The Corporate Storyteller

Smart Companies Foster Informal Learning

2011-08-12T10:30:00.000-07:00

Workforce studies have found that only 30 percent of essential job skills and knowledge are learned via formal training--generally in a classroom setting--with 70 percent gained informally through exchanges with co-workers, most often by swapping experiential stories). Now a report in Chief Learning Officer posits that "smart companies" are fostering informal learning; the author includes in that category such activities as reading books and participating in self-study programs, coaching, practice groups, expert communities and social media.

"In all of these examples," writes Harry West, "the employee is learning from another person and not training materials and they are participating in learning rather than just receiving information. Indeed, some experts estimate that 80 percent of learning is informal and takes place on the job. For a specific metric to gauge its success, employee engagement is a useful measure and can be found with social feedback mechanisms. Among the benefits of informal learning are increased innovation, productivity, and knowledge transfer."

Storytelling Supports Training Assessments

2011-08-10T14:15:00.000-07:00

Investing in employee and leadership training not only helps to develop a company's current workforce but also attracts and retains more high-caliber people. David Conradie, director of human capital for Deloitte in New Zealand, addressed a "critical shortage of talent" in the country by offering ways for organizations to ensure ROI on training, including one ideally suited for storytelling.

First, Conradie says in an article in the Star-Telegram, it's essential for corporate training leaders to understand organizational goals so they can design programs that support the goals. Second, leaders must be able to clearly communicate what success looks like at each level of the company. (Storytelling is a perfect tool for accomplishing this.) Third, organizations need to conduct in-depth assessments of their leaders' abilities so they know exactly what the training and development needs are. These steps, in turn, lead to a more fully developed workforce, both current and future.

Training to Increase as Boomers Retire

2011-08-08T15:33:00.000-07:00

At the same time that the boomer generation is retiring, the pool of skilled workers, especially in manufacturing, is shrinking. As a result, the need for training is expected to increase.

Companies in Cleveland already are investing in more training and other manufacturers in the Midwest are making similar plans. Don Johnson, vice president of Advanced Technology Services in Peoria, Ill., says training will be critical to ensure the next generation of full-time employees is prepared to replace those who are exiting the workplace.

Rick Capretta of ProTech Staffing Solutions in Mayfield Heights says that "there are not a lot of good people who aren't working...so the talent pool is getting smaller, especially in this region."

How to Train Workers on the Move

2011-07-29T13:30:00.000-07:00

Mashable reports that the workforce is increasingly mobile, with telecommuters and other remotely-based employees expected to comprise nearly 75 percent of the American workforce by 2013. According to market research firm IDC, nearly 35 percent of the global workforce will be working at remote locations in two years.

Mashable offers five tips for training those mobile employees:
1) Hire not only for relevant job skills but also for a demonstrated ability to collaborate and contribute when working at a distance from colleagues and managers.
2) Provide remote workers with all the necessary tools, e.g. e-mail, Internet access, phone, private networks, shared docs, wikis and logins to SaaS applications.
3) Require new remote teams to spend their first days or weeks at headquarters, using the initial visit convey company culture, set expectations, and build personal relationships and communication.
4) Schedule frequent check-ins to see if remote workers have questions and comments.
5) Center training and learning processes and programs on remote workers' routines and schedules, allowing them to review new materials on their own and at their own pace.

Learning Fosters Psychological Health & Retention

2011-07-28T05:10:00.000-07:00

According to an article in Chief Learning Officer magazine, organizations that offer opportunities for growth and development not only enable employees to acquire knowledge, skills and abilities to apply in the workplace, but also can increase motivation, job satisfaction and the ability to manage stress. The artile reports on findings from an American Psychological Association (APA) study that found workplace training "improves organizational effectiveness [and] work quality, and the organization also can be positioned as an employer of choice" with very low turnover.

David Ballard, head of APA's Psychologically Healthy Workplace Program, says providing work-based learning "can attract and retain the best employees and that's what it takes to have a competitive advantage today." The findings are based on a survey of companies that researched employee involvement, health and safety, work-life balance, employee recognition and employee growth and develop. Among the eight recipients of APA's Psychologically Healthy Workplace Awards (PHWA), only six percent of employees organizations were looking for employment outside their companies. Among all the organizations studied, more than five times as many employees were looking for work elsewhere.

Here's what Ballad says it takes to provide a healthy work environment: 1) assessing what employees need and want, 2) tailoring practices to meet those needs, 3) tying compensation to company goals, and 4) evaluating results and feedback from employees to improve learning.

SAS' Story on Being the Best to Work For

2011-07-26T14:13:00.000-07:00

How does SAS sustain a culture of satisfaction, wellness and creativity that results in a turnover rate under three percent? According to one former SAS staffer, the employee benefits include private offices, an on-site childcare center, a healthcare center, and a fitness center. That's only part of the reason the company was named as Fortune's Best Company to Work For earlier this year.

Add unlimited sick and family sick days as well as flexible scheduling and you've got a package that results in long-term employees whose productivity contributes to the company's success. Although there will be some people who take advantage of the impressive benefits, the majority of employees reciprocate the trust the company places in them.

What about your company? Have you examined your business model and employee benefit offerings lately? How can you make adjustments that inspire creativity and keep employees healthy and happy?

What Story Are You Telling to Retain Talent?

2011-07-19T15:43:00.000-07:00

Around 40 percent of the technology and engineering workers polled by Dice.com believe they can increase their pay levels this year by changing employers. Even though tech workers are still in high demand, wages have remained stagnant in the sluggish economy. As a result, they're "looking for more," says Tom Silver, a senior vice president at Dice.com, a career website for technology and engineering professionals. He predicts that turnover will increase before year end.

Because many businesses are focused on maintaining a healthy bottom line in the challenging marketplace, they may be overlooking the potentially significant costs of higher turnover. Leaders who look ahead are already strategizing about how they can retain their best tech and engineering professionals.

How about your company? What are you doing to ensure that you hang onto the people who are most valuable? What story are you telling to remind them why they're better off to stay put?

Values Define the Culture, Tell the Story

2011-07-16T05:45:00.000-07:00

Ranked for several years as one of Fortune's "Top 100 Companies to Work For" globally, NETAPP is a company that understands the importance of creating a corporate culture. As reported recently in Business Times Singapore recently, the company says its culture centers on a positive work environment with opportunities for growth for everyone who works there, including the leadership.

The five values that differentiate NETAPP from other organizations are:

attitude is contagious, i.e., a positive outlook generates good energy
candor is encouraged so that honesty is maintained
a positive approach attracts followers, e.g. recognizing individual successes within the company is more important than focusing on competitors
leaders should appreciate employees' work and inspire them rather than simply manage operations
openness to change is essential in today's ever-changing, innovative world

Change the Stories, Change the Culture

2011-07-14T10:30:00.000-07:00

If an organization wants to change its culture, Peter Bregman says in his blog post for Harvard Business Review, "you have to change its stories." In "A Good Way to Change a Corporate Culture," Bregman discusses several key steps, starting with facing the truths you may not like and taking steps to change the reality.

Besides changing the stories, an organization can change a culture by inviting everyone's input to craft a new values statement; I'm presuming Bregman's implying that the core values should be re-examinied and perhaps changed. Then, the core values should be illustrated with stories that describe how the values are being enacted; this will cement them as the operational values for the organization.

