No doubt story listening is the foundation of good storytelling. Those who understand this are in agreement that without listening we don't really know what is the right story to tell. However, listening is a skill that needs development. We have many ways to develop storytelling skills but not that many to develop story listening skills. The problem lies in the fact that we are able to listen...

I am pleased to announce that my book Strategic Storytelling will be published by The Hachette Book Group . The Hachette Book Group is a leading US trade publisher and a division of the third largest trade and educational book publisher in the world, Hachette Livre. The book launches in UK, India and Australia in Nov 2022 and in the USA in March 2023. We are planing on a few events leading up to...

"When storytelling, be vulnerable, talk about your mistakes and you will connect with your audience." says a communication expert to a group of corporate professionals. It is worth exploring the perils associated with this generic advice that doesn't always work in a corporate setting. A few years ago I was watching videos of corporate leaders such as Indra Nooyi, Meg Whitman, Ginni Rometty and...

To use corporate storytelling to bring an organisation's goal to life is a good practice.However, if the goal is not concrete, it is highly unlikely you will be able to move people in to action. You will leave a group of motivated employees not knowing what to do next. *In 1960's when Boeing prepared to launch the design of the 727 passenger plane, its manager set a goal that was deliberately...

Is storytelling a perfect plan even possible in today's VUCA world? An architect has a plan in place, we call it the blueprint. Blueprint is executed to perfection, or at-least that is the goal. As such an architect's day to day task is mostly predictable. A gardener however, deals with immense uncertainty. She is not sure if the seed will become seedling, if the sunlight will be enough, if the...

Storytelling creates motivation required for any change implementation. This blog is for you if you are like Azira. Azira is responsible for learning and development for a MNC. At the end of each year she thoroughly researches relevant learning opportunities, conducts surveys to find out what is the learning need in her organisation, has conversations at all levels and then puts together an...