How to Leverage Your Story to Make an Impact on the World with Mark Leruste

Rise Above Chaos

Show Notes: erickrheam.com/021

In this episode, Erick Rheam interviews Mark Leruste, professional speaker, author, and podcaster about his brand-new book, Glow in the Dark – How Sharing Your Personal Story Can Transform Your Business and Change Your Life.

Mark explains how he came up with the title of his book, Glow in the Dark, from a happenstance conversation and the long journey he took to get the book written and ultimately published.

Mark unpacks a dark period he experienced in 2009 after a bad breakup with his girlfriend, quitting his job, and dealing with his grandfather’s illness and the transformation he experienced as he battled depression.

He discusses the core message of his book that we are not alone and why our story matters and how to leverage our stories free of shame.

Mark discusses the importance of authenticity but also clarifying boundaries on when and how we share our stories. He explains his point leveraging Oprah Winfrey as a great example. He specifically mentions how Oprah was able to use her deepest wounds to conjure up the greatest healing.

He talks about the formula he discovered that we could mimic that allows us to explore our own stories to find our authentic self and be seen in the world.

He learned that when people are willing to talk about their low points and to own who they are, it is critical to get on a positive path. He walks us through the four types of stories: Open wound stories, broken record stories, entertaining stories, impact driven stories. He believes impact driven stories are the ones we should all strive for, because they allow us to influence and impact others by leveraging our stories.

Mark unpacks the steps to own your story and make an impact with three simple steps:

Step 1 – Context – Take me somewhere.

Step 2 – Content – Tell me something.

Step 3 – Conclusion – Teach me something.

At the end of the podcast Mark humors me by answering some silly British questions about his thoughts on the Royal family.

Mark Leruste

Mark Leruste (@markleruste) is the CEO and Founder of Ministry of Purpose©, best-selling author of “Glow in the Dark” (Hachette UK), keynote speaker, proud dyslexic thinker and the award-winning host of The Unconventionalists© podcast.

A sought-after speaker at industry conferences and Fortune 500 companies, including the Premier League, NHS, L’Oreal, Google, Method & Ecover, Adobe, HEC Paris and Oxford Business School, Mark’s TEDx talk has been watched over a million times (making it the most viewed TEDxCardiff talk of all time) and his work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, The Guardian and Metro.

Mark previously served as Country Manager at the Movember Foundation, where he helped raise €2.8 million for men’s health, inspiring 110,000 fundraisers to sign up, winning multiple awards along the way.

His first book “It’s Not You, It’s Me” (Sifi Publishing) is a modus operandi for unfulfilled professionals looking to find more meaningful, entrepreneurial and fulfilling work.

His new book “Glow in the Dark: How Sharing Your Personal Story Can Transform Your Business and Change Your Life” (Hachette UK) – recently shortlisted for a Business Book Award - is a must read for every entrepreneur and business leader who wants to raise their profile and turn their personal story into a powerful asset that gets noticed.

Mark believes in creating a future worth striving for. That’s why he’s an advisor and early-stage angel investor in purpose-driven startups including Oddbox, Circa5000, Brewdog, Coconut, ScoreApp, Frahm, Farewill and This.

To get in touch with Mark visit MarkLeruste.com or to buy his bestselling book “Glow in the Dark” go to www.glowinthedarkbook.com

Resources Mentioned

1. Subscribe to the podcast
2. Rise Above Chaos book
3. Work with Erick
4. Mark’s new book, Glow in the Dark
5. Mark’s Website
6. The Unconventionalists Podcast
7. Erick’s episode on Mark’s podcast

Action Step

• Identify your core story to share