On Culture: Storytelling is our Human Advantage

Myste Wylde
Aug 20, 2025
7 min read

Dear Culturati Insider,

Storytelling has always held a special place in my family. As a kid, I’d swing with my grandad for hours in his worn rope hammock while he regaled me with adventures of my alter ego Mishna, a young Native American girl, who with her pony Wildfire, fought off mountain lions and bandits to protect her people with sharp wits, bravery, and heart. (Our family tree keeper believes we have Cherokee, Sioux, and Salish lineage, though I don’t know that's ever been proven.)

Grandaddy was larger than life, and so were his stories. My favorites were the “real” ones of outsmarting alligators, battling water moccasins, and spying on the bobcat who routinely stole his bacon rinds growing up on the Trinity River. He'd spin yarns while we shelled peas from his garden and played checkers by the fire, occasionally punctuating them with the off key refrain of a just-made-up song.

In addition to telling stories, he taught me how to seine for bait, run trotlines, identify blue cat(fish) vs channel, and hunt for arrowheads in a riverbed. He knew which trees to climb for huckleberries and where the juiciest blackberries grew. (The neighbor's cow pasture, through a gap in the barbed wire fence. 🤫) To me, he was and always will be the twilight song that frogs sing, the spicy-sweet scent of cedar, green peppermints, and how homegrown tomatoes taste exactly like sunshine. My grandaddy was tall tales and "real" stories. He was Love.

My mom carried that tradition forward in her own way. With a journalism degree from UT Austin, she wrote a weekly column for our small-town newspaper transforming our childhood scrapes and misadventures into funny, charming reflections on life. Stories became my identity and my inheritance. There among the ponds and pastures of deep East Texas, I trekked across the sands of Arabia, dug for treasure on the shores of the Caribbean, scaled trees, mountains, and the occasional Cyclops (thanks to an early exposure to Homer). Books were my escape, my solace, and my friends. They still are. And stories aren't just crucial to my story. They’re crucial to humanity’s.

In talking to neuroscientist, Prof Paul J. Zak, and Rev. Steven Tomlinson this week, Eugene and I were reminded that storytelling is just as critical inside organizations. Paul pointed to the founder’s myth and Peter Drucker’s belief that every business must create value for society. Steven pressed on what happens when that myth collides with shareholder demands. (I look forward to this conversation continuing at our next advisory board & early bird gathering on 9/17.)

Eugene also recently met Prof Angus Fletcher at RTRX. His research on primal intelligence shows that narrative, not data, is our evolutionary edge in volatile environments where probability models collapse and only possibility thinking can move us forward. Science says that storytelling does what data can’t: it lights up the brain’s networks for creativity, intuition, and connection, adopting people into something bigger than themselves. It’s why startups that scale fastest aren’t the ones with the most sophisticated decks, but the ones with the strongest narrative.

Prof Scott Galloway says the best stories land like a punch; they surprise, dramatize, and give you a sticky piece of data you can’t shake. Neuroscience agrees. Words can also heal. Decades of expressive writing research show they change both minds and bodies, and now AI is spreading that medicine through billions of daily conversations, giving Gen Z (and others) stigma-free therapy.

The stories we tell shape the people, the organizations, and the communities we become. They carry the seeds of creativity, purpose, and joy—the very elements that help cultures flourish. So if it's been a while, ask yourself, what story are you telling?

In remembrance,

Myste Wylde, COO

How the Science of Storytelling Helps Creative Collaboration

Fast Company

By Sally Clarke and Katie O'Keeffe

Summary: Storytelling engages the brain in ways data cannot, activating the default mode network responsible for creativity, connection, and forward-looking thinking. Starting meetings with facts and logic triggers the task-positive network, which narrows focus and can shut down openness to new ideas. Research shows that stories not only prime individuals for more imaginative problem-solving but also synchronize groups physiologically, improving collaboration and decision-making. Leaders who begin with stories see more energy, alignment, and actionable outcomes.

