Julie Lancaster’s REST Method, Powered by the StoryCycle Genie™, Rockets Your Leadership Stories
She gave me an “attaboy” nod.
Margaret Atwood, the two-time Booker Prize-winning Canadian science fiction writer, sitting sat at the other end of the table.
That’s who.
Award-winning Canadian Science Fiction Writer, Margaret Atwood
I was invited to an intimate lunch with Ms. Atwood and 12 other professors at Arizona State University. She was in Phoenix for an evening keynote at the sold-out Orpheum Theater that evening.
The topic for the luncheon: “Does Science Fiction Have Any Place in Science?”
Why was I there?
Because I was teaching a master’s course on sustainable storytelling as a professor of practice in the Executive Master’s for Sustainability Leadership program provided by the Rob & Melanie Walton Family Foundation.
I joined 10 PhD science professors, including the head of the Origins Project, Lawrence Krauss, and one filmmaking teacher, for the conversation.
Everyone introduced themselves and proudly communicated their credentials.
Me? I’m just an ad guy. An adjunct professor whose background in coaching and teaching the power of leadership storytelling led me to this post.
Their contempt for my lack of credentials was as palpable as the chicken salad croissant sandwiches garishly garnished with celery.
Crunch. Mmmmm. Crunch.
I sat fascinated as Ms. Atwood was introduced and began the discussion, sharing her experience with how science fiction often portends the future of science.
One by one, my colleagues chimed in, mostly debating the notion that in science, fact rules over fiction.
I listened.
Finally, one Doctor of Physics proclaimed that science fiction has no place in “real science.”
So I volunteered, “What about John F. Kennedy’s 1962 moonshot speech at Rice University? He said that we’d put a man on the moon and return him safely home using a 30-story rocket made of metal alloys not yet invented, propelled by fuels that don’t exist, and guided by a navigation system 250,000 miles and back that we will develop. If that’s not science fiction guiding science, I don’t know what is.”
Silence filled the room. The professor just stared at me, no comment. She turned to the person to her right and said, “We haven’t heard from you yet, Dr. Johnson.”
Slipping the punch, I looked over to Mrs. Atwood. She gave me a subtle smile and nod as if to say, “Well played, sir.”
That lunch taught me what Julie Lancaster, founder of Lancaster Leadership, communicates in her new Beyond Words: How Our Stories and Strategies Inspire Leadership Action – Logic informs, but emotion transforms.
Key Takeaways From this Article
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Stories increase action by 261% compared to logic-based communication -
JFK’s moonshot narrative generated $24 billion in Apollo program financing – proof that story beats data
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Julie Lancaster’s REST Method provides a systematic storytelling framework: Relate, Engage, Short, Theme
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Manual story banking takes 40 hours to systematize (Julie’s documented experience)
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StoryCycle Genie™ reduces to 40 minutes through intelligent automation and classical frameworks
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Six leadership qualities require vulnerability stories: Heart, Achievement, Social Intelligence, Wisdom, Presence, and Fallibility
We discuss her new book on this week’s edition of the Business of Story podcast.
Soar With Emotion Grounded in Logic
Leaders often push logic and reason – communicating stats and facts when what your audience really wants is the emotional pull of a story.
But leadership storytelling is hard because people think that powerful storytelling takes forty hours to systematize and thirty years to master. Linear logic is much easier to communicate, but it isn’t compelling.
Kennedy, like all legendary leaders, knew there was a better way.
He didn’t lead with data about rocket propulsion or lunar trajectory calculations.
He led with narrative:
“We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”
It led to $24 billion in financing for the Apollo program.
In my book Brand Bewitchery, I break down exactly how Kennedy crafted this speech using classical storytelling architecture.
He established context and agreement (“The exploration of space will go ahead, whether we join in it or not”).
He created tension through challenge (“But why, some say, the Moon? Why choose this as our goal?”).
He delivered resolution through commitment (“We choose to go to the Moon… and do the other things”).
This is the And, But, Therefore (ABT) narrative framework that creates instant meaning and immediate action.
Kennedy’s speech worked because he understood something Julie Lancaster points out in her groundbreaking new book, Beyond Words: How Our Stories and Strategies Inspire Leadership Action.
Stories increase our willingness to act by 261 percent.
Soar with emotion grounded by facts.
What Julie’s 261% Finding Means for Your Leadership
Storytelling stacks the engagement deck in your favor by 261%.
Let that sink in.
Not 10% improvement.
Not 50% boost.
261% increase in action-taking.
This isn’t incremental, it’s transformational.
But achieving this requires:
- Story identification (Julie’s framework)
- Story refinement (Cialdini’s three-minute rule)
- Story organization (Story Bank)
- Story delivery (REST Method)
Julie’s book teaches all of this with 350 pages of frameworks, examples, and exercises.
