Patricio Larrea is the Chief Growth Officer of The Humphrey Group.
Trust isn’t built with data. It’s built with stories.
If your team doesn’t see you as human, they won’t follow you. If they do, they just might follow you anywhere.
Trying to launch a bold new idea? Drive change? Earn support? People don’t rally behind perfection; they respond to something real. And storytelling is how we get there.
My Own Story
In 2009, I was in the middle of a dusty construction site. I had spent seven long years earning my degree in architecture, only to realize this wasn’t the life I had imagined. The realization hit hard. I felt lost.
A few days later, I saw an ad in a newspaper about an MBA program in Canada. That was the moment I decided to walk away from everything I had worked so hard for and take a chance on something new.
Two years later, I enrolled in a leadership communication seminar. The keynote speaker? Bart, my current boss and CEO of The Humphrey Group. I remember sitting there and hearing him say, “Every communication is an opportunity to inspire.” That concept changed everything for me.
Looking back now, I get it. You can’t connect the dots looking forward. Only in hindsight do the stories take shape. (Yes, that’s a line from Steve Jobs. If you haven’t watched his Stanford speech, do yourself a favor. It’s a masterclass in storytelling.)
So what just happened?
Chances are, you feel a little more connected to me now. Not because you’ve lived the same story, but because parts of it might echo something from your own life. Maybe you also felt lost after university. Maybe you’ve changed careers. Moved countries. Felt overwhelmed.
We’ve all had those moments.
And especially in today’s world, where everything feels staged, where LinkedIn posts are written by AI, and Facebook updates feel anything but genuine, stories remind us: I did this. I felt this. I learned from this.
We are starving for that level of real connection.
You Aren’t Too Busy To Build Connection
One of the most common objections I hear is, “I’m too busy getting work done to tell stories.”
Let me tell you another story.
At our company retreat in Cancun this January, my colleague Athulya and I piloted our new workshop, The Power of Stories. The response was incredible. Over the next few days, people across the company began sharing their own stories using the framework.
When it came time for the closing remarks, I started thinking: What do I want to leave them with? I kept coming back to the idea of adventure—of this journey we’re all on together. And I realized: only a story could bring that message to life.
Just a few weeks earlier, my partner and I moved our family from Vancouver, Canada, to Houston, Texas. We had been preparing our seven-year-old, Valentino, for his first day at his new school. That morning, I dropped him off. We said our goodbyes. He walked in. I thought, “Wow, that was easy.” But as I turned to leave, I heard, “Papa, don’t leave me.”
I sat down with him on a bench. He just kept repeating it. “Papa, don’t leave me.” And in my head, I was spiraling. What did I do? Why did I move my family away?
Then, something changed. He stopped crying. He hugged me tightly. Got up. And walked inside, as if he knew, growth was on the other side of that door.
That moment reminded me: this adventure matters because we’re doing it together.
That’s the story I shared with my team. And the reaction floored me. Over the next few days, colleagues shared their own stories about doubt, challenge and growth. I learned more about them in 48 hours than I had in a year of meetings.
One of them said, “After hearing your story, I’d do anything for you.” That wasn’t about charisma or position. That was connection.
‘But I don’t Have Stories…’
Yes, you do. A few weeks ago, I was coaching a client who was preparing for an important keynote. I suggested he share a story. His immediate reaction: “Would that even be appropriate?”
We had a conversation (a lot like this one), and once he was convinced, his next comment was: “But I don’t really have stories.”
I hear that all the time. So I asked, “Can you think of a time when you made a decision that changed the course of your life?” Boom! He had a story. A good one. We worked on it together, and by the end, he was glowing. I don’t think I’d seen him that happy before. He felt like he had shared a part of himself that rarely gets seen.
Find Your Own Stories
If you’re wondering where to start, try asking yourself:
• When was the last time you had to make a hard decision?
• Can you remember a moment when you felt completely lost or proud?
• What’s an experience that shaped the way you lead today?
A few great resources to deepen your storytelling skills include Long Story Short by Margot Leitman, which is filled with practical story prompts, and Master Storytelling by Mark Carpenter and Darrell Harmon, which offers valuable insights into what makes stories resonate with an audience.
In my next article, I’ll go deeper into how to craft those stories—the kind that feel natural, not forced. I’ll be sharing a simple framework we use to make storytelling approachable.
In our program, The Power of Stories, we help leaders build a book of stories they can draw from. By the end, they have multiple stories ready to go; stories they’ve practiced and can use to inspire at a moment’s notice.
Start your own book of stories. Because the day will come when your story is the thing that moves the audience. And when it does, you won’t just be speaking. You’ll be inspiring.
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