A change in culture often is required when companies merge. Any major differences in the way they operate and any dissonance in core values will be stumbling blocks in successfully building a stronger company--and the differences, if not addressed, may even be fatal.

Why Culture Is Key

2011-07-12T15:32:00.000-07:00

Why should a company focus on the culture? The fact is, the success of an organization--as well as each of the individuals in it--depends largely on whether the culture is a good fit for everyone, including the CEO. If the leader doesn't embrace the existing values or doesn't feel comfortable with the existing way of doing business, the chances for success are greatly diminshed.That explains in part why a new leader brought in from another company sometimes leaves after a very short tenure.

And yet, a discussion about the culture isn't necessarily a standard point of discussion when an organization recruits talent. What does your company do to ensure that prospective employees understand the culture of the organization? What do your leaders do to remind people of the operating values? How often do you share stories of people "caught doing things right?"

Video Storytelling at Its Best

2011-06-24T10:30:00.000-07:00

Video storytelling is coming on strong as a business communication tool, with the majority of executives surveyed reporting that they would rather view a video than read written messages. As video communications gains momentum, it's becoming increasingly important for all types of organizations to understand how to use the medium.

Here's a powerful example of how to tell a story visually in just three minutes. It's obvious why this was the Grand Prize Winner of the Philips Tell It Your way competition. http://www.porcelainunicorn.com/

StoryCorps Collection Growing

2011-06-22T10:30:00.000-07:00

The StoryCorps collection of oral tales about the American experience keeps growing, totaling 30,000 interviews with 60,000 participants since launching in 2003. This past weekend the mobile story van visited Lexington, KY, for the secoond time and recorded stories from 300 people.

Initially the only permanent recording booth was at Grand Central Station in New York, but in the ensuing years permanent booths also have been installed in Atlanta and San Francisco. Two mobile units launched in 2005 have collected stories in all 50 states and Puerto Rico.

All the interviews collected will be archived permanently in the Library of Congress at the American Folklife Center, and stories are also edited and played on National Public Radio's Morning Edition. Information about the project is available at www.storycorps.org

Read more about the recent visit to Kentucky at http://tinyurl.com/4xb2m8f

Stories Drive Marketing

2011-06-20T13:50:00.000-07:00

It's tough to know exactly why business is slow...or is it? Maybe you just need to do a better job of telling your story.

A great article in "Fast Company" describes how marketing guru Martin Lindstrom fostered dramatic turn-arounds for three small Mom and Pop businesses with simple, low-cost changes. In all three cases, representing totally different types of businesses, he made strong emotional connections with prospective customers. For two he used straightforward, traditional storytelling techniques; in the third case he made simple changes that created the right mood for a restaurant. Read the article at http://tinyurl.com/62a9qub

How can you make a tweak or two that will make a huge difference for your business?

Five Ways to Win Employee Support For Change

2011-06-12T17:30:00.000-07:00

Do your company's leaders understand what inspires employees to change their behavior? Companies that want to engage employees need to have psychological insight, says John Marshall Roberts, who offers five proven strategies for inspiring employee engagement:
1) Start small by selecting a specific behavior to address, such as recycling or energy consumption
2) Develop a targeted campaign to shape the particular behavior being addressed
3) After behavior has started to change, capture the momentum and apply it to other changes
4) Use successes in achieving small changes to build up "psychological momentum"
5) Make the effort to view the world from the other person's or management level's perspective in order to gain consensus

Why Employees Don't Support Change

2011-06-09T17:00:00.000-07:00

According to a study by the Richard Ivey School of Business, one of the most common reasons employees don't support change in the workplace is lack of sufficient communication. Other common reasons are 1) failing to invite input, and 2) not understanding the challenges employees encounter when they try to make changes.

"There is nothing more frustrating than ambiguity and lack of clarity," the article says. "Change is natural and...is to be expected. But there still needs to be a good reason for change and it needs to be clearly articulated. People want to feel part of the change and that they have a role to play.... Being left alone is lousy. It doesn’t work in business culture, it doesn’t work in public or private companies, and it doesn’t work in families."

An article in Western News says the study focused on municipal management but the findings are applicable to other types of organizations. The conclusion: All organizations need the support of employees to enact significant change, so it's important that leaders overcome the common mistakes in efforts to win commitment to new initiatives and procedures.

Ken Blanchard Says You Need Only One!

2011-06-07T13:18:00.000-07:00

"Only one that you stick with." That's Ken Blanchard's answer to the question, "How many leadership training programs do you need?"(He also points out that the same answer applies to the question, "How many diets do you need?")

Another of his views on leadership training that I heartily endorse is that teams should be trained together.Otherwise, if just one person from a team attends a training session, as is often the case, any valuable techniques and behaviors learned will be confusing or puzzling to the person's co-workers when s/he returns to the office. As a result, no matter how valuable the new learnings may be, they likely will be dropped so as not to create a disturbance. What a waste!

Blanchard's comments are contained in a video clip on Elliott Masie's website to promote his upcoming LeadershipDev 2011 conference next week in Las Vegas. Masie interviewed three featured speakers and posted video clips of each. In addition to Blanchard, the other clips are of David Gergen and Tom Peters. Go here to view them: http://www.masie.com/leadervid

One Company's Culture Shift: Turnover Reduced 66%

2011-06-02T10:15:00.000-07:00

Beaulieu of America, one of the largest carpet manufacturers in the U.S., is a stellar example of corporate leadership that recognized the culture needed to change and committed to doing it. In just five years, the company reduced turnover 66%!

It was a change that was sorely needed, as reported in CFO magazine. At the outset, turnover at the company was "abysmal" at 50%; five years later it had dropped to 17%. Among the benefits was an astounding dollar savings. With the cost of replacing each employee averaging about $5,000, the company is saving $11.5 million each year!

With the help of consulting firm HPWP, Beaulieu brought the company's actions in line with its message, which cultivated mutual respect and trust across all levels of the organization. "So many companies say they want to be employee-friendly, but their actual policies say something different," says Beaulieu's CFO, Del Land. "That was true of us."

The chief factor in achieving the culture shift, Land says, was turning over the hiring responsibility to teams of employees. The employees who will be the new worker's peers now select new hires. The reason this works well is that employee teams choose people who will fit into the group. As a result, the new person is surrounded by people "who want him or her to succeed."

How to Use Stories to Nurture the Culture

2011-05-31T14:30:00.000-07:00

In his Harvard Business Review blog, Peter Bergman shares an example of a CEO who listens to employee input. He tells of Bill Black, a former CEO of Maritime Life, who asked all the company's employees to help create a values statement. Then he asked a team of employees to write a newspaper containing stories that illustrated how the values were enacted in various departments.

So, in other words, one makr of an effective leader is the commitment to involving everyone--by asking, listening, and giving meaningful assignments that keep the desired culture alive and well. And if it becomes clear that the culture is veering off course, the leader steers it back in the right direction. The best way to do that is to change the stories that are told.

A related use of stories is to help with integrating the cultures of different companies following a merger. I worked with one major organization that had just bought two smaller companies. I guided the sales team through the process of crafting a new corporate story based on the shared values of the three organizations. The outcome was that the salespeople left with a solid story to tell their current customers, assuring them that the "new" company would continue to deliver the outstanding service they were accustomed to.

How about you? What stories is your organization telling that make the core values crystal clear?

