on your podcast, the chatterbox, the this, resistance, the instinct, right? my. The instinct to keep crawling rather than surrender the cocoon and go through that. I'm going to continue wearing my high school jersey. Let me tell you how great I used to be. No judgment. But that fear for moving forward, the resistance that presses into identity. OK, so am I tied up in

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (08:13.952)
yeah.

Yeah.

Ben Morley (08:41.363)
an old identity, right? So am I being loyal to an old outdated version of myself that is preventing me from moving on? Am I trying to hang on to something past its sell-by date identity, right? That goes into fear. Fear stands at the guardian of the gate of your next level for each one of us, whatever that may be. Stepping on stage, talking at the PTA meeting, whatever that may be, right? Or starting a business.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (09:07.096)
starting a business.

Ben Morley (09:10.087)
Asking that person to dance, going out to coffee, write the executive meeting, what have you. To be able to build that courage in the act of the presence of the fear instead of waiting for it to disappear, which it may not. And then that leads into letting go. The strategic release of patterns, beliefs and identities that no longer serve the person you are becoming. Which gets into entering that cocoon and allowing the dissolution to begin. Letting go. Which leads into redefinition.

is the intentional work of becoming who you were meant to be. It's that reorganization of surviving essence into a new form. It's what redefinition is. It's the intentional work of becoming who you were meant to be, which is the reorganization of surviving essence into a new form. You will integrate the best of your past self with the person you are becoming.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (09:49.582)
Say that again. Say that one more time.

Ben Morley (10:07.251)
moving beyond linear thinking into the complex reality of genuine growth. So everything that you love about yourself, everything that is meant to stay with you through this meltdown phase will be with you. But there's going to be a lot that's going to get loud. So that's the redefinition that leads into forward motion and that's where your insight transforms into action. It's that first movement of

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (10:22.428)
yeah. It's gonna get loud.

Ben Morley (10:34.335)
the newly formed wings of the butterfly, if you will, exploring the difference between goals and plans I talk about in the book. And so from forward motion, now you move into that authentic, the authenticity is the courage to be yourself, that new version, even when it is inconvenient, emerging from the cocoon, even when others prefer the caterpillar version of you, right?

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (11:00.802)
Yeah.

Ben Morley (11:01.161)
And then finally, we move into service, which is the ultimate expression of your transformed capability, which is the butterfly taking flight in the service of something larger than itself.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (11:12.942)
Just brilliant. So it's interesting as you were sharing those I was like there's a couple of things there's sometimes you are thrown into the cocoon and into the chrysalis and you have wings suddenly and you don't really know like it could be something like more more dramatic it could be you know your marriage blows up or there's an accident that happens and

Ben Morley (11:14.638)
you

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (11:33.583)
you know, a person suddenly can't walk. They're a new person now. They had no plan that that was going to happen and they have to look at their wings and go, okay, I got to work with this.

But then there's also the, you kind of feel like it's time to change, you know? And you could visualize the wings that you want. Are you gonna be a blue monarch? Are you gonna be orange? Are they gonna be big wings? Are you gonna be moth-like? And then stepping into it. So that group, I think, are the more maverick, pioneering attitude. Like, hey.

My job is to continue to grow and expand and so jumping into that cocoon might not be so scary for some people because they've done it so many times. What do you think?

Ben Morley (12:19.413)
Yes, agreed. I think that if we look at it, each one of us have gone through a cocoon.

metaphorically at all stages of our life to get to where each each stage at each stage and so to become aware of that and to look back and go I have done this maybe maybe not to this level but I am aware and if I have the if I look at the forensics of the improvements that I've already made to get to me where I'm at maybe that takes fear away a little bit maybe it lights the path just a little bit more it's different but similar yeah

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (12:28.833)
anytime.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (12:52.556)
Well, and that's one of the reasons why I get up every day and help people find their stories and tell them. stories like you can like a divorce story for you. I'll just go back to that one. That's not a club you necessarily think you're gonna ever go into, right? You don't think you are. But when you do, you realize you're in a club with a whole bunch of other monarchs that have already gone through it or as you're going through it, someone shares their story about what they went through. Gonna be a completely different story, but there's just such comfort still to

Ben Morley (12:57.899)
Yes.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (13:22.53)
know you're not the only one that's gone through it because you can get so caught up in that chatterbox, you know?

