How Park Howell Teaching the ABT Framework Delivered 69% Competency Gains for the U.S. Air Force in One Day
The four-star general raised his hand.
Top row of a packed 180-person theater at Joint Base Andrews. Washington D.C. I was completing a half-day workshop for newly-minted brigadier generals — their final communications training before assuming command.
“I have a correction to the first story you told today,” he said.
My stomach dropped.
I have never served in the armed forces. So I open each Air Force workshop with a connection story — how my wife Michele’s long-deceased father, Major James Reynolds, seemed to send her a sign after 9/11 through a model replica of the F-86 he flew as squadron commander of the Skyblazers, predecessors to today’s Thunderbirds.
I tell that story to earn permission to be their storytelling wingman.
“You started this day by stating that you have never served our country,” the general said.
“That’s right, sir.”
“Well, from what I can tell, you have served this Air Force honorably. And for that, I commend you.”
The theater erupted. I goosebumped.
No finer compliment have I ever received.
That was years ago. I’ve been training U.S. Air Force leadership — one to four-star generals and their staffs — for over a decade.
USAF Research And Engineering Leaders Core Storytelling Competency Gain
On March 12, 2026, I ran a full-day virtual session with 24 research and engineering leaders from the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Advanced Development Program for Supervisors — the ADPS cohort — through the University of Dayton Center for Leadership.
These aren’t career communicators. They’re technical experts — scientists, engineers, program managers — who lead some of the most complex and important research and development in the U.S. military. Getting them to move the needle on communication is harder, not easier.
Before the training, they self-reported a 2.42 out of 5 on communication competency.
After the one-day Business of Story Mastery Course: 4.08.
A 69% increase in communication competency. Overall satisfaction: 4.83 out of 5. The ABT framework as a learning objective: a perfect 5.0 out of 5.
That’s signal, not noise.
Why That Number Is Extraordinary
Here’s what’s not working in the leadership training industry:
- 75% of organizations say their leadership programs are not very effective.
- Only 12% of employees actually apply new skills from training on the job.
- And only 19–25% of organizations rate their leadership development as highly effective.
The industry doesn’t have a delivery problem. It has a measurement problem — and a framework problem.
We hit 69% with technical experts, on a virtual platform, in a single day.
That’s a result the industry rarely achieves because it rarely measures the right thing.
And it didn’t happen because of the framework alone.
The ABT — And, But, Therefore — is a small but mighty three-word narrative structure that’s been the backbone of human storytelling since Aristotle.
But a framework is only as powerful as the person wielding it. What moved the needle for those 24 Air Force research and engineering leaders was twenty years of Park Howell honing exactly how to teach it.
Park’s ABTs of Leadership Storytelling Mastery Course pairs the ABT with a second tool: the Five Primal Elements of a Short Story for Big Impact. Together, they give leaders not just a narrative architecture, but the raw material to build stories that land with any audience, in any context, immediately.
That combination — ABT structure plus primal story elements — is what separates a communication framework from a communication transformation.
Park sharpened this methodology over five years teaching a master ‘s-level sustainable storytelling course at Arizona State University. That crucible taught him something most corporate trainers never learn: how adults actually internalize new cognitive frameworks — not just absorb them in a room and forget them on the drive home.
One participant said it plainly:
“This is something I can use immediately.”
Not after a follow-up session. Not after reviewing the workbook. That afternoon.
Another:
“I appreciated Park’s willingness to look at our respective messages and provide feedback on how to improve them. It was really helpful and timely since I’m working on messaging to the workforce about a new division.”
That’s the test every communication training program should be held to, and most fail it.
Why Most Programs Fail Before They Start
The Ebbinghaus forgetting curve is unforgiving: without deliberate reinforcement, the majority of training content disappears within weeks. Research confirms that only 20–30% of training is actually used within a month of completion — and that’s before the curve steepens.
Most programs teach about communication. Information. Inspiration. A nice workbook. What they don’t deliver is a repeatable, deployable architecture leaders can use the following Monday — in an actual meeting, with actual stakes.
That’s not a training problem. That’s a structural problem.
Only 37% of employees are highly satisfied with the training they receive. The majority sit through programs that don’t change how they work — and everyone involved knows it.
Organizations that accept these results and watch them evaporate aren’t running a training program. They’re running a forgetting program with a nice catering budget.