To Change the Culture, Change the Stories

2011-05-26T10:45:00.000-07:00

"If you want to change the culture, you have to change the stories," says Peter Bregman in a recent blog post for Harvard Business Review. As Bregman points out, corporate culture reflects the values of the people running an organization, and the culture has a significant impact on talent management and corporate success.

He asserts that when the CEO values input from all levels, employees are encouraged to strive for the company's success. Honest, direct employee input requires the CEO to face the truth contained in the stories employees tell--and to be willing to do something about them. Is that happening in the company where you work? How is that culture different from others you're familiar with?

A Brilliant Story of Nordstrom's Legendary Service

2011-05-24T05:00:00.000-07:00

At Nordstrom's recent annual meeting, President Blake Nordstorm shared a new, shall we say shining, example of Nordstrom's legendary service. As reported in The Seattle Times, a woman in North Carolina was trying on clothes in a Nordstrom store when she noticed that the diamond had fallen out of her wedding ring. A store security staffer noticed the woman crawling under the racks on the sales floor, asked what had happened and then started helping her search.

When they didn't find the stone, he requested help from two building-services workers. They decided to check the store's vacuum cleaner bags and--voila!--there was the sparkling diamond. Noting that he's "never been through a vacuum-cleaner bag, President of Stores Erik Nordstrom said, "It's kind of disgusting." As he introduced the three employees who helped to find the customer's diamond, he told shareholders, "This (story) raises the bar."

It was a fitting tale at a meeting that focused on Nordstrom's efforts to cater to customers, both in the store and online. How does your company emphasize its core values?

New Managers Often Lack Necessary Skills

2011-05-19T10:45:00.000-07:00

A recent article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution confirms what many have observed: People promoted to management positions are selected because they were great workers, but managing other people requires a different skill set that they may or may not have. This finding underscores a great need for leadership training that many organizations overlook or don't consider to be the high priority that it should be.

Supervisory communications and conflict resolution are the top skills that a leader needs but a new manager may not have. What memorable experiences have you had working with managers who exhibit signs of this gap in crucial skills?

Trust in Executives Key to Employee Engagement

2011-05-17T10:20:00.000-07:00

A high degree of employee engagement requires a high level of trust in the organization's executives more than workers' own managers--and yet, an extensive survey of employees across North America revealed that only 52 percent trusted their executive team while 72 percent trusted their immediate bosses.

Christopher Rice, CEO of BlessingWhite, the company conducting the survey, points out that if people "don't trust their boss, or their boss' boss, they'll begin to question how they fit in with the company and have less pride in the organization overall." One of the remedies, Rice says, is to strengthen communication skills among HR professionals as well as executives so that they can share the responsibility of conveying genuine "concern for employee well-being in order to strengthen employee motivation," he says.

Sharing one's own career stories--particularly focused on challenges the executive has faced, and how those were overcome--is one way to communicate genuine concern and understanding of employees' situations. Anyone have examples of how your organization's executives have done this effectively? We'd love to hear them!

Visual Storytelling Comes on Strong

2011-05-10T14:19:00.000-07:00

When you hear the word "storytelling," what comes to mind first? Do you envision someone standing at a mic and verbally spinning a yarn to inform or entertain? Do you recall a favorite movie or TV show? Or do images pop up of recent videos you've seen, either youtube clips or videos you've shot yourself with a camera or phone?

Most of us probably think first of one of those standard visual formats, but a new form of visual storytelling is taking the world by storm: infographics. The exciting thing is that several tools for creating infographics are now available to those who are graphically and artistically challenged. (That would include me!)

I've been using wordle.com for awhile, and it's a fun way to emphasize key points. A new tool that's currently in beta promises to be far more robust. It's visual.ly, and you can sign up to be notified on its progress at http://visual.ly/o2mh7

Storytelling: A Powerful Tool For Board Development

2011-04-29T14:28:00.000-07:00

Like any work team, directors of any organization--nonprofits as well as corporations--function much better when the individuals get to know one another on a personal level. Storytelling is a very effective tool for developing personal relationships.

Research has shown conclusively that when people discover shared values,they're drawn closer together, develop deeper respect and appreciation for one another, support one another better, and work more effectively toward common goals.

When I work with boards to introduce the members to the practice of deliberate storytelling, and then coach individuals on shaping and telling their own stories, they're amazed by the transformative power of storytelling.

If you serve on a board and would like to learn how storytelling can help you bring your mission into sharper focus, give me a call! I'd love to help you expand your circle of supporters who will help you achieve your goals.

Video A Good Connection for Boards?

2011-04-27T10:19:00.000-07:00

A recent "Wall Street Journal" reports that a growing number of corporate boards are using videoconferencing to save the costs, both in time and money, of requiring members to travel long distances to meetings. The article says that the time savings, in particular, make it feasible for companies to attract board members from around the world.

The down side, as expected, is that videoconferences greatly reduce the sense of personal connection and eliminate the opportunities for one-on-one interaction. McAfee board member Denis J. O'Leary commented on his experience of the videoconference-based discussions leading to an acceptance of Intel's acquisition offer: "I didn't feel like I was there, but I felt it was a lot better than the alternative, which was the telephone."

And Mei-Wei Cheng, a Diebold director, observes, it's possible to get to know fellow directors well only "when you're sitting at dinner or talking to each other at coffee breaks."

What's your experience with videocoferences? When do you think they're most effective--and not so effective?

Tell Employees the Full Story First!

2011-04-25T12:12:00.000-07:00

I was mystified to learn recently that a major organization, having announced the date that a new base-pay program for their salesforce would be launched, neglected to tell the staff that their checks would be delayed two weeks. What's worse, sales people learned about the delay on the day they were to have received the first check--only after they asked where their checks were!

How can any management team be so clueless, especially in an industry that's been hit so hard by the economy that sales have nearly disappeared? The new pay system was created to help keep the staff afloat--and the company in business--until new sales initiatives and the economy both improve. But the lack of support until now and the cavalier attitude about a two-week pay delay, which for some was a desperately needed lifeline, does not bode well for the company's chance of retaining those people when the economy improves and they have opportunities to go elsewhere.

I've always been amazed that many organizations forget that their employees are their greatest asset and should be the first to hear the complete story about management decisions and corporate changes.

Am I missing something here? Is there a good reason you can think of that would cause management to be so nonchalant about their people's ability to survive in tough times? Let me know what you think about the scenario I described.

Storytelling Tours Boost Business

2011-04-13T13:59:00.000-07:00

The family made famous by their story as told in the world's most popular musical, “The Sound of Music,” has begun using storytelling to build business at its lodge in Vermont. Members of the von Trapp family share their treasure trove of stories during personal tours for guests around the lodge property.

Learn more about how it's working and get inspiration for how you, too, can leverage the power of story for your business. Read about their approach at http://tinyurl.com/3hakp6h

Check Out Our New Video

2011-04-07T10:00:00.000-07:00

At first glance, it doesn't seem that writing, recording, editing and compiling a demo video should be a huge undertaking. After all, how hard can it be with all the video cameras on the market, right? Wrong!

Capturing a good demo for a professional speaker is far more challenging than most people would think. Think of all the elements required to make an engaging movie, and you have a sense of all the detail involved: a good script, the right wardrobe, makeup, hair styling, clear sound, good lighting, sharp video, professional cameraman, professional editor, professional announcer...you have the idea.

All that is to say, I'm pleased to announce that my new demo is now on youtube and will soon be on my newly revised website, which should go "live" in the next week (after months of work on that as well). The video is posted at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgFCq17wHpk

Family Stories Sell!

