Ben Thompson: ‘Humans Run on Stories’

Ben Thompson on The Talk Show with John Gruber podcast:

Stories matter. Humans run on stories.

I look at my own site and the articles that often resonate are not the ones with brilliant analysis or something clever. It’s the ones that tell a story.

People know it implicitly, but have a very difficult time articulating it. If you’re selling to consumers, there’s so much that goes into it that doesn’t go on a spreadsheet. That sort of stuff matters.

I subscribe to Ben’s Stratechery Daily Update newsletter. I read a lot of it and consider Ben’s insights priceless. But it’s typically his free weekly articles that grab me.

His most recent, ‘Tech’s Two Philosophies’, had me reeling. After reading it over morning coffee, I raced to work to share it with my team.

I shoehorned Ben’s ideas into something relevant to our work. It was a stretch, but I don’t think overly so. Regardless, I was so moved by the story in the piece that it woke me up better than any cup of coffee.

Humans run on stories. They absolutely do.