Here’s where the three-minute rule came from:
During a morning Starbucks stop, Julie asked influence guru Dr. Robert Cialdini about ideal story length.
His answer? Three minutes.
When too long, unnecessary details bury the point.
When whittled to three minutes, what you include becomes intentional and meaningful.
But execution requires what she admits took forty hours to systematize.
Our StoryCycle Genie™ turns those forty hours into around 40 minutes.
You get Julie’s 261% impact through systematic technology, not manual drudgery, in minutes, not months.
How Did Julie Lancaster Turn Leadership Failure Into a 75,000-Client Success Story?
Before Julie started Lancaster Leadership thirty years ago, which has served 75,000 clients, she was a professor who repeatedly won academic honors for her success in the classroom.
But as the head of the department, she’d lose her staff and colleagues with 34-point agendas swamping half-hour meetings.
Eyes glazed over.
People checked out.
She failed.
Then she discovered storytelling changed everything.
Julie surveyed thousands of leaders asking, “What had the strongest impact on how you lead?” The answer wasn’t frameworks, research, tools, or checklists.
It was, you guessed it, stories.
“These findings have turned my world upside down,” she writes. “Since gaining this insight, I have dramatically altered the way I lead, train, run meetings, coach, and mentor.”
The REST Method: Julie’s Systematic Approach to Leadership Storytelling Excellence
“Storytelling is the language of leadership. Story coupled with strategy is what invites interest and then implementation,” according to Julie.
But here’s where most leaders get stuck: They know stories matter but don’t have systematic ways to develop them.
This is where Julie’s REST Method provides the navigation you need to become a Storynaut (sorry, had to say it).
Relate: Share a story that your audience can relate to.
Engage: Speak with them, not to them, checking in along the way.
Short: Be concise and focused—the three-minute rule.
Theme: Think ahead about what elements illustrate your point.
This transforms telling into storytelling.
But applying this manually to every leadership story is like calculating rocket trajectories with pencil and paper.
You can do it.
But why would you when technology can do it faster, more accurately, and more reliably?
The Technology That Launches the REST Method
Think of the StoryCycle Genie™ as a Wealth Creation Engine. Collaborate with it to create a wealth of storytelling prosperity on many levels, including a wealth of influence, persuasion, skill development, time savings, and revenue generation.
The Genie is the only AI-driven, narrative-native storytelling platform with the ABT framework at its core, guided by the proven Story Cycle System™.
Our storytelling collaborator doesn’t replace Julie’s REST Method. It amplifies it with classical storytelling structures that have moved mankind for millennia, rocketed by the latest technology in a systematic environment.
Relate: The StoryCycle Genie™ audience analysis engine matches stories to specific listener interests and contexts, so you speak from their point of view, creating a wealth of resonance.
Engage: The Genie is the only AI-driven, narrative-native platform that uses the ABT story structure guided by the Story Cycle System™ to ensure a wealth of engagement.
Short: Automated length optimization with three-minute rule enforcement – or any length you desire – delivers a wealth of context in short order.
Theme: Thematic clarity analysis ensures every story has a clear purpose and is crafted in your authentic voice, providing a wealth of insight and knowledge.
Julie’s teaching becomes systematically achievable. Compelling. Powerful. Fast.
Like you’re riding a Saturn rocket to new heights of leadership storytelling.
Where Do Leaders Find Their Stories Without Resorting to Toilet Paper Rolls?
Now you can appreciate how the REST Method provides a systematic approach to your leadership storytelling.
But where do you spot, capture and save your stories?
Julie is refreshingly honest about the chaotic manual process of corralling your stories in the wild.
She describes her stories arriving “out of the blue, with the reckless abandon of dollar bills in a tumultuous wind.”
Her capture method? Notes app, scribbling on receipts, pizza boxes, empty toilet paper rolls.
Yep, toilet paper rolls.
Then comes the drudgery:
Organizing notes manually.
Attaching them to leadership topics by hand.
Typing stories in long form.
Reading aloud to identify compelling elements.
Cutting unnecessary details through multiple revisions.
Editing down to bullet points.
Adding to your story bank by title.
She says that creating the documents and systems took her about 40 hours, and it still wasn’t foolproof.
This is like Kennedy asking astronauts to calculate rocket trajectories with pencil and paper.
You CAN do it.
But why would you when computers can do it instantly?
The StoryCycle Genie™ eliminates the drudgery while maintaining Julie’s systematic excellence:
- Capture stories through intelligent voice-to-text.
- Automatic categorization by leadership quality and context.
- Instant story organization without manual sorting.
- Narrative-native refinement suggestions.