2011-04-05T15:55:00.000-07:00

How do you use stories to generate sales? A lot of professional salespeople tell stories automatically, but others struggle to find the most effective way to build stories into their sales presentations.

If you're not sure where to find material, or how to relate the tales, there's an article in marketprof.com's e-zine that may inspire you. It's about one family that's altering the focus of their business' entire marketing approach.

The von Trapp family, whose experiences have made "The Sound the Music" the world's most popular musical, is offering "story tours" at the family lodge in Stowe, Vermont. The tour features family members sharing tales about their dramatic escape from Germany during WWII. Read the marketingprofs article at http://tinyurl.com/3hakp6h

Stories Are Best Persuasion Tool

2011-04-01T10:50:00.000-07:00

“There are two ways to persuade people," according to Harvard Business Review Contributing Editor Bronwyn Fryer. "The first is by using conventional rhetoric, which is what most executives are trained in. That’s not good enough, because people are not inspired to act by reason alone.

"The other way to persuade people – and ultimately a much more powerful way – is by uniting an idea with an emotion. The best way to do that is by telling a compelling story.”

Because Values Drive Actions, Values-Based Stories Are Key

2011-03-30T10:45:00.000-07:00

At the center of a person's character is his/her value system, according to the Singapore Ministry of Education's new education plan. I couldn't agree more. Values are at the core of any culture--country, ethnic group, corporate, family, etc., which is why values-based stories are the heart of the Corporate Storytelling system.

The Ministry based its goals for education on the assumption that values "shape a person's beliefs, attitudes and actions"..."and therefore form the core of the framework of 21st century competencies." Do you agree?

6The middle ring signifies the Social and Emotional Competencies—skills necessary for children to recognise and manage their emotions, develop care and concern for others, make responsible decisions, establish positive relationships, as well as to handle challenging situations effectively.

7The outer ring of the framework represents the 21st century skills necessary for the globalised world we live in. These are:

5Knowledge and skills must be underpinned by values. Values define a person’s character. They shape the beliefs, attitudes and actions of a person, and therefore form the core of the framework of 21st century competencies.

6The middle ring signifies the Social and Emotional Competencies—skills necessary for children to recognise and manage their emotions, develop care and concern for others, make responsible decisions, establish positive relationships, as well as to handle challenging situations effectively.

7The outer ring of the framework represents the 21st century skills necessary for the globalised world we live in. These are:

Communication a Core Skill for 21st Century

2011-03-28T11:42:00.000-07:00

Information and communication skills are among three core competencies for success in the global environment of the 21st Century, as identified by Singapore's Ministry of Education. The other two essential skills are:

Civic literacy, global awareness and cross-cultural skills
Critical and inventive thinking

Do you agree that these are essential, or are there other skills you believe would help students prepare for careers? If you agree with the skills identified by Singapore's education leaders, how well do you think U.S. schools are preparing students in these areas? Let us know what you think.

Need Sales? Learn How to Leverage Storytelling At Free Webinar

2011-03-21T18:00:00.000-07:00

Need more sales? Got stories? If you need to boost sales and help your sales staff sharpen their presentation skills, be sure to reserve a spot for a free webinar tomorrow on storytelling to fuel sales. I'll deliver a one-hour introductory session of my trademarked Corporate Storytelling system.

Sponsored by Wright Mature Market Services specifically for owners of senior care facilities, the webinar will cover fundamental points that apply to any type of organization.

You will learn how you can leverage the power of story to engage, inform, inspire and, most of all, illustrate to your prospects exactly how they will benefit from working with you.

The webinar starts at 10 AM Pacific time (11 Mountain, Noon Central, 1 PM Eastern). Be sure to get a seat; space is filling up fast! Register now: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/450066246

Learn to Fuel Sales with Storytelling

2011-03-19T07:30:00.000-07:00

Have you heard about storytelling for business but aren't sure how to use it? One powerful way is to tell stories to fire up sales--and you can learn how in a *free* one-hour webinar I'm presenting next Tuesday, March 22. It's at 10AM PDT (11 Mountain, Noon Central, 1 PM Eastern).

Sponsored by Wright Mature Market Services, this presentation is targeted to senior services businesses, but the storytelling tips are applicable to any business in any marketer. And you'll learn three ways to start using values-based stories right away.

Space is limited, so reserve your seat now!

Register here: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/450066246

Stories = Effective Leadership

2011-03-17T17:30:00.000-07:00

Long before storytelling was an accepted as an essential business tool, Tom Peters was a believer--and his conviction gave me hope! "Symbols, dramas, stories, vision and love--these are the stuff of effective leadership, much more so than formal processes or structures," he said in one of his management books, A Passion for Excellence.

Fueled by a passion for helping organizations craft more effective marketing messages and leadership stories, I re-read Peters' statement frequently. It was included in my own marketing materials as a testimonial to the work I had committed to, and it kept me going when the going was tough.

How about you? Who or what inspires you? Share the stories that feed you and will encourage the rest of us!

Free Webinar on Storytelling for Sales

2011-03-15T15:29:00.000-07:00

If you've been wondering how storytelling can help your organization stand out from the crowd and fuel sales, you won't want to miss the free one-hour webinar I'm presenting next Tuesday, March 22.

Aimed specifically at those in senior services businesses, the presentation will deliver storytelling tips that any business owner or marketer can apply right away. Learn how to:
*clarify your values
*identify authentic stories to tell
*tell different kinds of stories for various purposes
*develop a collection of captivating stories
*tell your stories consistently to engage your markets

The webinar is from 10-11 AM Pacific Daylight Time (11 Mountain, Noon Central, 1 PM Eastern). Space is limited, so reserve your seat now at:
https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/450066246

Story Contest A Fun Idea!

2011-03-10T09:15:00.000-08:00

In the current issue of AARP Bulletin, a column by Consumer Cellular's CEO invites entries to the company's upcoming story contest. Entries will be accepted beginning in August, so entrants have plenty of time to develop their stories--and to get inspiration from some of last year's essays. Hundreds responded to the question, What does it mean to be a grandparent?

Even if you're not planning to enter what's now known as the Grandparent of the Year competition, you may want to check out the 2011 winner, "The Grandparent I Want to Be." Go to www.consumercellular.com

Free Webinar: Using Stories to Fuel Sales

2011-03-07T10:30:00.000-08:00

If you need to boost sales and help your sales staff sharpen their presentation skills, you'll want to reserve a spot for a free sales storytelling webinar I'll be presenting March 22. I'll deliver a one-hour introductory session of my trademarked Corporate Storytelling system.

This particular webinar is being offered on behalf of Mature Marketing Services specifically for owners of senior care facilities, but the fundamental points that I'll be covering apply to any type of organization.

You will learn how you can leverage the power of story to engage, inform, inspire and, most of all, illustrate to your prospects exactly how they will benefit from working with you.

The webinar starts at 10 AM Pacific time (11 Mountain, Noon Central, 1 PM Eastern). Space is limited, so register now:
https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/450066246

Need for Well-Trained Workers Intensifies

2011-03-04T11:00:00.000-08:00

When jobless rates are high across the U.S., it seems contradictory to report that many jobs go unfilled. But that's the case, and it's in large part due to a lack of job-skills training.