Ben Morley (13:25.345)
It's that. Yes. Right. You're not the only one. But that's that fear and that's that voice. You are the only one. You know, you're never going to be the same. Whatever that voice is telling you. But to wait, pause. And that's the awareness of that voice, right? And that.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (13:31.692)
You're not. Yeah, you're not.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (13:44.823)
Yeah, yes, that's key.

That is key. And we talked about that in the last episode. So we really are on a subject that we just covered in the last episode. So go back and check them out, you guys. How about this, Ben? First off, I just find that you're such a poetic speaker. And when we worked together, I remember one time we were in rehearsal, because we go through the whole thing together. So I directed eight storytellers for this one show. Everyone had five minutes. Exactly. If you didn't hit five minutes, you didn't get qualified to go on and win, which

Ben Morley (13:55.648)
Right.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (14:19.152)
you know, that's not something we wanted, but you made your time, you made it in five minutes. And it was just such a fun process, you know, to get through it. I mean, there was times in rehearsal where you and I couldn't even talk after you'd done it. We were like, you remember that day? We both just were like this. We just froze because we knew you had hit, you had just hit it. And you did.

Ben Morley (14:33.259)
Yes, we both, yes, right. Yep.

Right. Yeah.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (14:41.29)
And that was still rehearsal. yeah, those are the magic things that I love. So would you indulge us and share your story that you told that you guys it's worth every second? It would be such a treat. And it also keep this in mind. This is a nice summary story that you can tell many times as you go on podcast tours. Once your book is launched, the podcast tour thing is real. And so many authors sometimes

Ben Morley (14:45.62)
It is.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (15:11.204)
think that they need to read their book when really you can tell the story. So when you're doing it, pay attention to the way he is setting up the story, the way he introduces characters and not all characters might be human. Okay, so we'll pay attention to that. And the dialogue, the dialogue that you, when you use dialogue, how does it, how does it affect the audience's experience? There's just a lot

of things that he's using that we went over very carefully when we went through the whole last story standing training was how do we take your story and create it into a vivid mind movie. Alright so here's a sample student right before our eyes that will be able to share some of that work whenever you're ready.

Ben Morley (16:05.483)
Give me one second. One. Okay, okay, hold on. Just a minute, I'll have it. Hold on.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (16:06.88)
No problem, we can edit this out too.

And we're vampin'. And we're vampin'. Carl, you're on this.

Ben Morley (16:26.495)
Okay. Sorry, I had to walk across the Okay, so I have it here. You want the... Is this what you...

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (16:31.318)
Yeah, go ahead and do it. Okay, so yes, we'll just kind of, okay. All right, so.

Ben's ready to share his story. Let's just sit back and listen. But as you're listening to this story, what do you see in your own mind? When he points out a certain character, do you see them? How do you feel about them? What does he do with his words that create that mind movie experience where you're feeling it? Okay, so whenever you're ready, my friend.

Ben Morley (17:05.991)
The year is 1995. I'm a 28 year old Air Force instructor pilot flying an analog jet built in the 60s. It was built by the lowest bidder and today I really believe it. During flight planning this morning the colonel told me, Captain Morley, because of this mission's priority you will be airy fueling today. Yes sir. We are currently over the Atlantic on this classified mission with my crew of six. This plane is a

beast. can hold 200 people. But today it feels fragile. Our cargo is so sensitive, President Clinton and his team are in the situation room monitoring our every move. I hear the radio chatter in my headset, feel the airflow from the vent and the low constant hum of the engines. The afternoon sun hits the clouds as we descend to perform a hazardous procedure.

a mid-air refueling. Imagine trying to siphon a gas from a car traveling at 350 mph. Except the car is a massive flying gas station, 200 feet long, and we are flying just 12 feet apart, nearly 6 miles high, at 30,000 feet, in the clouds. I check the steam gauges preparing for the rendezvous, then suddenly it hits me. Something is not right.

