I am certain most of us heard our very first story from our parents or grand parents. When I was told The Little Red Riding Hood Story I remember being told in the end the moral of the story is ,Never Trust Strangers. Have you ever wondered why our parents did not just say, Never Trust Strangers and why the effort to tell a Story? Because our parents knew that by just telling us, Never Trust...
There is a form of storytelling that we watch, yes it is movies but we don't do movies at work. Right ? So, what do we do to make people see what we are saying ? Is there a way to make that happen ? Firstly let us understand why seeing is even important? When you make someone see something you engage that little voice in their head that is constantly saying ( whilst you are talking to them ), "...
Over the last few months, whilst running Digital Transformation Storytelling Programmes, I asked several rank and file staff (impacted by the change), "Why do you think your organisation is changing?" After hearing several responses, I can confidently say that rank and file staff's worldview is, all change initiatives are driven by profitability and there is no care or concern for people on the...
In an effort to understand the Smart Factory Project I interviewed Dr. Laurent Filipozzi in June 2017. You can listen to our conversation in this audio recording which is roughly 42 mins. The purpose of sharing this audio recording with you is to ensure you align your stories and the key messages with his key messages [audio...
Chobani sells yoghurt so does Yoplait. Chanel sells lipstick so does Loreal. Nike sells fitness apparel so does Adidas. What is the difference? Often times, the biggest difference between two products that do the same thing is the story that they tell, and how people relate to it. Watch this 20 min video in which Tim Riley, who heads up the online experience at Warby Parker not only tells the...
Nujeen, Head of Department for a Pharmaceutical Company, was asked in a Gender Diversity panel discussion, "Do you see more mothers joining the workforce in your industry?" As an answer, Nujeen can respond in the following ways: 1. Yes, I do 2. Yes, in fact seven of our department heads are women who are also mothers. 3. Yes, most definitely. Things have changed a lot over the last two years. It...
Storytelling with Pattern matching is a shortcut to a desired outcome. There is a company with a staff strength of 10,500 employees. The company introduces a CRM system change. Leadership team wants to convince each and every staff that the change is good for them. The change promises efficiency. Expensive and arduous efforts to convince everyone begin. At the end of the internal change campaign...
If you tell a semiconductor factory supervisor that soon there will be robots working in the factory, the first question that cross his/her mind will be, "What will happen to my job?" As an answer, what if you could shift into Storytelling gears and tell Katherine Johnson's Story. In the early decades of the 1900s, mathematical and technical calculations were made manually, rather than by...
Before I begin, a disclaimer. We have used a video produced by KPMG as an example to bring the point we want to make via this blog to life. We lack context, it was not made for an audience like us. We are not even sharing our views on making this video better but simply using the information in the video to unearth opportunities to story tell. With that in mind, I request the readers to...
Here is a simple technique for you to store your stories in Evernote. I have created this 5 step super simple method. In Step 5 I make reference to a Story shared in a watsapp group that I have used an example to show you the method. If are not part of the Storytelling Watsapp Group. You can access the story here to understand it Ready... Set.... Store...
Summary of Deep Work Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport
Data Points play a crucial role in shaping the story you tell
In my previous blog on Data Storytelling, I suggested that in the absence of an insight, a Data Analyst should be a Questionologist. In this blog, I want to share the vital role that an audience plays in generating what we all want from Data....Insights. Firstly, I would highly recommend that we take the time to reflect upon our respective Internal Presentations Culture. In my corporate roles in...
Last month I conducted 3 workshops on Data Storytelling in Singapore, China and Malaysia. During the Workshops I got the Data Analysts to apply the learnings on data they had brought from work. I noticed a pattern in their struggle. Let us try and dig deeper in to the issue using an example, Imagine you are a Data Analyst and you are presenting the data given below which shows the volume of...
We are always finding ways to increase Productivity. Many solutions to increasing productivity come in the form of tools and technology. However, in one of my previous blogs Productivity Storytelling I have suggested the importance of mental productivity and how storytelling has a role to play in it. In this blog, I am focussing on Visual Storytelling that increases Mental Productivity. Here is a...
I am aware that you are reading this blog to find out the answer to the question, "Why Abu Jandal, Osama bin Laden's former chief bodyguard's decision to not disclose information to his interrogators changed?" I will get to that, but let us start by creating an important connection between the answer and what we can learn from it. In my Sales Storytelling Programmes, I often talk about Delighting...
Words are not just a mechanism of conveyance. They are a mechanism of influence. Given below are three research based findings from Robert Cialdini's book Pre- Suasion: A Revolutionary Way To Influence And Persuade that prove that words are a mechanism of influence. 1) WORDS THAT CONNOTE ACHIEVEMENT Studies have shown that subtly exposing individuals to words that connote achievement ( win...
Why are some teachers, facilitators or just communicators way better than the others in engaging? Over the years I have gained insights on what makes a classroom experience engaging. Unfortunately, great content on its own rarely works. Engaging communicators use a combination of Great Content + Great Engagement Techniques. Here is one of the trick I use for creating engagement in my Storytelling...
Desired Change rarely takes place by only presenting consequences of not changing or benefits of changing. Effective Change Management Storytelling requires another important element. Robert Cialdini's book Pre-Suasion informs that as a rule, communications that present the most frightening consequences of poor health habits work better than milder messages or messages that present the positive...
In Change Management Storytelling talking about how is the current situation is very important. Today, whilst working on Change Management Storytelling Project I was having a casual conversation with some of the leaders to gain some insights on the project. During this conversation, one of the leader asked me " why are you so fussed about knowing how are we working now? Isn't change all about the...
Building genuine trust in the Digital World is not that hard if you don't abscond digitally. The message in this blog is specifically for the sales professionals, but learnings can be applied by anyone who is keen to learn about building trust in the digital world. Let us start by looking at how we buy a service in a digital world. When you need a service and you do not know anyone who provides...
I am sure I do not need to justify why reading is a great habit but just reading alone rarely works for me. I have been reading for a while now but what I have noticed is that in about 6 months time the book I have already read becomes new to me. What does that mean? That means I have forgotten most things I had read! I needed to some how ensure that all these great things I read, I can remember...
Why desired change behaviours should never be incentivised? Last week I was invited to speak on Storytelling for Change at a Learning Festival of an Organisation. I was surprised to notice that the employees upon attending a speaking session were allowed to get a stamp on their Learning Passports and once they had certain numbers of stamps they could win prizes like i Pad etc. So, it was...
Business Storytelling and where the focus should be I give talks on Storytelling regularly and sometimes I am introduced as a Master Storyteller. I often grind my teeth when I hear that because if I am called a Master Storyteller, then I have actually failed as a Business Storyteller. What am I going on about? The idea here is that unlike in Performance Arts Storytelling where we are really...