In this episode of The Authority Builder Podcast, I’m joined by Park Howell, a 40+ year advertising veteran, Emmy Award-winning storyteller, and host of the Business of Story podcast (ranked in the top 10% of downloads worldwide).

Park has helped grow purpose-driven brands by as much as 600%, and today we dig into what that kind of growth really comes from: clear positioning, a repeatable story framework, and authority built over time (not overnight).

We also explore Park’s latest work, the StoryCycle Genie, and what he found when he ran my business (Kaffeen) through his brand story assessment.

From agency owner to story-first authority

Park ran Park & Co for 21 years and was named Advertising Person of the Year in Phoenix in 2010.

Then at 55, he made a sharp pivot: he stepped away from the agency model and went all in on Business of Story.

What surprised me most was how practical his transition was. He didn’t start from zero. He leveraged relationships from his agency years, and he also partnered with Jay Baer (a well-known content marketer in the US) to launch the podcast through Jay’s network.

That early distribution created credibility and reach fast.

How enterprise clients actually find him

Park’s client list includes Dell, Hilton, American Express, the Executive Masters at ASU, and the US Air Force.

One key point: he doesn’t “sell” storytelling to organisations that don’t already want it.

Instead, the right-fit clients find him when they’re already curious and searching for help with communication and narrative, via:

• His podcast
• SEO and years of published content
• Increasingly, ChatGPT and other AI tools

Yes, the US Air Force found him through the podcast and has been working with him since 2017, training senior leadership on storytelling and communication.

Writing for the bros and writing for the bots

We talked about something many service businesses are discovering right now: you can become more findable in AI search without intentionally “playing the algorithm”, simply by having deep, high-quality content out there.

But Park has started adapting his publishing process to support what AI tools prefer to crawl and reference.

For example, for each podcast episode he:

• Takes the transcript
• Uses StoryCycle Genie to create structured show notes (around 800 words)
• Builds longer, more scannable content using H2 sections
• Adds FAQs (because bots love them, even if humans don’t always read them)

His take was simple: people may not read every word on the page, but AI crawlers will.

Why a proprietary framework matters (and why the business wouldn’t work without it)

Park’s signature methodology is the Story Cycle System, which he began developing around 2008–2009 while running his agency.

He was direct about this: without a proprietary framework, he’d be “just another schmo” trying to sell services in a noisy market.

What the framework does is act like a flag in the ground:

• It differentiates him
• It makes his work easier to explain
• It gives clients a process they can trust
• It makes referral conversations simpler (“use Park’s system” is easy to repeat)

We also touched on something I strongly agree with: being generous with your best thinking builds trust faster than hiding it.

How podcasting turns into clients (without forcing it)

Park has been podcasting for nearly 12 years, and his biggest advice is to play the long game.

He shared three practical lessons:

• You can’t predict which episodes will take off. Sometimes the “average” ones outperform the brilliant ones.
• Design every episode around value. Aim for up to three clear insights someone can apply.
• Use a simple, relevant call to action. Not a hard sell, but a next step that builds on what they just learned.

His clients often come back weeks or months later saying something like: “That episode you did in September stuck with me, and now our team is ready.”

The entry point: the and/but/therefore framework

Even though Park created a full 10-step system, he learned a critical delivery lesson: most people don’t want to become story theorists.

They want something they can use immediately.

That’s why his front-door framework is and/but/therefore (ABT), which he calls the DNA of story.

He uses ABT as the starting point for training, then expands into deeper work (like the full Story Cycle System) once teams have momentum.

What StoryCycle Genie is (and who it’s for)

We spent a good portion of the conversation on Park’s newest offering: StoryCycle Genie, which he described as a brand content agency in a bottle.

It’s designed to help you:

• Assess your current brand story
• Build a clearer narrative strategy
• Create consistent on-brand content more efficiently
• Improve “findability” in AI tools by publishing structured, in-depth content

Interestingly, Park shared that the biggest adopters so far are agencies (including white-labelling use cases), followed by marketing consultants. Enterprises are starting to come in too, though with longer procurement cycles.

Park’s assessment of Kaffeen (and what stood out)

Park ran my website through the Genie to generate a Kaffeen brand assessment and narrative strategy.

One line that stood out was how the assessment described our positioning:

“Be clear, not louder” was flagged as a positioning gem: contrarian, memorable, and directly aligned with the frustration many service firms feel about conventional marketing advice.

The assessment also captured the emotional drivers behind our audience well, including:

• Fear of being commoditised
• Frustration with content that doesn’t generate pipeline
• The desire to be recognised as the obvious authority in a niche

It was a useful reminder that when positioning is strong, it doesn’t just describe what you do. It speaks to what it feels like to be your customer.

Key takeaway: the movie in your head is not the picture people are watching

Park shared a quote from Dr Laura Sicola that really landed:

“The movie in your head is not the picture people are watching.”

In other words: your intent isn’t the same as their interpretation.

That’s why listening (to clients, to data, to what people engage with) matters so much. Often what resonates isn’t what you expected, and the businesses that win are the ones willing to adapt without losing their core.

Listen to the episode

If you want to hear the full conversation with Park, including how he thinks about authority-building in the age of AI, you can listen here:

Listen to Park Howell on Buzzsprout

Want to explore your own brand story?

Park mentioned you can get a free brand story grade via StoryCycle Genie. If you’re curious how your business comes across (and where your story is strong or unclear), it’s a useful starting point.

Listen to the episode with Park Howell