My gut screams the flying gas station is not where it's supposed to be 100 miles away. It's heading directly for us. We're on a collision course. No radar oversight. No GPS. Our closure rate is 70 to 430 miles a minute. We're on a collision course and I'm the only one who can see it. I shout to my crew. They're on the wrong coordinates. Right here in this cockpit suspended between the

pilot I was trained to be and the leader I must become. am in transition. Transition is the metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly, but caterpillar does not just grow wings. In the cocoon, literally liquefies. It becomes caterpillar soup. It is that terrifying space of letting go of who I am with one hand while reaching out in the dark with the other for a version of me I have not met yet.

Ben Morley (19:35.669)
To become the leader I need to be in this moment, I must commit identity suicide. I am in the soup. But there is no time for flight. I have to fight. My hands are slick with sweat on the controls. My heart is hammering against my ribs. I realize who I am becoming must determine what I am about to do. I immediately take the controls. I put the aircraft in a sharp, violent bank away from our flight path.

I'm shouting on the radio, you're heading to the wrong coordinates, turn immediately. Two of my crew members fall to the floor. hear their angry shouts over the intercom, followed by a sudden heavy silence as they realize the gravity of what almost happened.

After a few minutes, everything is sorted out. The sky clears. We successfully rendezvous, take the fuel, I radio to the flying gas station, refueling accomplished, and we complete the mission. I survived the transition because I was willing to let the old version of me melt away. On that day, I earned my wings. They feel awkward at first, new and wet.

but they are mine. Transition is not about doing, it is about becoming and being. The cocoon is about letting go of our attachment to an old version of ourselves because we finally believe a better one is possible.

Years later, I can still feel my hands on those controls, still hear that sudden silence when my crew realized what almost happened. So I ask you, where are you today? Are you a caterpillar, ready for something more? Or are you in the cocoon, in the soup, reaching out in the dark? Because here's what I learned at 30,000 feet. Your actions today.

Ben Morley (21:36.671)
Determine who you are becoming.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (21:41.747)
I just love that story. Thank you. Yeah. And I just want you all to know there were eight storytellers and Ben took second place and People's Choice Award. So it was really beautiful. Okay, let's talk about it, shall we? You're so sweet. No, we really did have a beautiful exchange of how we found. I remember one time when I said you earned your wings that day and you went,

Ben Morley (21:45.921)
Very welcome.

Ben Morley (21:58.143)
Well, the forensics of your excellence are in that, so thank you, coach, but please go ahead.

Ben Morley (22:06.465)
Mmm.

Ben Morley (22:11.777)
That's it. That's it. Right, yes. Yes, right.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (22:13.006)
I know, that was one of these again. We were like, oh my God, you're in your wings. Cause that wasn't in there. But again, when we're working in sessions and when you're working with coaches, right? You need to get in that zone, right? So it's like, yeah, it came through me, that one line, but it was for you. And it was your energy that I just picked up on. That's all. That's how I always look at those sorts of things. It's like the two of us have energy that's creating this art together, right? So that was beautiful. But let's talk about a few things that I think are fun. The beginning is data.

Ben Morley (22:34.465)
Yeah, yes.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (22:42.24)
Right? The year, your age, what you're doing, you know, it's, what was it, 1997? 1995, it's 1995. And so by saying that, everyone who was alive is gonna go, where was I in 1995? Right? I was in Los Angeles, right? So I have Melissa from Los Angeles going on in that, my old caterpillar, right?

Ben Morley (22:43.061)
Right. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

95.

Ben Morley (22:58.849)
Mm-hmm.

Ben Morley (23:03.519)
Right, yeah. Yes, I had hair, right, so yeah, I'll go that.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (23:07.798)
Yeah, you did. You did. I've seen pictures. Yes, you did. You had hair and 28 years old. Data. But we all remember what it's like to be 28 unless you're younger, you know? So that you might have a disconnect if they're younger. But for a lot of the audience in this particular case, we're an older audience, you know, like they were people that were probably, I would say, 50 was the average age in that audience. OK, so that was good.

