S1 E9 · Practice Guide
The Storytelling Audit
Free companion workbook · Death by PowerPoint
Leaders who can't tell a story can't move people. This guide is the companion to S1 E9 of Brave Proximity, where Marissa Green and Susan Page declare war on the Death by PowerPoint epidemic and make the case for storytelling as the defining leadership capability of the next decade. Use it to audit your current communication, learn the architecture of a story that replaces ten slides, and commit to the presentation that changes everything.
What’s inside
The Deck Diagnostic
1
When did your last presentation actually move someone to do something different? A three-question audit of whether your communication is informing or inspiring — and which one your audience actually needs right now.
The Inspiration Deficit Check
2
Three signals that your team is drowning in data and starving for narrative — and what the leadership cost of that imbalance is in engagement, alignment, and decision speed.
The Story Architecture
3
A one-page framework for building the kind of story that replaces ten slides: the problem, the stakes, the turn, and the ask. Simple, repeatable, and immediately usable in any room.
The Kill-the-Deck Commitment
4
One presentation this month that you commit to delivering without a deck. The preparation canvas, the room setup, and the two-minute story that opens instead of a title slide.