The Best Stories Start in a Pub | Steve Clayton, Cisco's Chief Communications Officer

Steve Clayton is Chief Communications Officer at Cisco and the former Chief Storyteller at Microsoft, where he spent 15 years helping shape how one of the world’s most influential companies communicates with the world. In this conversation, Steve joins Chris Hare for a thoughtful and surprisingly personal discussion about storytelling, creativity, identity, and the moments that quietly shape a life.

At the center of the episode is a simple but powerful idea: storytelling isn’t first and foremost a professional skill—it’s a human instinct. As Steve reflects, when people gather—whether in a pub, a living room, or around a table—they naturally start with, “Let me tell you…” What follows isn’t information. It’s meaning. It’s how we make sense of what we’ve experienced and share it with others.

That lens shows up in Steve’s work. He talks about the shift at Microsoft from telling product-centric stories to telling stories grounded in customer impact—and how that single change reshaped not just the narrative, but the way the company connects with the world. It’s a reminder that the most powerful stories aren’t about what we build, but what they make possible for someone else.

But this episode is also about something more personal: the tension between the stories we tell professionally and the ones we carry privately. Steve has spent a career helping others tell their stories, but as he shares here, telling his own doesn’t come naturally. What unfolds is a rare moment where that line blurs—where the person behind the role starts to step into view.

Along the way, Steve reflects on growing up in Liverpool surrounded by natural storytellers, nearly pursuing journalism before finding his way into technology, and the unexpected turns that defined his career—including the now-famous “wrong Steve” story that led to his job at Microsoft. He also shares the discipline behind writing every week for nearly two decades—not because it’s easy, but because it’s how he continues to refine his craft.

This is a conversation about storytelling, certainly. But even more, it’s about the gap between the role and the person—and what happens when that gap begins to close.

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• Why Steve sees storytelling as a human instinct, not a learned skill—and how it shows up anytime people gather and try to make sense of what they’ve experienced.
• How Microsoft shifted from product-first to customer-first storytelling—and what happens when you focus on signal instead of noise in how you communicate.
• The idea of isolating the “source of the signal” in a story—and why clarity often comes from removing distortion, not adding more.
• The early influences that shaped Steve’s creative instincts, growing up in Liverpool surrounded by people who told stories for the sheer joy of it.
• The discipline of writing every week for nearly two decades—and why treating storytelling as a craft, something you return to and refine over time, still matters.
• The story behind the “wrong Steve” and what it reveals about opportunity, readiness, and the unpredictable paths that shape a career.