In an op-ed piece in the Seattle Times, a Seattle-area leader whose resume includes positions as a Boeing executive and deputy Seattle mayor, reports sobering findings of a recent study:
1) one-third of manufacturing companies experienced shortages of qualified workers even at the height of the recession
2) one-half of all new jobs created in the next seven years will require more than a high school education, and
3) the rate of high school graduation in the U.S. ranks in the bottom third among developed nations

Bob Watt advocates for increased allocation of resources for retraining of current workers, for K-12 education, and particularly among at-risk populations, early education from pre-school on. He says starting early is crucial to "lay the foundation for the skills businesses will need" in the future.

Do you agree? Tell us what you think the best solution is to improving job skills training.

Find Stories Everywhere on Broadcastr

2011-03-02T11:30:00.000-08:00

Stories from places around the globe are now available at the push of a button through an exciting new social-media platform, Broadcastr.com. It's like having a guided tour with you wherever you go and whenever you feel like hearing about someone's experience in another part of the world. And it's free!

Katherine Boehret reports on the new platform in today's "Wall Street Journal," describing how the company has partnered with a number of organizations that supply stories about specific locations pinpointed on a world map.

Listeners can share their favorites with friends via e-mail, Facebook and Twitter. Individuals also can upload stories although the reporter didn't meet with success on her two efforts to contribute to the collection.

Currently the service is available as a browser-based app that uses Adobe Flash, but a mobile app for Android and iPhone users will be released later this month.

3 Simple Words to Your Brand Story

2011-02-26T12:00:00.000-08:00

In a recent Fast Company article, branding guru Ken Carbone offers up $100,000 worth of advice on developing a brand story that works.

Strikingly similar to my advice on how to create a powerful corporate story (identify, clarify, magnify), Carbone's three words are:
*Unify
*Simplify
*Amplify

To read how he recommends enacting those three words, go to:
http://tinyurl.com/6ygvsas

An Encouraging Story on US Education

2011-02-24T14:33:00.000-08:00

It's exciting to discover that innovative teaching methods are being used in my home area. It's especially fun to learn that Erin Hitchcock, the daughter of a friend, is on a team of teachers who are leading the way with project-based, collaborative learning. It's a refreshing change from all the dire news we often hear about the U.S. educational system failing our children.

Check out this video report on MSNBC and share your thoughts: http://tinyurl.com/4jfnf4k

Short Stories the New Norm?

2011-02-22T14:44:00.000-08:00

"Say it quickly and get off the page (or stage)" is becoming the key to successful communication. As technology speeds up the pace of life, people's attention spans continue to shrink markedly.

TED requires speakers to deliver thought-provoking ideas in no more than 20 minutes, twitter.com is training us to say what we have to say in 140 characters or less, and e-readers are increasing demand for simpler, shorter books. Now TED may be setting a new standard for publishers by creating books between 10,000 and 20,000 words, which is roughly 40-80 pages of a trade paperback. The point is to enable readers to easily finish a book in just one sitting.

Would you rather slow down and take the time to dive into a book over a week or two or more--or demand shorter books so you can get the gist of the idea and move on to the next? Tell us which you prefer. We'd like to know!

The Top 50 Stories of Innovation

2011-02-18T13:49:00.000-08:00

"Fast Company" recently released its 2011 list of the Top 50 most innovative companies. If your company isn't among them, what can you learn from what those companies that are?

Here are the magazine's Top 5, with the reason for choosing each one:

#1--Apple "for dominating the business landscape in 101 ways"

#2--Twitter "for five years of explosive growth that have redefined communication"

#3--Facebook "for 600 million users, despite Hollywood"

#4--Nissan "for creating the Leaf, the first mass-market, all-electric car"

#5--Groupon "for reinvigorating retail--and turning down $6 billion" in a buyout offer

Each of these, as "Fast Company" says, has taken a "unique path," which is often what leadership requires.

How about your company? What are you doing, or planning to do, that's unique and will help you gain an edge over your competitors?

Virtual Training Increases Nearly Seven-fold at Deloitte Services

2011-02-16T22:59:00.000-08:00

When budgets were cut several years ago at the beginning of the economic downturn, Deloitte Services began to use virtual classrooms for technical training. "We still had plenty of money for training, but our budget was cut year over year. That forced us to rethink our strategy around delivery," explained Bill Pelster, a Seattle-based managing principal for talent development.

Before 2008, Deloitte's virtual training sessions numbered approximately 900. Now the virtual classroom is used for nearly 6,000 classes per year. The best use of the virtual format, Deloitte has found, for updating technical skills or knowledge among auditors, financial advisers, tax experts, and risk-management specialists worldwide. Other U.S. companies have also discovered that virtual training can work well.

Despite some organizations' belief that soft skills training doesn't work well in a virtual environment, I've successfully delivered storytelling online and will be increasing the number of web-based presentations and courses in the future. The next one, a presentation to a board of trustees, is scheduled in early March.

How about you? If your company is offering virtual training, tell us how it's been delivered and how well it's worked.

Virtual Corporate Training Rising

2011-02-14T16:39:00.000-08:00

Corporate training departments have dramatically increased the percentage of training offered virtually, through both live and recorded online classes. Virtual classes rose from 8 percent of corporate training in 2008 to 13 percent in 2010. Shrinking budgets drove the change, and companies found that for certain types of classes, such as technical topics, online-based instruction can be highly effective.

According to the Corporate Learning Factbook 2001, a joint venture of Bersin & Associates and Workforce Management, virtual training may have reached its peak since employee engagement is more challenging in a virtual environment. Also, soft skills, such as communications and customer service, benefit from the synergy of an in-person classroom experience.

Management Training May Increase in 2011, Poll Says

2011-02-11T10:50:00.000-08:00

Investment in management training is likely to remain at current levels or slightly higher this year, according to a poll conducted by SMU Cox Executive Education. Nearly 100 percent of the HR professionals contacted indicated that their organizations would continue investing in leadership training, with the focus on equipping "high potential" personnel with skills needed for the future.

Training will focus on areas such as leadership and executive development, management accountability, interpersonal and organizational business skills, and aligning leaders with business strategy.

Two Storytelling Companies Among Fortune's Best for 2011

2011-02-09T10:50:00.000-08:00

Two storytelling companies are featured in Fortune magazine's list of "Best 25 Companies to Work For" in 2011. Featured in Around the Corporate Campfire: How Great Leaders Use Stories to Inspire Success, REI placed #9 on Fortune's list and The Container Store ranks #21.

This year Fortune published verbatim quotes from employees of the featured companies, which helps readers understand why employees enjoy their jobs. The eight most-often-used words in employees' quotes are these:
* people
* family
* time
* benefit
* team
* job
* help
* customer

Notice that salary is not among the reasons that people love where they work. Fortune also created interactive graphics that illustrate the relative rankings of the companies and their most-appreciated qualities. Check them out here: http://tinyurl.com/4c4evhm

Instant Online Buzz the Key to Super Bowl Ad Quality and Creativity?

2011-02-07T11:05:00.000-08:00

As ad executives opine on which commercials "won" the Super Bowl competition, one says that in our social media-driven world, the contest champs are those that are posted instantly and create the greatest buzz on http://www.twitter.com/ and http://www.youtube.com/.

In today's Fast Company online, the chief creative officer at Grey New York observes that the buzz used to happen Monday morning at the office around the water cooler, but now "the minute an amazing ad hits, the Twitter world goes crazy." Tor Myhren says he "personally believes the YouTube view count is the single most important factor in judging the success of a Super Bowl ad."