Ben Morley (23:14.453)
Right, yes.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (23:37.475)
But I love when you called it the gas station, the flying gas station. When he calls the other airplane a flying gas station, I ask the audience, what station was it? Because mine was a Shell station. But some people might have had Chevron. They might have had a Costco station. It doesn't matter. But the audience creates an airplane, and then they turn it into a gas station. You did that.

Ben Morley (23:54.869)
Right. Right.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (24:04.814)
You did that with our imaginations by calling it that and notice he called it that for the whole time. It wasn't, you know, the plane. It was always the flying gas station. So that was the inanimate character that was in the story. You went back to some data and I love how you took your time with it. You said we're six miles up. That's 30,000 feet in the clouds.

Ben Morley (24:05.771)
Thank you.

Ben Morley (24:11.989)
Mm-hmm.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (24:27.604)
Every time you added one more piece, you changed and enriched the mind movie. I love when you said, when you took the pause and in the clouds. So now all of a sudden you're like, that's pretty high up. I've been at 30,000 feet. That's six miles. I didn't know that. So we're doing some data and some math. But I remember in rehearsal, you had more numbers. Remember you had more numbers at the beginning? And we were like, a lot of math going on there.

Ben Morley (24:47.361)
Yeah, right.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (24:52.864)
And that's going to take the emotional impact out. So I talk about that a lot. And you were so cool because you were like, I didn't even look at it like that. Because again, as a pilot, pilot Ben, you're going to default to the numbers. And so taking them out and being very careful when you use the numbers so that everyone, the non-pilots of the world can relate to it. I didn't realize that 30,000 feet was six miles. That's long. That's really high.

Ben Morley (24:56.821)
You do.

Ben Morley (25:04.66)
Right. Yes.

Ben Morley (25:19.945)
It's, yeah, it's up there.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (25:22.474)
It's up there. Then there were some things you did where, I also love that you said, because the first time we did it, you said, the president is sitting in the White House. And we were like, who? Which president? And then you were like, it's Clinton. And I'm like, we gotta say that. And why? If we don't say it's President Clinton, everyone's gonna wonder who was the president at the time.

Ben Morley (25:37.695)
Right. Yeah.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (25:48.759)
So we removed that threat of what we call the wonder-wander effect because if you don't give that information, the audience is going to wonder on their own. And so that's where the coaching can be really helpful because you would be like, the president's in the White House. In your mind, you saw Clinton. But we're like, who is it? And just gently saying that. And then if you like Clinton or not, doesn't matter. But at least it gives it that clear image of him sitting in the situation room. So that was great.

Ben Morley (26:14.849)
Correct.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (26:17.642)
Then there's two times, mostly at the end, but in the middle, you move in, you go from narrating the story and telling the story and stepping into the story where the, you know, your crew is yelling, what's going on, you know, we're going to hit, and then you step out and you talk about transition. And in that point, you definitely step out of the story a little bit to become in transition. But I would say in that first time you do that, it's like you are sharing your inner thoughts.

You know, but this is time has passed now and you like when you were in it Did you really say to yourself in that moment? I'm in the chrysalis In that second, maybe you didn't but you knew you were in something and Then you the artist and you later was able to create it into that which I just thought it was a very beautiful way for you to share your inner thoughts in a such an artistic way, so Good job. I'll stop it

Ben Morley (26:56.522)
No.

Ben Morley (27:00.725)
Right, right.

Ben Morley (27:12.767)
Well, thank you. had a great coach who pointed that out.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (27:17.166)
I don't know right? Yeah, no, but you you did you did do it another thing I love what you do with your work is your tone and your pace You have a really lovely voice to to listen to it's like butter, you know I could listen you could read the phone book to me like keep going Ben But you you you have a nice control over the way you use your voice and the way you were Looking at it as if it were I would say like music there was times you went really fast and you had to get it up there and then you'd stop

Ben Morley (27:30.335)
Hahaha!

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (27:47.393)
And you pull it back and it was not contrived. It was really beautifully done. so again kudos to you and that's you don't say that was me. Really well done because it gives that variety for the audience. Sometimes I'll hear storytellers and they have this same tone and they're going through the whole thing and it's always at this tone. And then they stop and they go at this tone and it's it's monotonous and you do to really create that mind movie.