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Four Reasons Your Startup Needs A Narrative Before It Needs A Brand

Forbes

By Abdo Riani

Summary: Startups that scale early don’t win with design, they win with story. A strong narrative answers three core questions: why this problem, why now, and why this team. This becomes the filter through which customers, investors, and partners decide whether to buy in. Slack didn’t pitch “chat.” They sold relief from email overload. Stripe wasn’t just a payments processor; it promised ease for developers. Airbnb succeeded not through branding, but through a story that made local travel feel authentic and inevitable. Early traction comes from a vision people can believe in, not a visual identity. Narrative defines category, earns trust before features exist, and sets the foundation for a brand to emerge naturally over time. Leaders who prioritize storytelling create coherence across hiring, pitching, product, and culture, building alignment, clarity, and urgency long before logos matter.

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See What Others Miss: The Prof G Storytelling Playbook

No Mercy/No Malice

By Prof Scott Galloway & Mia Silverio

Summary: Scott Galloway once opened a TED Talk with the provocation, “Do we love our children?” The obvious answer set up a gut punch of data showing how young people have been handed a raw deal. That’s the essence of his storytelling playbook: drama, surprise, and evidence delivered in a way that commands attention and provides competitive advantage rooted in evolutionary biology, behavioral science, and business outcomes. Research shows it drives cooperation, enhances status, and attracts capital by creating meaning around products, problems, and possibilities. The Prof G playbook distills five key practices: inject emotion through surprise or contrarian insight; use selective, high-impact data to provoke curiosity; zoom out to reveal unexpected cause-effect patterns; personalize and contextualize to make ideas resonate; and visualize meaning to speed comprehension. In a world saturated with noise, attention is the scarcest resource, but stories win it.

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The Healing Power of Words in the Age of AI

Psychology Today

By J. David Creswell, PhD

Summary: For thousands of years, we’ve used words to process pain. Today, generative AI is scaling that instinct into billions of conversations. Expressive writing is clinically linked to better health outcomes, from fewer doctor visits to stronger immune function. Now, AI chatbots like Wysa and Woebot are offering Gen Z something many can’t find elsewhere: affordable, stigma-free emotional support that listens without judgment or exhaustion. Nearly half of generative AI users with mental health conditions are already turning to these tools, often without clinical referral. In blind studies, even therapists rated chatbot conversations as higher in quality than human ones. Leaders should pay close attention. This isn’t about replacing therapy. It’s about recognizing that language itself—now trained into machines—can help us reconsolidate emotional memory, reshape meaning, and access connection in new forms. What we build next may either humanize or hollow us. Proceed with care.

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Why AI Will Never Defeat Primal Intelligence

Next Big Idea Club

Summary: AI excels at logic, but human intelligence thrives in uncertainty. Angus Fletcher’s research with Special Operators and visionary thinkers reveals that intuition, imagination, and narrative thinking give people a distinct edge in volatile environments where data is scarce. Story—not statistics—activates the brain’s ability to spot exceptions, imagine unseen possibilities, and generate plans under pressure. Children outperform adults at intuitive thinking because they notice what breaks the pattern. Leaders can train this same skill through travel, literature, and role play. Optimism, too, is misunderstood; it doesn’t come from visualizing success but from remembering past resilience. And leadership itself doesn’t emerge from probability models. It comes from the capacity to think in possibility. While AI computes what has happened, humans imagine what could. That is our evolutionary advantage.

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Final week to vote for our SXSW 2026 panels! We appreciate your support. 🙏

In today’s high-stakes climate, bold leadership means taking intentional risks guided by empathy and moral clarity. This session is set to unpack how conviction-driven leaders shape strategy, culture, and trust, with candid insights from Admiral Wyman Howard, Brian Johnson, and Heather Brunner. Moderated by Eugene Sepulveda, it’s a must for anyone in, or headed to, the C-suite or the boardroom.

Belonging starts in the body. When people feel safe, the brain shifts from threat to connection boosting clarity, creativity, and collaboration. This panel explores how neuroscience can help leaders hardwire trust into culture, featuring Michelle Gethers, Dr. David Paydarfar, and Rajkumari Neogy. Moderated by Myste Wylde, this is for leaders looking to translate care into performance, ethically and at scale.

VOTE NOW