Business Storytelling

30 Sep

Deep Work : 4 Disciplines Execution Strategy

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…

20 Apr

Examples will get you Attention but Stories will get you Affinity

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.…

14 Jun

Key learnings list from a Strategic Storytelling Session

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.…

12 Apr

Storytelling : You can’t storytell unless you are willing to story listen

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…

15 Mar

Strategic Storytelling : Book Announcement

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…

14 Feb

The perils of vulnerability in corporate storytelling

“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 …

11 Aug

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…

14 Jun

Storytelling a Perfect Plan in the VUCA World

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,…

08 Jun

Storytelling: Practice Doesn’t Make Perfect Alone

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…

02 Jun

Storytelling and corporate storytelling are not the same

Stories that work on social media almost always fail in a corporate boardroom. And that has created a problem, we tend to believe that what we see on social media is what storytelling is but it is not. Let’s not forget that the success metrics for social media storytelling is reach, likes, share and comments. Success metrics for corporate storytelling is – …