What Is the ABT Framework — and Why Does It Work?
The ABT (And, But, Therefore) framework is a three-part narrative structure that mirrors how the human brain processes information — making it the most effective leadership communication tool available for driving clarity, alignment, and action.
Most corporate storytelling workshops and executive communication coaches teach leaders to tell better stories. That’s useful. But it’s not enough.
The difference between a storytelling speaker who entertains and a business storytelling trainer who transforms: one teaches you to tell stories. The other teaches you to think in story — so narrative becomes the operating system for every message, brief, email, and room you stand in front of.
That’s narrative-first thinking. And the ABT is the architecture that makes it possible.
AND — Agreement. What your audience already believes or wants.
BUT — Contradiction. The obstacle standing between them and what they want.
THEREFORE — Consequence. The action or resolution that follows.
Three words. Simple enough to write on a sticky note. Powerful enough to restructure how a general briefs a room of 180 commanders — or how a research engineer explains a complex program to non-technical leadership. Or how a sales and marketing communicates a complex message in a clear and compelling way.
The ABT works because it:
- Reduces cognitive load to a narrative structure anchored on three memorable connective words
- Mirrors the brain’s natural pattern-recognition sequence
- Forces communicators to name the real problem (BUT) before proposing solutions
- Creates narrative tension that compels audiences to listen
- Applies immediately — briefs, emails, presentations, workforce messages
A few years ago, I was training a professional contractor sales team at The Home Depot’s national headquarters. One guy asked: “What’s the shortest ABT you know?”
“The ABT is short AND sweet, BUT tricky, THEREFORE, practice, practice, practice.”
The universal tripartite structure to story: setup | problem | solution.
That’s the point. Three words leaders actually use on Tuesday morning — not just the Friday afternoon they learned it.
“This was my favorite module so far,” one ADPS participant said — out of an entire multi-module leadership development series.
The Numbers Side by Side
| Metric | Industry Reality (Evidence-Based) | Best-in-Class (Inferred) | ADPS Cohort |
|---|---|---|---|
| Immediate improvement |
Initial gains occur but vary widely; rarely measured rigorously¹ |
Higher with active learning design | 69% measured competency gain |
Skill application without reinforcement |
Only 12–30% of training is applied or retained on the job² |
Improved with structured reinforcement | N/A — reinforcement built in |
| Sustained impact | Rapid decay without reinforcement; only 20–30% of training used within a month³ |
Moderate with reinforcement systems | 25–50%+ with 21-day Story Quest |
Program effectiveness perception |
Only 19–25% of organizations rate leadership development highly effective⁴ |
— | 4.83 / 5 satisfaction |
Participant satisfaction |
Only 37% of employees are highly satisfied with training² |
Higher in premium, applied-learning programs | 4.83 / 5 |
Reinforcement program |
Rare/inconsistent across industry³ | Sometimes included | Yes — 21-day Story Quest |
Pre-training preparation |
Virtually nonexistent as standard practice | Rarely included | Yes — ABTs of Storytelling micro-course |
|
Competency measurement |
Industry rarely measures pre/post competency rigorously¹ |
Occasional assessment | Measured: 2.42 → 4.08 |
Sources: ¹ATD — The Leadership Training Industry Is Broken; ²Research.com — Training Industry Statistics; ³Training Industry Inc. — Why Many Training Programs Fall Short; ⁴ATD State of the Industry. ADPS cohort data: Business of Story / University of Dayton Center for Leadership, March 2026.
The real differentiator: The industry measures participation. We measure competency change. They hope for retention. We engineer reinforcement. And while the industry debates what “good” looks like — we measured it.
Key Takeaways
- 69% in one day — with technical experts, virtually. If the ABT can move research engineers that far that fast, it will work for your leaders.
- Three words beat a thousand slides. AND, BUT, THEREFORE. Immediate applicability. Zero cognitive overhead.
- The forgetting curve is structural. Only 20–30% of training is used within a month without reinforcement. Most programs are engineered to produce this outcome.
- The industry doesn’t measure what matters. Only 25% of organizations believe training is measurably effective — because most don’t measure competency change. We do.
- Real work, real coaching. Working on actual leader messages — not case studies — is what separates elite results from average ones.