What do you think? Social media are clearly overtaking print media as a chief source of news. Do you agree that they also are the prime measure of ad quality, as detemined by the speed and staying power of an ad's online buzz?

Leadership A Key Area of Corporate Training

2011-02-04T22:50:00.000-08:00

"Learning needs to be continuous, and it needs to be everywhere," according to Karen O'Leonard, author of the Corporate Learning Factbook 2011. Noting that in 2010 companies increased their training staffs for the first time in three years, O'Leonard reported that the number of learning hours delivered by each studies also increased.

More than one-fifth of training budgets (22%) went toward leadership programs that in some cases combined formal classroom instruction with online learning, followed by one-on-one executive coaching. The coaching sessions focused on "lessons learned" and included opportunities for leaders to demonstrate how they would use their new skills.

Leadership and Culture Drive Employee Satisfaction

2011-02-02T22:50:00.000-08:00

Confirming the often reported fact that salary and benefits are not the chief drivers of employee satisfaction, a recent study by Workplace Dynamics LLC found that the prime factors, instead, were leadership and culture.

The Top 100 Places to Work survey collected data from nearly 143,000 employees at companies in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and 14 other sites. Asked to evaluate and rank their organizations on 18 points across six key areas, employees put pay and benefits at the very bottom.

The co-founder and CEO of Workplace Dynamics noted that leaders in the Dallas area are different from top managers in the rest of the country. Doug Claffey said "senior managers in the Dallas area really understand what is happening in the organization (and so) people in Dallas feel more connected to their senior management."

Executive Turnover on the Upswing

2011-01-31T13:58:00.000-08:00

Turnover in the executive suite is on the upswing, according to a study conducted in 2010 by Rice University. The key factor that drove the 11% rise in turnover was the lack of in-depth knowledge of the organizational culture.

This finding indicates that top leaders, who serve as the models for the company's workforce, need to be immersed in cultural values and familiarized with how they are to be enacted. Corporate storytelling would be a key component of such training, best offered by insiders or long-time consultants who know the orgnaization intimately.

What's your experience with storytelling training for new C-level executives?

What's Your Corporate Story for 2011?

2011-01-28T12:41:00.000-08:00

As the end of the first month of 2011 approaches, you should have put the finishing touches on your plan for the year and put it into action. A crucial element of that plan should be a refreshed corporate story, adjusted, if necessary to address changes in your market and concerns that are topmost on your customers' and clients' minds.

If you haven't refined your story specifically to drive your organization forward in the new environment, you may find it helpful to visit my website, where we list a set of central questions to guide you: http://www.corpstory.com/yourstory.htm

If you'd like to dive deeper into corporate storytelling, a facilitated workshop, online training, or one-on-one coaching can be arranged.

Corporate Storytelling Includes Tales that Honor Your History

2011-01-26T15:30:00.000-08:00

A special event at Seattle's Museum of Flight recently honored icons of The Boeing Company's history, who shared stories about their adventures in building what for many years was the anchor business for the city.

Bill Boeing, Jr., talked about the company's famous Red Barn, the original building where Boeing manufactured planes. Credited with saving, moving and restoring the barn, Bill Jr. recalled that the Museum of Flight bought the barn "for $10 and other valuable considerations" and has been "spending on it ever since," as reported by Patti Payne in her column for the Puget Sound Business Journal.

The barn now resides at Boeing Field after serving as a, uh, "wing" of the Museum of Flight for years. In similar fashion, Nike displays the original waffle iron that inspired Bill Bowerman to design the iconic waffle-soled running shoes. What items symbolize your company's culture? How can you mine the opportunities they offer to breathe life into a rich history that will inspire employees and customers alike?

How Leaderse Develop Spirit of Volunteerism, Part II

2011-01-24T11:30:00.000-08:00

We've been discussing the competitive advantage of fostering a spirit of volunteerism among an organization's workforce. In our last post on January 21, we described the first three steps a leader can take to develop a fully engaged workforce that willingly volunteers for work above and beyond the call of duty.

Here are the three remaining ways, according to a recent article in the Washington Post:

4. Take time to think of the times in your life when you've been inspired to volunteer and note your motivations (and, I would add, note the results as well).

5. If you aren't fully engaged in your current position, determine why not and, if necessary, start looking for opportunities with other emploeyrs that would be more fulfilling.

6. Determine to re-orient your own work approach and your leadership philosophy so that you and all your employees will be fully engaged--to the point of being willing volunteer!

Remember that sharing stories of your most fulfilling, meaningful, instructive and/or fun work experiences will help you through all these steps and produce the results you want.

How Leaders Develop Spirit of Volunteerism

2011-01-21T12:30:00.000-08:00

Combining Southwest Airlines' management philosophy with the late Peter Drucker's belief that leaders should always think of their employees as volunteers, a recent Washington Post article offers a series of steps to help leaders foster a spirit of volunteerism among employees.

Here are the first three:

1. Communicate your mission and values clearly so that each employee understands how s/he fits in and can contribute to reaching goals

2. Focus more attention and resources on employee training and development, taking care to praise and reward the behavior you want

3. Make the effort to get to know your direct-reports and other employees as individuals and encourage other managers to do the same

My addition: Remember that storytelling is a highly effective communication tool that will support your effortss with all three of these critical steps. We'll cover the remaining three steps in the next post.

Mission and Values Drive Employee Volunteerism

2011-01-19T12:30:00.000-08:00

Why in the world do employees willingly volunteer for extra work, especially after their normal shift is over? According to a recent Washington Post article reporting on a presentation by former Southwest Airlines CEO Jim Parker, it's because employees "believe in the organization's mission and values; believe that their work matters; respect, and may even like their bosses and co-workers."

As you'll notice, these are the same reasons, the article points out, that people volunteer to help at their churches, local social service agencies, or their children's schools and/or sports organizations. By keeping this in mind--and remembering that most people really do want to contribute their best effort to any cause--you can be a more effective leader with happier, more satisfied employees as well as better-served customers.

When Employees Volunteer, Service Soars

2011-01-17T12:30:00.000-08:00

What difference does it make when a company's employees volunteer for tasks that are above and beyond the call of duty? Here are some examples from Southwest Airlines:

1. Off-duty flight attendants and pilots help serve beverages during flights
2. Off-duty personnel also help service planes on the ground
3. A gate agent puts extra effort into personally returning a passenger's lost Blackberry

What difference does it make when employees "go the extra mile"? In the first two examples, employees who pitch in enable Southwest to turn around their plans faster, making better use of the lines' most costly equipment and leveraging time spent in flight earning revenues. In all three cases, the personal, one-to-one customer service wins and solidifies customer loyalty.

How can you inspire your employees to look for ways they can help thier organization without being asked? What do you envision the benefits to be?

Highly Effective Leaders Foster Volunteerism

2011-01-14T15:39:00.000-08:00

Do your employees have a spirit of volunteerism--or do they do only as much as necessary to "succeed" in their jobs? A recent Washington Post article describes the volunteer spirit fostered by Southwest Airlines' management philosophy, which produces more engaged employees and a stronger bottom line.

Building on the "fun" approach to leadership established by Southwest founder Herb Kelleher, Southwest's succeeding leaders have inspired people to give all they've got to their jobs--not because they have to, but because they want to. Ever-increasing global competition (as well as economic challenges across the U.S. and around the world) are increasing the need to make the most of an organization's resources. As the article points out, an engaged workforce is an intangible asset that can be the competitive advantage that sets one company above the rest.

