Super Human Skill: Storytelling

We tell ourselves the future belongs to whoever can code the fastest, analyze the most data, and automate the most tasks. But what if the real advantage in the age of AI isn’t technical at all—it’s the ability to make a room feel something? In this episode of Tough Day, KVJ sits down with Joe Lazer, award-winning content strategist, CMO at Pepper, and author of Super Skill, to make the case that storytelling isn’t a soft skill on the margins—it’s the foundational human capability that makes every other skill work better.Joe has spent his career at the intersection of journalism, marketing, and AI—and when ChatGPT hit its tipping point, he went looking for what human skills would actually survive. What he found: humans don’t just want good content, they want to know it came from another person. In this conversation, he breaks down his RENT framework for making storytelling stick, why the “AI won’t replace you” maxim points leaders in the wrong direction, and how one employee story will always outperform a deck full of data. What we cover:Why humans are wired to reject stories they know came from a machine, even good onesThe RENT framework: the four elements that make a story stick in your audience’s mindWhy scoring employees on AI usage is leading companies in exactly the wrong directionHow the most effective storytellers use AILearn more about Joe Lazer:Website: https://joelazer.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-lazer Book (Super Skill): https://joelazer.com/superskill Substack: https://storytellingedge.substack.com Podcast: https://storytellingedge.substack.com/podcast Learn more about KVJ | Tough DayWebsite: https://tough.day/LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kvonjan Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.