- Narrative-first thinking is the edge. Most programs teach leaders to tell better stories. This teaches them to think in story.
Frequently Asked Questions: Leadership Communication Training ROI
What is the ROI of leadership communication training?
Most programs struggle to demonstrate measurable ROI — only 25% of organizations believe their training is measurably effective, and only 12% of employees apply new skills on the job. The Business of Story ABT-based mastery course delivered a 69% competency gain for 24 U.S. Air Force research and engineering leaders in a single virtual day, with a 4.83/5 satisfaction score.
What is the ABT framework in storytelling and leadership communication?
The ABT (And, But, Therefore) framework is a three-part narrative structure: AND establishes agreement, BUT introduces the obstacle, THEREFORE delivers the consequence. The oldest narrative structure in human communication, used by leaders from Air Force generals to Fortune 500 executives. Learn more about the ABT framework and the Story Cycle System™.
How do you measure the effectiveness of a leadership communication program?
Pre/post competency assessments, satisfaction scores, and sustained behavior change. The March 2026 Air Force Research Laboratory ADPS cohort: 2.42 → 4.08 competency score (69% gain), 4.83/5 satisfaction, 5.0/5 for the ABT framework objective. The industry rarely measures this rigorously — which is exactly why the bar is so low.
Why do most leadership communication training programs fail?
They teach about communication without a repeatable, deployable framework. Only 12% of employees apply new skills from training on the job. Without reinforcement, the majority of training impact is lost within weeks. Information plus inspiration minus application equals forgetting.
What is the Business of Story Mastery Course?
The Business of Story Mastery Course is a leadership communication transformation system built on ABT and the Five Primal Elements of a Short Story for Big Impact. It includes a pre-training micro-course, customized workshop (90-minute or full-day, virtual or in-person), 21-day Story Quest reinforcement program, and follow-up virtual coaching. Delivered to U.S. Air Force leadership — one to four-star generals to research supervisors — for over a decade. Curriculum developed while teaching a Master’s-level storytelling course at Arizona State University for five years.
How does the ABT framework break the Ebbinghaus forgetting curve?
Four mechanisms: (1) extreme simplicity — three words, zero cognitive overhead, (2) live application on real content during training, (3) expert coaching feedback loops, (4) immediate workplace relevance. The 21-day Story Quest extends gains through deliberate practice — Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for seven weeks.
The Path to Sustained Transformation
The Business of Story Mastery Course is built on the same framework that earned a four-star general’s commendation — and a 69% competency gain from 24 Air Force research engineers — in a single day.
But it’s designed to go where most programs never go: past the training day.
One week before, participants take the first module of our ABTs of Storytelling micro-course. They arrive with the framework already in hand — training time builds on a foundation, not lays one.
The training — 90 minutes or a full day, virtual or in-person — is built around your leaders’ actual messages and real challenges. Not slides. Not case studies. Their words, in real time.
21-day Story Quest. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for seven weeks, participants receive a brief, instructional email challenging them to spot and craft ABTs in the wild. Deliberate practice. Daily reps. No workbooks gathering dust.
The following week: a secondary virtual session and/or an Ask Me Anything — to answer the questions that only surface once leaders are back in the field.
Park honed this curriculum teaching a Master’s-level sustainable storytelling course at Arizona State University for five years. This isn’t a training program. It’s a transformation architecture engineered around how adults actually learn, retain, and apply new skills.
If you’re evaluating business storytelling speakers, designing a corporate storytelling workshop, or looking for an executive communication coach who delivers measurable ROI — let’s talk.
Most presentation skills training teaches your leaders to tell better stories.
This teaches them to think in story.
And once your leaders master the architecture of narrative-first thinking, they don’t just communicate more clearly.
They lead.
Our new StoryCycle Genie® is the only brand storytelling platform built with the ABT framework at its core — so all of your on-brand messaging is guided by this small but mighty structure to connect with your audience on a deep, emotional level.
Story on, my friend.
Park Howell is a business storytelling speaker, leadership storytelling trainer, and executive communication coach — founder of Business of Story. He has delivered corporate storytelling workshops and leadership communication training to U.S. Air Force leadership — from one to four-star generals to research and engineering supervisors — for over a decade. Host of the Business of Story podcast, creator of the Story Cycle System™, former Master’s-level storytelling instructor at Arizona State University.