How do you engage your employees? Are they willing "volunteers"? We'll discuss more about Southwest's approach to management in future posts, and we'd love to hear your thoughts.

Listening Crucial to Successful Leadership

2011-01-11T11:52:00.000-08:00

Listening is an often-overlooked part of communication that gets far less attention than the telling part. In the view of Match.com CEO Greg Blatt, listening also is a crucial to successful leadership.

Blatt says in an interview with Fast Company that "passion and conviction are two of the most important tools of success, and yet they both need to be tempered by listening." This is a lesson he learned from working with Martha Stewart Living and also with Barry Diller's IAC, which Blatt will be heading soon.

"You can let your convictions, passion, and vision get in the way of the facts. Yet knowing how to combine those things is really the key to success."

How about you? Do you seek out others' views--and listen carefully to them--before making key decisions? How has that practice made a difference?

Asking "Why?" Leads to Success

2011-01-07T11:37:00.000-08:00

The CEO of Match.com, soon to be the head of parent company IAC, believes his greatest strength is "taking nothing for granted" and always asking "Why?" when he evaluates how an organization does what it does. Greg Blatt says that that often managers can't give a reason why they do things a certain way, and by continually asking the question, the "how" often changes for the better.

In an earlier post (11/12/10), we talked about the importance of telling the "why" of a company's story to drive home the unique character that forges a strong brand and guides the vision. Asking "Why?" is just as important as sharing the answer when it's clearly defined.

When have you discovered gems of insight by asking "Why?" We'd love to hear your stories!

Leaders Innovate

2011-01-05T12:05:00.000-08:00

Innovation is always an important aspect of leadership, but in today's climate it's essential. All our assumptions about what business we're in and how to best serve customers and clients need to be seriously questioned as more and more business moves online and customer expectations shift dramatically.

Every organization needs not only to rethink what they've been doing and how they've been doing it--but also to ask basic questions as though they're starting from square one. To do that requires doing something that many, if not most, business leaders feel they can afford to do: take time to step away from the day-to-day demands of running the business and look at the company from a fresh perspective.

For guidance on how to rethink your business, consider the four steps of innovation outlined by noted innovator Warren Berger as described in his first article of a series for Fast Company. Read it at http://tinyurl.com/3a8m63j

Happy New Year!

2010-12-31T13:00:00.000-08:00

Warm wishes for a bright, successful and Happy New Year! May 2011 bring achievement of your goals and fulfillment of your dreams.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays!

2010-12-25T12:59:00.000-08:00

Heartfelt wishes to everyone for a very Merry Christmas and happy times celebrating the holidays with family and friends!

Vote on Top Corporate Stories of 2010

2010-12-23T12:59:00.000-08:00

The Wall Street Journal is running a series of stories featuring the Top Corporate Stories of 2010. If you had to vote, what would your choices be? BP's handling of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill? Nike's ill-advised commercial featuring Tiger Woods' dad's voice? The rescue of the 33 Chilean miners trapped for 69 days?

Write in with your votes and reasons for your choice. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Stories Are the "Glue" that Helps Employees Stick Together

2010-12-14T11:56:00.000-08:00

One of the best ways to describe the benefits of storytelling in the workplace is that stories are the "glue" that helps people to stick together. It's been proven again and again at Disney Co. and other top organizations that the more people know about one another, the more they care and the more effectively they work together.

When people learn about one another's life experiences, family culture and personal values, they develop respect, trust and commitment. And when they care about their co-workers, they naturally become more willing to "go the extra mile" to help one another when workloads are overwhelming or personal challenges loom large.

What stories are your employees sharing? Are you encouraging and nurturing storytelling in your workplace? What changes have you seen as a result? Your comments are welcome!

The Story of CEO Giving ('Tis the Season!)

2010-12-11T14:11:00.000-08:00

While it's discouraging to note that the average CEO's pay is 300 times that of the average worker--a far higher multiple than in decades past--it's encouraging, particularly during this season of giving, to learn that more billionaires are agreeing to give away most of their fortunes.

As reported in Thursday's Wall Street Journal, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and AOL's Steve Case are among those who have recently signed onto to the Giving Pledge initiated by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. The objective is to encourage those with extraordinary wealth to engage in philanthropy earlier in their careers than their predecessors traditionally have done.

As Steve Case's wife, Joan, explained, "The folks that helped bring AOL to life were out to change the world. It seems a natural thing that as they look at the role they want to play, they are giving back in big ways."

I'd love to see inspiring stories like this one more often! How about you?

Clear Communication Motivates Employees

2010-12-07T15:30:00.000-08:00

Workplace studies consistently reveal that employees are not chiefly motivated by money but by factors such as recognition. In a column on the subject, Workplace Coach Maureen Moriarty reports that other motivational factors are autonomy, mastery and purpose.

Drawing on author Daniel Pink's formula for workplace satisfaction and motivation, Moriarty says it's essential to tap into "the human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create and to improve our world and ourselves." Based on this perspective, she offers six tips on motivating employees, and one of the six is to give people a sense of purpose by identifying and communcating how their job matters in the context of the entire oganization and its goals.

Storytelling is a highly effective way to achieve this goal. When employees hear the CEO's vision told as a story of what their future will be, they're able to see the connection to their own roles in realizing the vision.

When have you seen a business story produce results? Do tell! I'd love to hear your comments.

Storytelling an Ideal Tool for Focusing Attention

2010-12-03T14:09:00.000-08:00

The Age of Attention has followed on the heels of the Information Age, according to futurist David Houle. The challenge of this decade, he says, is not conveying and finding information you need; the challenge is to capture and keep attention. That's because everyone is suffering from information overload, which makes it easy to get distracted and hard to get--and stay--focused.

Storytelling is the ideal tool for keeping your stakeholders' attention focused on the messages you want them to hear and remember. Stories are natural "sense-makers" that help human beings cope with their world. When we receive data-filled information, we search our minds for relevant experiences to associate with the data we want to remember--or make up a story to wrap around the data.

Relating your key messages in story form makes it easier for your audiences to remember your points. Stories grab their attention--and keep it focused on the messages you want people to hear and recall. Storytelling is a perfect tool for this decade. Isn't it time you learned to master the art of story?

How to Find Stories to Tell

2010-12-01T16:37:00.000-08:00

Do you, like many leaders I've worked with, feel challenged to find appropriate stories to tell when you need to drive home a point? If you believe you just don't have good stories to tell, remember that everyone has a lifetime of great stories to draw from--and tells them regularly. You simply need to learn to be intentional.

To start mining your experiences for the gems from your own life, try this simple process:
1. Clarify your key point until you can express it in a few words
2. Recall various times in your life when you've gained appreciation for that lesson
3. Fill in as many details about those experiences as you can remember
4. Jot down the details until one of those comes alive all over again
5. Develop the story of that one experience and relate it to the point you want to make

By practicing this process on a regular basis, you'll soon have a group of reliable stories that will be the start of a rich collection to draw from.

Thanksgiving Table: A Rich Story Source

2010-11-23T13:57:00.000-08:00

In my storytelling workshops, one of the assignements that creates anxiety--second only to telling one's own stories--is coming up with a good story to tell. Many participants feel that everyone around them has far more interesting lives, and therefore, more interesting stories to tell.