- Three-minute rule optimization.
- Intelligent story bank with searchable retrieval.
Her systematic brilliance meets technological efficiency.
What Took Julie 40 Hours Now Takes 40 Minutes
Let’s map Julie’s forty-hour systematization directly to the StoryCycle Genie™ features:
Julie’s Hour 1-10: Creating email templates for frequent responses
The StoryCycle Genie™ Solution: Story templates by communication type with smart variables
Julie’s Hour 11-15: Script guidelines for sales conversations
The Genie Solution: Conversation frameworks with story integration points
Julie’s Hour 16-25: Organizing electronic files and folder access
Genie Solution: Intelligent story library with multi-dimensional tagging
Julie’s Hour 26-30: Email inbox management systems
Genie Solution: Story retrieval by communication context
Julie’s Hour 31-35: Decision-making frameworks
Genie Solution: Story selection algorithms based on objectives
Julie’s Hour 36-40: Contract workflows and process documentation
Genie Solution: Reusable story frameworks for recurring scenarios
What took Julie a full work week to systematize manually is built into the StoryCycle Genie™ so you can do it in minutes.
Your Leadership Storytelling Moonshot Decision
Kennedy declared: “We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”
The hard thing today?
Becoming a storytelling leader who inspires 261% increases in team action-taking.
Julie Lancaster has given us the roadmap:
Her REST Method works.
Her three-minute rule is validated by Cialdini.
Her Story Bank concept is exactly right.
Her vulnerability framework creates authentic connection.
But manual implementation requires forty hours of systematization.
StoryCycle Genie™ removes that barrier.
It takes Julie’s proven frameworks and makes them systematic.
It transforms her hard-won insights into accessible technology.
It scales her systematic excellence to every leader.
(Without requiring toilet paper rolls for story capture.)
Kennedy’s moonshot succeeded because vision met systematic approach, met technological innovation.
Your leadership storytelling moonshot succeeds the same way:
Julie’s vision (stories increase action by 261%).
Her systematic approach (REST Method, Story Banks, vulnerability frameworks).
StoryCycle Genie™ technological innovation (eliminating manual drudgery).
Ready to rocket your leadership storytelling from manual struggle to systematic mastery?
Discover how the StoryCycle Genie™ delivers on Julie Lancaster’s leadership storytelling vision—in minutes, not months.
Because in 2025, leadership storytelling mastery shouldn’t require forty hours of systematization or thirty years of skill development.
It should require one decision.
The decision Kennedy made: Choose to do the hard thing with the best available technology.
We choose to become storytelling leaders in this decade.
Not because it’s easy.
But because technology now makes Julie’s systematic excellence accessible to everyone.
And remember my lunch with Ms. Atwood and the professors? After thinking about it, I would’ve renamed the theme to “The Science of Fiction.”
Frequently Asked Questions About Leadership Storytelling
Q: What is Julie Lancaster’s REST Method for leadership storytelling?
A: REST stands for Relate (audience interest), Engage (speak with not to), Short (three-minute rule), and Theme (clear purpose). It transforms telling into storytelling by ensuring every story creates a connection and drives action.
Q: How long does it take to systematize leadership storytelling?
A: Julie Lancaster spent 40 hours creating manual systems for story capture, organization, and retrieval. The StoryCycle Genie™ automates this systematization in approximately 40 minutes through intelligent tagging and retrieval.
Q: What is the three-minute rule for leadership stories?
A: Dr. Robert Cialdini told Julie Lancaster that three minutes is the ideal length for poignant stories. When longer, unnecessary details bury the point. When whittled to three minutes, what you include becomes intentional and meaningful.
Q: Why do stories increase action-taking by 261%?
A: Julie Lancaster’s research with some of her 75,000 clients proves stories help people feel, and feelings drive action. JFK’s moonshot narrative generated $24 billion in Apollo program financing – demonstrating that soaring emotion grounded in logic moves people from understanding to action.
Q: What is the StoryCycle Genie™ Wealth Creation Engine?
A: The StoryCycle Genie™ is the only AI-driven, narrative-native storytelling platform with the ABT framework at its core. It creates wealth through influence, persuasion, skill development, time savings, and revenue generation by automating Julie Lancaster’s proven systematic approaches.
Q: What are the six essential leadership qualities that require stories?
A: Julie Lancaster’s BOS Model identifies Heart (Belonging, Values, Trust), Achievement (Vision, Engagement, Action), Social Intelligence (Curiosity, Connection, Self-Regulation), Wisdom (Self-Insight, Perspective, Judgment), Presence (Confidence, Fortitude, Wellbeing), and Fallibility (Humility, Design Thinking, Authenticity). Each requires vulnerability stories for an authentic leadership connection.
