There are stories we tell ourselves and our worldview is formed based on those stories. Recently, I worked with a digital and innovation team of a leading multinational corporation and one of the story the team told themselves was, SAP the multinational software corporation that makes enterprise software to manage business operations and customer relations stands for Suffer After Purchase...

Not until you feel the problem, you feel the urge to find the right solution. In their new book The Power of Moments Dan and Chip Heath recommend a strategy Tripping Over The Truth to make people feel the problem. To trip over the truth is to endure an emotional wallop. When you have a sudden realization, one that you didn't see coming, and one that you know viscerally is right, you've tripped...

America's Got Talent is a perfect platform to witness the process of evaluating, commenting and giving feedback. Here is a story of Luke and his experience at America's Got Talent that teaches us something about being able to identify what stories are hidden behind the evaluations, feedback and comments we receive. Seventeen year old Luke has earned himself a name locally as a great ukulele...

We're all familiar with the idea of New Year Resolutions. However, there is nothing and absolutely nothing that says that Resolutions have to be associated with New Year alone. New Year's; is about the fresh start and what attracts us about New Year Resolution is the fresh start of the cycle. There are many other start of the cycles which come with same motivation. For example, at the beginning...

Facts may work in a courtroom but they rarely work in marketing. Still, amateur marketers believe that all they need to do is to recite a fact to make marketing successful. Stats like 65,000 likes, 2 million views, 500 comments for a social media campaign rarely equate to business conversions. If facts were enough, no one would sms whilst driving, everyone would be exercising and every health...

I have written about telling a negative story first and then telling a positive story to motivate change. The simple rationale behind this order of information is Negative Story, gets attention. So, tell it first. After you have managed to get attention, you must tell a positive story to motivate the action you desire. I use this order of information in Change Storytelling all the time. You can...

This blog is part 2 of the Insights Inform But Don't Inspire blog. If you have not read part 1 of the blog, then I suggest you read it before you read this one. You can read blog 1 here. These learnings are from Brent Dykes's article in Forbes What can we learn from Semmelweis' experience? Semmelweis' data met three key criteria - it was truthful, valuable and actionable - but he ultimately...

Many of us misunderstand the word inspire. We think political leaders with a gift of the gab are inspirational but the word inspire actually meansTo fill (someone) with the urge or ability to do or feel something, especially to do something creative.So, if you communicate and it doesn't lead to an action, lack of inspiration could be the reason.The question I want to answer in this blog isIs it...

I wrote this blog when I saw a teenager upset about a negative comment he had received on a video he had created and posted on Social Media. My default reaction was to question the teenager, " So why are you on social media and do you think it is a good place for you to be on? " However, I changed my view and this is how I think now. The learnings are not just for children but for anyone who...

As I am doing more and more work on Data Storytelling, I am coming across examples that are demonstrative of the fact that our ability to data storytell is still at its embryonic stages. There are simple things that we agree with in theory but fail to apply. Here are some slides I have worked with that demonstrate my point. Now, as soon your audience look at this, the feeling they get is very...

Our insecurities around social media Likes and Followers has created business for some people. In today's day and age it is very easy to feel insecure when you do not have as many likes as someone else but we have to remember is number of likes and Followers is always the wrong thing to chase. It is easy to build crowd. Trust me it is. Put a bunch of models and you will get that. The numeric...

I have written about my views on the obsession attached with collecting data on Feedback Forms for workshops, seminars and trainings in the past. But as I am reading and understanding more about Feedback I am developing some insights. The trend has been to centralise and standardise systems, collecting data on metrics on feedback for workshops, trainings, seminars etc. This can be helpful, but...

There is senior management meeting coming up and a fairly strong presenter has been chosen to lead the presentation. A day before the presentation I am sitting with the entire team who is responsible for managing the upcoming presentation to the management The presentation serves the purpose of making a case on why the organisation needs to curate a Change Story for a major change they are going...

This blog is part 2 of my blog Tech Talk About Connections But Lacks a Human Connection. In this blog series I am decoding ( decoding = what makes it great ) one of the best IOT presentations I found via online research. The presentation is by Scott Hanselman. The first 5 mins of the presentation decode can be found here. I highly recommend that you read the first blog before reading this one...

We have all been graded, rated and ranked. Coached, screened and scored. What I am always confused about this process is, how does it help us become better? After years of frustration with the grading in Feedback Forms and Performance Management Reviews I have finally been able to work out what is wrong about the way we give feedback at work and at home. My learnings are from Thanks for the...

This prompt is simple. No assignments. All we need you to do is to watch this 30 mins Presentation by Brad Smith, EVP and General Counsel Microsoft and recognise stories in the talk. Once you have watched the video and recognised stories. Please give us a Thumbs Up on our watsapp group https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkAwAj1Z9rg...

A couple of weeks ago I worked with a leading technology company on Business Storytelling. I gave a 90 min talk in which I shared some basic principles of Business Storytelling. After my talk the audiences had to take an existing case study they had and convert that in to a story. I heard story after story. Despite an amazing effort by the participants none of the story stuck. Why? Because most...

I am watching a video of Devon Bieling a young woman from Atlanta who rolls her way past the finish line after collapsing just 12 yards before finishing Tunnel Vision Marathon in North Bend, Washington. As I watch this video I am thinking of a word, Effort. Effort is a meaningful word with hardly any thought given to it in our privileged living. Somehow, the word has lost the meaning and sadly we...

+These are some small businesses that became big and they have somethings in common. Built into thier marketing is a promise: a promise that you'll deliver something desirable. And your customers often pay with their attention, trust, or credit cards before they know for sure if your product or service is what they need or want. Sometimes this promise is stated to the customer, while in many...

Time This Task Will Take You: 15-20 Mins To Read What is a story? For our purposes, in its most basic form, a story is someone's description of an event (or a sequence of events) that either has occurred or may occur at a particular place and time, and which features one or more characters who take action for a particular purpose. In other words, a story is about something that has happened or...

I have a question. No, I don't need you to give me an answer but just answer it to yourself. When was the last time you gave generous feedback on a feedback form? If your answer is recently or always or even sometime ago, you are rare and a minority. The problem is feedback forms are not designed to demonstrate generosity. Generosity, where we take time and effort to help someone improve. I am...

If you conduct meetings with senior business leaders with an objective of getting approval on key messages for important internal and external comms, then this blog is for you. In the coming weeks I may have to meet senior business leaders of a semiconductor factory to take them through a story that their leadership team and I have worked on in a workshop. The story answers a pertinent question...

Time This Task Will Take You: 15- 20 Mins To Read Stories are like DNA Strands that reveal the entire fabric of your character. It is your turn to tell your Story 1) Read this short blog : Satya Nadella's Introduction 2) Watch this video: Meg Whitman CEO of HP Enterprise telling her story [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URQGJQnRIWs[/embed] 3) Watch this video : Telling Personal Stories...

I work with corporate professionals on Business Storytelling. So naturally, I get to hear a lot of stories. However, sometimes I come across a business story that tells me a lot about the teller. This happens because an incident being narrated exposes the entire fabric of the storyteller's character. I will share one of these stories with you. This story was told by Michele Lum, a senior leader...

Recently, I had an opportunity to be involved in building a Change Narrative for a leading semiconductor manufacturing company. The factory was on its way to becoming a Smart Factory. Whilst running the project, at one stage, I sensed through a conversation with the leadership team that most of the factory workers had the view that this drive for automation and robotics was unique to their...