The First Woman Story

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The First Woman Story
It’s 22 September 2019, at 8.15 a.m., and I’m on the Shinkansen (Japanese bullet train) travelling from Fukuoka to Hiroshima. I receive a  message from my husband. The message contained the google doodle for the day that linked to an article about the first woman, a Japanese, to climb the Mount Everest. The newspaper’s article heading read, “Junko Tabei: Google Doodle celebrates…
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A Mirage of Relationships

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A Mirage of Relationships
A kitchen that is used, gets messy. A baker who bakes, gets burnt. A foot that runs, has scars. A mother who cares, disciplines. A wife who loves, gives feedback. A teacher who is passionate, pushes harder. A friend who is sincere, speaks truthfully. None of the above, a messy kitchen, being burnt, having scars, disciplining, giving feedback, pushing harder, speaking truthfully…
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Storytelling : Tactical Titles

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Storytelling : Tactical Titles
Here is how a story was titled : Announcing the launch of the cloud migration webinar. This is clearly a tactical title, a title that informs the tactic or put simply, informs what we are doing. Tactical titles do not address the “why” of the webinar. As a result, they fail to connect with the emotional state of the person we intend…
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A Before and After Data Story

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A Before and After Data Story
“There are 4,000 people listening to you in this webinar.” “There are 300 people, who have registered for your speaking engagement today.” “There are 200 people dialling in from around the world to hear you speak.” These are some statements I am grateful to have heard over the last one month. Every time I heard these statements, I would first be filled…
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Activate Visualisation: An important rule of storytelling

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Activate Visualisation: An important rule of storytelling
As a leader you witness sinking morale in your organisation due to factors outside of your control. You are confident that employee care will always be your top priority no matter what the situation. In fact, putting employees care has been the company’s priority since its inception. Today, you want to remind people how they have been cared for all these years…
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Story for some and not for everyone

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Story for some and not for everyone
Repeatedly, we make the mistake of following the traditional path to making a change happen by doing the following. We find the problem. We figure out a solution. We tell the story of the solution aka marketing our solutions. Where in this process do we ask ourselves the question, “Who is the audience?” Now, you may turn around and say, the story…
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Data Storytelling : What you can see, but they can’t!

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Data Storytelling : What you can see, but they can’t!
The most basic rule of data storytelling: I must tell the story that only I can see, but they can’t. Chris is 28 years old and working as a data analyst for an e-commerce company. Everyday, her computer screen is filled with numbers that she analyses. When asked what exactly is her role in the business? Her response is, “I make meaning…
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Who will I work with?

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Who will I work with?
Its 11.30 PM, I am lying on my bed and thinking through the week this has been so far. We have delivered a lot of work this week which has required us to collaborate with vendors, partners and suppliers. These interactions have shaped my views about the people we work with. When you are time pressed, you notice more, say less and …
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Bystander’s or doer’s story?

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Bystander’s or doer’s story?
When we see great work done by others, we tell ourselves either one of these stories: Story 1: We call this the bystander’s story, where we justify someone’s ability to do great work by telling ourselves that she has done great work … because she has established herself a long time ago. because she has a team supporting her. because she looks…
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Why Do We Need To Say It Like That?

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Why Do We Need To Say It Like That?
Sure we get disappointed with things in life but does that level of disappointment justify our choice of words? When food doesn’t taste good, our reaction is, “It’s awful!” When a student doesn’t do a good job with her homework, our reaction is “It’s terrible!” When there’s traffic on the road, our reaction is “It’s horrendous!” The words we use to express…
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