Please take note that this blog post will only make sense to you if you have attended our Signature Workshop - Strategic Storytelling Welcome back, workshop alumni! You've mastered the art of building a powerful storyboard, meticulously crafting each element of your narrative. Now, it's time to bring that vision to life with the help of Gen AI. This post will guide you through using AI to...

Those of us who are involved in causes aimed at changing social attitudes and structures often feel frustrated by the theoretical nature of our efforts. After all, one successful demonstration can feel far more effective than a hundred speeches. This idea, drawn from Malcolm Gladwell's "The Revenge of The Tipping Point" really stuck with me. It made me reflect on Martin Luther King Jr.'s iconic...

A few weeks ago, I came across a stunning photo of a dancer, captured by a very talented photographer, Rishi Raj. Needless to say, I loved the photo. While admiring it, someone next to me said, "Look carefully—there are so many elements coming together to make this photo remarkable. The pillars in the background, the subtle, graceful pose of the dancer, the way the color of the costume...

The Cambridge Dictionary defines "clear" as: "Easy to understand, hear, read, or see." However, many communication attempts fail even when they are easy to understand, hear, read, or see. Why? Because they lack connection. It's not just clear communication that moves people to action—it's the connection within it that truly makes an impact. Take a look at the news today. Much of it is clear, but...

Journalism is a form of storytelling that has always fascinated me. So, during a recent flight, when I saw a movie titled Civil War in the in-flight entertainment lineup, I couldn't resist. The film, directed by Alex Garland, features Kirsten Dunst as a war photojournalist in a dystopian future where America is at war with itself. One line in the movie caught my attention: "It's not a story if...

In the corporate world, there's a strong emphasis on making or getting straight to the point. This stems from the time-constrained nature of corporate life, where achieving results within tight deadlines often takes precedence. Saving time by focusing on key messages seems logical. However, while we may successfully make a point, the ultimate goal of communication isn't to make a point—it's to...

Apologies for my absence from blogging—I've truly missed it. Writing regularly has been a crucial part of my growth journey, and I've felt its absence keenly. For the longest time, I believed that becoming better at our craft came from simply doing good work. Then I realized that real growth comes not just from doing, but from reflecting on what we do. Now, I've reached a phase where I believe...

In an age where we can't compete with the productivity proposition of GenAI, we must learn to find a new edge. The new edge is in producing distinctive work. No doubt GenAI amps our productivity but it is still not at a stage where it can produce distinctive work. To produce distinctive work, you must perform Deep Work. Given below are 4 Disciplines of Execution of Deep Work by Cal Newport. These...

Chris works as a marketing manager for an e-commerce company. Every day, her computer screen is filled with numbers that she has to make sense of. When asked about her role in the business, she says, "I make meaning of numbers. The way I do that is by exporting those numbers from software to an Excel spreadsheet, then turning that spreadsheet into a graph for stakeholders and sharing the insight...

During the COVID-19 outbreak, I would see graphs and charts of increasing cases being shared all the time which would leave me puzzled because I would also see plenty of people violating physical distancing measures and not taking the actions they should have taken after looking at scary graphs showing the cases going up. I wondered why we were not taking action. Here is an example of a graph...

There is no doubt that the corporate world understands that storytelling is a weapon of mass attraction. One of the storytelling lessons that the corporate world is becoming increasingly good at adopting is making the story relevant to its audience. They know that we can't just build and amplify a message that promises organisational growth, we have to think hard about what is in it for the...

A story that doesn't resonate will never be true for your audience. Even if it is factual. We know the importance of resonance with storytelling. However, the risks of resonance are under-explored. Every storyteller who attempts to bring resonance must take the responsibility to analyse the risks with resonance too. When we want a story to resonate, we remind people of the experiences they have...

Examples will get attention but Stories will get you affinity. Samantha ( not her real name ) is a young researcher at a high-profile agency dealing with National threats. I was curious about her role at the agency, so I asked her how she goes about doing research. She quickly responded that her sources are open sources like newspapers, articles, and magazines. Anything that is available to a...

This illustration captures the process of Finding and Assembling a Story to make a point. I elaborate on this process in detail in my upcoming book Strategic Storytelling: Why Some Stories Drive Your Success at Work but Others Don't. If you are not new here you would know that my upcoming boom Strategic Storytelling published by The Hachette Book Group is launching in May this year. We are...

"idiosyncrasy credits—the latitude to deviate from the group's expectations. Idiosyncrasy credits accrue through respect, not rank: they're based on contributions." ― Adam M. Grant, Originals: How Nonconformists Move the World In this explanation of idiosyncrasy credits is a lesson in storytelling. I aim to answer two things in this short blog 1) Why to storytell is to be idiosyncratic? Firstly...

Whether we are building a template, service, or product, the ability to scale it remains top of mind for the creator. Storytelling is no different. Most people say., " I want to build this story and then tell it across all platforms and for a long time. However, scaling stories is a fallacy. Why? One of the most important criteria of a good story is its potential to resonate. A story that works...

Why do women feel a slump in their confidence whilst storytelling and what can they do about it? In 2019, I walked into a boardroom meeting with three men waiting for me to take them through what I had planned to solve their team's communication challenge. As soon as I saw the dynamics in the room, I knew that I am going to face some challenges today and that awareness really helped me navigate...

"What does it take to become good at storytelling?" asked a Storytelling masterclass participant from Morocco. A standard answer to this question is - Practice the hell out and you will fall in flow. But why does practice work? The practice works not because it allows seamless delivery alone. The practice works because when we are confident of the delivery, we have the mental presence to respond...

Samantha wanted to ask her colleague Matt something about the project they are working on. She walked up to him and said, "Can I just have 5 mins of your time?" Mariam writes an email to her boss, "Dear XYZ, I am just checking when would you like me to have the next town hall. Rgds, Mariam "Just" has a high concentration in the choice of words women use to communicate. As I became aware of it, I...

" I made a short film last year that did very well" said a podcast host who had just finished interviewing me. Short film! I was intrigued and watched it straight after the interview. I admired the maker's courage and effort. However, I had several questions in my head too. Why did he not promote himself as a filmmaker? Why only when I asked, he shared his story. He should have told his story...

I am writing this blog to capture the key learnings I shared in a session I conducted for a large platform company. If you were in attendance in the session, you will understand the context to these key learnings and if you are a regular blog reader, then also you can learn a few good storytelling tips here. Key Learnings List 1. The difference between Inspire and Influence To inspire with...

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...

Storytelling for women in a boardroom is a hard, we all know that already but what is the solution? We share a strategy to overcome this challenge in this blog. Mita Mallick, who is now the Head of Inclusion, Equity and Impact at Carta shared an opinion during an online meeting but her voice was drowned out. "I'm interrupted, like, three times and then I try to speak again and then two other...