You want to have that variety in your voice and in your sentences because that's how we talk.

Ben Morley (28:22.517)
Yes, it is, right.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (28:22.766)
That's how we talk, right? So technically it was just really a brilliant, brilliant piece. And then you come into the last one where you were, so he has a call to action in this type of story. So when he said, where are you? Where are you in the cocoon? Are you a caterpillar? He did that. Not all storytelling venues would necessarily call for such a direct ask to the audience, but in this case, it was kind of important because it was a keynote case. And so the Speakers Association wants

their audiences to feel challenged. But you could change that if you were going to tell this story, let's say at the moth, you know, the show that's on NPR, you might change the ending of that. You might not say, where are you? You might say, that day I learned and you might change it and just keep it as a reflection to yourself. But in this case, in a keynote to do that call to action, you reach back out to the audience now, that's bringing them in. That's bringing them into your

to your story to participate. Right? And so it's completely applicable. It's completely acceptable. Okay, those are my notes.

Ben Morley (29:25.654)
Yes.

Ben Morley (29:32.373)
think that's fantastic and that's the beauty of this podcast with what you're doing with the mind movie you this is the makers show where you can get this you know beautiful piece of music let's say right maybe maybe it's a hard rock band you know pick Metallica right so this is what you're hearing on the radio then they make an acoustic version then they make a version with an orchestra so to your point it's the same piece of music

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (29:39.586)
Mm-hmm.

Ben Morley (29:59.915)
but it's modified based on who they're working with and their audience. So to your point with that structure that you're creating here with the speakers. Yeah, we don't need all this data on the aircraft or all this data and whatever the person may be and to realize how the audience is gonna do. That's that wonder, right? I'm gonna veer off and for you to coach on just enough seasoning to make this soup wonderful, right? Just enough in there for us. So yeah.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (30:19.309)
Yeah.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (30:24.973)
That's right.

That's right. You know, it made me think like it would be fun challenge just for you as a storyteller to anyone out there, you know, is to actually if you really want to see what you can do with a story because again, when we're creating stories for your own story library, right? So Ben's going to go on a podcast and he's going to talk about it. He's got several stories that he's going to tell, but this one really could be one that you tell more frequently than not, but depending on the audience. So if you had an audience for some reason, maybe let's say you had a podcast

Let's say you had a podcast and it was geared towards high school STEM kids. Okay, right? These are high school STEM kids trying to figure out where they want to go. How would you start that story to them?

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (31:14.946)
How would you tell that story? What words would you use that would be different? But it's still the story, but you're gonna change it just slightly because the audience changed.

Ben Morley (31:24.949)
I would say probably with a stem group there's a bit more details, probably a bit more analytical. So I would look to flavor it and to structure it that way, if you will. Maybe I put a few more of those data sets in there because they're going to pick up on that. They've already have the language and the framing for that type of communication. They're going to get it. They can keep pace, if you will, with the speaker on the cadence of it, of the data coming.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (31:33.742)
Mm-hmm.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (31:50.167)
Right, now let me change the audience to a bunch of theater actors. You've been invited into the drama club, and there are these young minds that are about to graduate, and they're theater kids. How would you tell that story to them?

Ben Morley (32:04.789)
I'll mention airplane and that's the last part of it. Maybe just a couple of pieces of data, but then we're going to be talking about what was the feel, how was the meshing with the crew, how are we getting along, what I feel like in that seat.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (32:12.429)
Mm-hmm.

Ben Morley (32:17.513)
right as I tighten up the straps and I'm adjusting the vent here and leave the analytics. How do I feel? What did the sun look like as it's bouncing off of the clouds late in the afternoon? We can create that framing. I remember. I know what clouds look like with the sun off in the afternoon. Okay, great. From there. Yeah.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (32:17.902)
Yes.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (32:22.86)
Yes.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (32:35.468)
That's right. That's right. And that's the fun. Right? That's the fun. It's like you get your story so good that you can mix it around.

Ben Morley (32:38.261)
That's the fun. Right. Yes.

