I’m a word guy, so when I come up to a word that doesn’t work for me I become puzzled. Especially when it’s a word that is given great power. Hope is one of those words. It has always fell a bit flat for me – without power. But during lockdown, I started to hear…
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The days of a story written on the company wall for everyone to repeat are gone. You might have a wonderfully chiseled story that other people should share, but they’re not going to share it unless they can see their part in it – and can tell it as their own. To do this, you…
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So you say you want to lead a storytelling training? I’ve led hundreds of story trainings over the years and there are a few things I’d like to share in case you’re going to embark on this journey. Here are four things to think about: Why stories matter, what stories are, how stories work and…
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Those words that you know by heart – those words that you’ve heard a thousand times – were never written down. It was the March on Washington in August of 1963, and as Dr. Martin Luther King, JR, approached the end of his speech, delivering his words across the reflective pools to hundreds of thousands…
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The old saying goes that you have three names: The name you were born with, the name you are called by others, and the name you call yourself. The next time you tell someone what you do, consider the deeper name, the inscription that sits behind your “title.” I was speaking with a client the…
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Shakespeare said “All the world is a stage.” And it used to be, as CEO, your speaking would take place on the big stage, in front of many team members, at big moments. But now the stage is everywhere, all the time: on Instagram, on Zoom, small media, big media, small pitches, big pitches, culture…
READ MOREYou’re presenting your big idea, and yet your competition isn’t others doing similar ideas; it’s everyone who spoke to your audience today. Because they will take in 100k words between podcasts while walking the dog, drinking coffee while reading blogs, and generally navigating the information fog. How do you pierce the veil of this new…
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My dad used to tell some great stories when I was a teenager, preparing me for life out in the world. But they weren’t the earnest stories, the “You need to know this” stories. They were the crazy ones, as Kurt Vonnegut says, about falling in a hole and getting out of the hole. Having…
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I hear a lot about storytelling as vulnerability. But a story is not just vulnerability. It’s making use of your vulnerability to reveal a change, and show what transformation looks like. Here’s a story of one client who leveraged a story he never wanted to tell to inform a journey that gave his company true…
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This is a new era, and the tools are developing quickly. In an effort to support your elevation to the next level of your presentations, here’s a checklist for you to consider as you up your chops. This is primarily for at-desk media and Zoom calls, not on-the-go. EFFECTIVE ZOOM PRESENTATION CHECKLIST ☐ Get Your…
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