Stories to Never Tell: The Starfish Story

Like the Chauffeur story, here’s a tale that thousands of speakers love to tell but shouldn’t:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=speaker+telling+the+starfish+story

A man walking along the beach noticed that thousands of starfish had been washed up on the sand by a storm tide.

And then he spied a little boy picking them up and tossing them back into the sea.

“Come on,” said the man, “there are thousands of starfish and only one you. You can’t possibly make a difference.”

The boy tossed another starfish back in the ocean. “I made a difference for that one!”

It’s a beautiful story but here are three reasons to NEVER tell it.

Number one: it doesn’t belong to you. The Star Thrower was written by Loren Eisley in 1969.

Number two: the odds are tragically good that someone speaking before you at the same event will tell this story without attributing the author, as if it were free for the taking.

Number three: If you can’t pull an original story from your own life experience or create one worth listening to, you might want to reconsider whether it’s appropriate to call yourself a professional speaker.

Be creative.

Be unique.

Be original.