storytelling
19 posts
A Stake In The Ground
Years ago, when the owner of our local bakery decided to bake only gluten-free bread and cakes, it would have sounded like a risky strategy. Many people would have advised her to sell both conventional baked goods alongside her gluten-free loaves. Instead, she put a stake in the ground. We are natur
Storytelling For The Rest Of Us
Every decision you’ve ever made was influenced by a story—every single one. From the decision about whether to wear a mask during a pandemic, to the charities you choose to support. A story you heard, the story you believed or that story you told yourself, had an impact on those choices. If stories
Stories For Good
Stories are our most persuasive technology. The stories we tell can be powerful catalysts for change. But the stories that silence us are the most potent of all. The stories we choose to believe and believe in are the making of us. We can use our voices to raise the voices of those whose stories…
The Medium, The Message AND The Messenger
We know that when it comes to persuasive communication, it isn’t just the message that matters. How and where we deliver the message helps it to resonate and to spread. Speechwriters can write eloquent words which our leaders are instructed to deliver, but message only lands when it’s spoken with co
Balancing Wants And Needs
On a normal day, our local supermarket stocks fifty different kinds of pasta. Right now they’re stocking two. On a normal day, customers would complain bitterly about the lack of choice. Today they’re grateful to leave the shop with two boxes of a brand of penne they’ve never tried. What we’re witne
Influence Vs. Impact
In a world where attention has become both currency and commodity, it’s tempting to believe there’s a direct correlation between influence and impact. The modern definition of an influencer is someone who can persuade people with their recommendations. But it turns out, the people who have the great
Are You Ready To Find Your Voice?
Eleven years ago, as I was pivoting my business, I began reading a new book. I was barely two paragraphs in when the following sentence stopped me in my tracks. ‘Either you’re going to tell stories that spread, or you will become irrelevant.’ Those words, written by my friend and colleague, Seth God
The Myth Of The Gifted Storyteller
Over and over again, we’ve heard people like Steve Jobs described as ‘a gifted storyteller’. We’ve come to believe that storytelling is an art reserved for the chosen few—that great storytellers are born, not made. How can that possibly be true? What all great storytellers have in common is more tha
Say It Like You Mean It
Empathy is an essential skill for anyone who wants to make a living by serving others. A big part of our job is to show those people that we see, hear and can help them. But there’s a fine line between fake intimacy and genuine sincerity in a sales conversation. We’ve all been subjected to…
The Best Stories Are Lived
It’s Sunday afternoon, and I’m visiting the smallest branch of my favourite chocolate shop. It’s a fourth-generation, family-owned and operated business, and it shows. The enthusiasm of the assistants is palpable. ‘I’ve never worked for a company like this,’ the woman behind the counter says. ‘I’ve
Why This? Why You? Why Now?
Why This? Why You? Why Now? Three simple questions we are often reluctant to answer. When you sit with the discomfort of reflecting on them before you embark on a project, you’ll be clearer about what the world needs from you and why. You’ll also have the beginnings of the story your audience wants
Why Do Customers Choose You?
What are the top three reasons customers choose you? What story are you giving those customers to tell—not just to recommend you, but to trust and value, prefer and remain loyal to you or your company? You can make assumptions and best guesses about what’s motivating the people you serve, or you can
Signalling
According to the Collins English Dictionary, a signal ‘is a gesture, sound, or action which is intended to give a particular message to the person who sees or hears it.’ We are sending signals to our clients and customers whenever they come into contact with our business or brand—even when we’re not
What The Best Communicators Do
Professor Daniel Kahneman has spent a lifetime researching why and how humans make decisions. His decades of work focused on the two ways we think and decide using one of two modes of thought, System 1 and System 2. System 1 makes fast, instinctive and emotional judgements and System 2 operates at a
What Could You Leave Unsaid?
When I was in high school, the geography syllabus required us to study South America for a whole year. One of our teachers who had a special interest in South America decided to make it her business to teach us everything she knew about the continent. Everything. No stone was left unturned, no river
How Change Happens
The success of whatever we make, serve, sell or advocate for is dependent on creating and sustaining change. The same rules apply whether we’re trying to change perception or behaviour, get people to buy our software or stop using plastic straws. 7 Steps To Making Change Happen 1. Acknowledgement Th
The World Inside Your Customer’s Heart
There are few better lessons in the art of storytelling than those learned by watching a great real estate agent auction a good property, on a chilly Melbourne morning. Last Saturday, I looked on as an agent sold a million dollar home by reminding potential buyers how they would feel every weekend a
Attention Is A Byproduct Of Affinity.
The truest words ever spoken about storytelling were those of one of the greatest storytellers of our generation. J.K. Rowling once said—’No story lives unless someone wants to listen.’ As people who are anxious to change the world, what we try to do is make people listen. But there’s another equall
Mean It Like You Say It
The Sunday ice-cream scooper at the gelato place on Spring Street makes new customers sample every flavour before they buy anything. She knows her gelato inside and out. Her enthusiasm is infectious. She reels off the most popular flavours and tells stories about how pistachio lovers always return t
