No Mercy / No Malice: The Prof G Storytelling Playbook

One query I often get is, what class or skill would you suggest our kids take and learn to compete in the modern economy? A few years ago people expected me to say STEM or make the contrarian case for a liberal arts education. Today the expectation is AI. But my answer remains unchanged. To be successful, master storytelling.

Communities with larger proportions of skilled storytellers experience greater levels of cooperation and procreation. Storytelling equals efficient transmission of survival-relevant information. Among men, being skilled in storytelling increases attractiveness and perceived status to potential long-term mates. The arc of evolution bends toward good storytellers.

In the business world, the flow of capital concentrates around good stories. Entrepreneurs, aka salespeople, aka storytellers deploy a narrative that captures imaginations and capital to pull the future forward. Valuations aren't a function of balance sheets, but of the stories that give those balance sheets meaning and direction. Every business I've ever started was based on a compelling story. ProfG Media is no different, those stories are our product.

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