Ben Morley (32:44.693)
that. Yes.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (32:45.87)
You know, I actually did that in improv last week. I have a story that I love that I just started telling. And it's between eight to 10 minutes, okay? It was in a longer format. They wanted us to go long. And I'm like, how do get this down to five minutes? Because I want to be able to tell it on the moth. And on the fly, I told the story in an improv scene at a live show and I got it down to three minutes. Probably two.

Probably two and I just, and I weed whacked everything out and I got to where I needed it to be and it was so much fun because people were walking up to me going, my God, I loved your story. And I'm like, you have no idea how much I jumped. Yeah.

Ben Morley (33:25.535)
That right.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (33:28.142)
But it's a good thing to do. So everyone out there listening and you're starting to develop your stories, know your best story so well that they'll never be threatened from you no matter what. You could tell it to anyone. And you just know, you pivot. If you don't pivot, if you don't pivot, it won't be as fun for the audience. They have to feel like they're a part of it with you. So that's fun.

Ben Morley (33:40.161)
anyone.

Ben Morley (33:50.567)
Yes, well said, well said. The book's coming out this month. It's, yes, it is coming out. can't wait. It'll be wonderful. Yeah, such a tremendous achievement. It's a great, great team helping me out with this. And they are like you, a great coach.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (33:54.304)
So when's your book coming out?

Ben Morley (34:15.617)
and they're providing what I really talk about in the book. I want to do this or I'm in a transition, but I don't, I'm looking for other voices that can help me out with that they've been wonderful. So yes, coming out this month, be on Amazon, so yeah.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (34:26.936)
So great. And there's so much going on in the economy too, you know, with people losing jobs and there's going to be a lot more in, I think, entrepreneurship happening with people. So this is the perfect time for you to be able to maximize people who have been thrown into the Chrysalis, right? And having to deal with it, but realizing that they could start to visualize the wings that they want, right? So it's just a...

Ben Morley (34:45.355)
Right, agreed.

Ben Morley (34:51.329)
That's correct. That's well put. Yes.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (34:54.092)
brilliant, I use this analogy because of you, multiple times during the week. Multiple times. Yeah, so thank you. And that's best part about a really great story is that it stays with the audience. It stays with the audience. They don't forget about it because you didn't just talk at them, you actually brought them into something that they were in. They were in that airplane. They were in the white mass.

Ben Morley (35:00.969)
wonderful. You're very welcome.

Ben Morley (35:07.945)
stays with the audience.

Ben Morley (35:14.549)
bring them in. Which they were in. Right. To get people coming up going I'm in the caterpillar soup right now I know what they mean. And to connect that way we as speakers you're the locomotive in the train backing up to the train cars to make the connection then you pull them forward. Because I want just some crazy locomotive. OK I made no connection with the audience but to know that and with your coaching and what is done here.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (35:24.91)
It's so cool.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (35:33.976)
Yeah.

Ben Morley (35:42.687)
to leave the audience to continue to think on that. That's a, what a great grip that you provide to people here. so, so it's, it's wonderful.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (35:46.797)
yeah.

Well, you're so talented. mean, thank you. You're so sweet. You're so sweet. Thank you. But you're so good too. So it's a delight. Well, I am super excited for you. I'm grateful that I could have you on the show. Thank you. my God. Thank you. And so everyone out there, this is what this show is about. This is about learning how to find the science to the art form of storytelling. And we just had the pleasure of listening to Ben Morley with a beautiful story.

Ben Morley (36:04.245)
Such a pleasure.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (36:20.144)
that's going to reflect his book. So I wish you all the best, new friend. Yeah, and best to you. And we will be coming back. Every Monday we drop an episode. So please like, comment, and share. My new favorite thing to say. Like, comment, and share. We really want to hear from you. And I have been. I've been getting emails from people who are talking about the chatterbox and some of the content. So I know I'm starting to crack some people to think about their storytelling.

Ben Morley (36:23.809)
Thank you, new friend.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (36:50.244)
all walking talking storybooks. Yeah. Alright.

Ben Morley (36:53.235)
Agreed. Agreed. What a pleasure. Melissa, thank you so much.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (36:57.762)
Thank you, Ben. All right, and till next time.