This Inc article compels me to start sharing differently.

At first glance, you might think there isn’t much overlap between the skills you need to be a great actor and the skills you need to be a great business owner. But Reese Witherspoon disagrees.

Sure, you can make millions in business without being able to cry on cue or rock a red carpet. But both entrepreneurship and entertainment rely heavily on storytelling, persuasion, and charm, the Oscar-winning actor and successful producer told author and Wharton professor Adam Grant on his Re:Thinking podcast recently.

“Everybody has to learn to tell their story. I don’t care who you are, where you’re from: If you’re a small-business owner, you need to learn how to tell your story, whether it’s on social media, for marketing, whether it’s trying to raise money, you’re gonna have to tell your story, and tell it in a compelling way, and find the parts that really resonate with people,” she said.

So how do you get better at telling your story so you can captivate, charm, and persuade? Whether you’re writing screenplays or a pitching VCs, Witherspoon has the same advice — imagine your life as a movie.

What’s your diving board moment?

Most of us have idly daydreamed about who would play us in the movie version of our lives. (I don’t care who plays me, but can Keanu Reeves play my husband?) But Witherspoon suggests taking this type of thinking a step further. Picture the pivotal decisions in your story. What scenes would you shoot to explain how you became you?

This might sound like a hard assignment, but an example can clarify what Witherspoon means. Grant is a star business professor now, but back in the day he was a teenaged diver terrified of bellyflops. “If you were making my biopic, which should never be made, it would open with me standing on the end of the diving board, shaking,” Grant suggests in response to Witherspoon’s thought experiment.

Why is this relatable moment of teenage angst important? Grant explains that his experience as a reluctant diver taught him the determination that helped turn him into the person he is today.

“I was terrified to take the leap. I was afraid of heights. I didn’t wanna crash all over the pool. It hurt. I didn’t wanna get lost in midair… What finally would get me to go was the threat of having to get off the board and walk down the ladder. And I was so determined to not be that person that it sort of forced me then, I guess, to be more courageous than I was,” he recalls.

This moment of personal transformation — of Grant realizing his strength of character — is hugely cinematic. You can easily picture a movie opening with the scene. And that makes it a great anecdote around which to build the kind of truly compelling story that moves others to both like you and take action.

Show, don’t tell.

It’s not only Witherspoon who insists that effective stories are built from concrete details and human moments rather than bland platitudes. Everyone who has ever taken a writing course has been told, “show, don’t tell.” Hollywood swears by the principle. Andrew Stanton, the director behind Pixar hits like Toy Story and Wall-E, calls this the 2+2 rule.

“Make the audience put things together. Don’t give them four; give them two plus two,” he explains. “The elements you provide in the order you placed them in is crucial to whether you succeed at engaging the audience.” Or, in other words, show people the moments that made you who you are and let them draw their own conclusions.

This approach makes for better movies and books, but Witherspoon says identifying the pivotal moments along your journey makes for better business storytelling too. “Find those touchstones that are like the every-person experience. Is it where you grew up? Is it how much you love this, this project that you’re so passionate about? Why? Everybody wants to know why,” she advises business owners.

A rom-com story about how you met your future wife in a coffee shop will do more to explain why you opened a string of cafes than grand language about “community building” and “third spaces.” Painting a picture of the moment your isolated 14-year-old self discovered other “weirdos” like you on the internet is a better explanation for your passion for tech than marketing speak about “changing the world.” If you want to explain to someone who you are, tell them about your personal diving board moments, rather than offering them a string of adjectives.