The truth is, everyone's life is filled with experiences that can inspire, inform, teach and/or entertain others. The key is to be aware of all the things that happen and to take note of the details as they occur.

As you gather with family and friends for Thanksgiving, you have a golden opportunity to "mine" the experiences of those in the room as well as memories of those who have gone before. While you're enjoying the feast at the holiday table on Thursday, ask everyone for a favorite Thanksgiving memory. You're sure to leave with a treasure of tales to tell!

Stories Cut through the Clutter (Data Update)

2010-11-19T15:19:00.000-08:00

As I tell my workshop and keynote audiences, one of the many benefits of using stories is that they're very effective at cutting through the clutter in the marketplace. The sheer volume of information that's at our fingertips--not to mention the amount directly bombarding each of us every day--continues to grow and weigh us down, keeping us from being able to focus on the most important tasks at hand.

And now comes word of this staggering piece of data: More information moves through the Internet in one day than was transmitted in the entire year of 1995. Granted, that was in the early days of the Internet; however, there was no small amount of information immediately available even then.

So if you find yourself wondering why your brain feels "fried" at the end of the day--or even midday--you at least can take comfort in knowing that it isn't just you! The data is indeed growing, and piling up at a rate that's truly mind-boggling.

Tribute to Leadership Storytelling Visionary

2010-11-17T12:44:00.000-08:00

I was shocked and deeply saddened to learn recently of the death of David Armstrong, one of my storytelling heroes. He wrote the first book on the use of story as a communication management tool, Managing by Storying Around, the first of several story collections he wrote about “people caught doing things right” at Armstrong International. That book inspired me to search for other companies that led through story when I set out to write my own book.

David was the first person I interviewed for Around the Corporate Campfire, and it was an exciting start to my research. His graciousness and enthusiasm for the subject generated a much longer conversation than I expected of a busy CEO, and it led to an ongoing relationship with Armstrong International for which I’m very grateful.

David died unexpectedly this past summer at the age of 52. He left an inspiring legacy of leading through example, guided by a set of core values that attracted dedicated employees. In keeping with the Armstrong culture, which exemplified the best characteristics of what a family could/should be, David Casterline, corporate director of communications, responded to my note of condolences in part by saying, “He was like a brother to me.”

If you'd like to experience David's enthusiasm for the subject of leadership storytelling, check out the videos and other resources available on the company's website at: http://www.armstronginternational.com/davidarmstrong

The Best Leadership Stories Tell the "Why"

2010-11-12T12:56:00.000-08:00

As a high school journalism student, I first learned the five W's that make for good news stories--and the "Who, What, Where, When, Why"(and sometimes How)mantra has guided my writing since. In our Information Age, those guides to storytelling have become common reminders for writers in any endeavor to ensure they include the essential elements in any document they're preparing.

Unlike a newswriter, who's compelled to begin a story with the most important element among the 5 W's and How, leaders, marketers and sales professionals always need to be guided first and foremst by the "Why." The "Why" of an organizational story contains the most valuable part of the message; it conveys the end-user benefits of the organization's products and/or services and clarifies the value of those products and/or services. The "Why" also underscores the organization's core values, which attract and retain the most highly desired employees, customers and other stakeholders.

Good Leadership, Stories Are Inclusive

2010-11-03T11:28:00.000-07:00

Good leaders make people feel that they're insiders, says author and organizational consultant Warren Bennis. A good leader effectively makes people feel that they're at the very heart of things, not at the periphery looking in.

In addition, Bennis says, a good leader makes everyone feels that he or she makes a difference to the success of the organization. That, in turn, makes everyone feel centered and gives their work meaning.

The communication skills Bennis is describing are those of a leader who tells stories. Jim Sinegal, co-founder and CEO of Costco Wholesale, is a prime example. As he says, "What else have we got besides stories? That's what brings meaning to the work we do."

A Powerful Story of Values-Driven Leadership

2010-10-26T13:40:00.000-07:00

George Russell, whose grandfather founded Russell Investments (now a part of Northwestern Mutual), a global investment company with $140 billion in assets under management, has always been guided a core set of values that drives daily decisions. In Success by Ten, a book Russell co-authored, he discusses the top ten values he embraces, the most important one being "non-negotiable integrity."

In a blog by Russell's co-author, Michael Sheldon describes Russell's use of storytelling as a means of driving home this higheset value, in particular, to employees. Russell demonstrates his commitment to integrity by telling employees that an employee who makes an honest mistake will be corrected and forgiven; but an employee who intentionally operates with a lack of integrity will be fired on the spot.

Explaining that you have to demonstrate what you believe, not simply talk about it, Russell early on in his career with the company followed through with his warning and fired an employee as soon as the person was discovered to have been unethical. He then told the story about the incident to ensure everyone in the organization knew that he meant what he said. He only needed to tell the story a couple of times, Russell says, because "word gets around, and people understand what's expected of them."

Top leaders know that stories work! Are you underscoring your values by demonstrating what you want--and consistently telling about it?

Telling Your Story to Various Audiences

2010-10-19T13:12:00.000-07:00

Regardless of your political views, Meg Whitman's campaign for governor of California is a clear example of how to tell your story to different audiences. Changing the medium to grab the attention of each key audience across the state, Whitman's campaign messaging also speaks each group's language--literally in some areas. Some campaign materials are written in other languages and favorite colors of different ethnic groups to reach large Spanish-speaking and Asian populations, and the media chosen include, as other recent campaigns have, mobile devices and social media to reach young voters.

For those of you who wonder what I mean when I say you need to adapt your story to appeal to top-of-mind issue among each audience, I strongly advise you to study the campaign's approach. Whether the Republican candidate overcomes considerably odds in a Democratic state to win the election, her messaging strategy could become a classic case study on targeted communications.

Google's Success Story Partially Due to Long-Term Focus

2010-10-14T10:54:00.000-07:00

Driven by the expectation that they meet analysts' quarterly forecasts for stock performance, many U.S. companies have focused so much on the short term that they neglect opportunities to develop products and services to meet future demands. Not so Google, according to a recent AP story.

As the manager of Discern Analytics observes, "Everywhere you look in this country, it seems that we are suffering from the consequences of too much short-term thinking." Silicon Valley's Paul Saffo continues, "Google doesn't have this disease. It is one of the few lone bright spots...in that regard."

While some of Google's decisions are puzzling, the wise strategy behind them becomes apparent in time. Google offered free e-mail with lots of capacity in 2004, which seemed odd at the time, and then followed that move with acquisition of a digital mapping service, which eventually made Google the "go-to" place for driving directions. More recently, the company created the free mobile-operation system, Android, that now powers millions of phones.

Kudos to Google's leadership team, whose commitment to transparency means that they announce their moves even though they know the world is unlikely to understand and appreciate their decisions initially. It seems other companies would do well to follow the sometimes puzzling example of visionary leadership that Google clearly exemplifies.

IDEO Recommends Stories for Designers

2010-10-05T15:00:00.000-07:00

In a recent series of articles for Fast Company, IDEO offered tips to design professionals on using stories to support their design work as well as their clients' products. I couldn't agree more that stories and branding go together. In fact, I often describe my Corporate Storytelling system as a right-brain approach to brand development.

Here are the four tips on story development that IDEO offered in the article:
1. Share what you care about. (How might design authentically express values to attract like-minded consumers?)
2. Empower people to make it their own. (How might we encourage consumers to participate by telling their own stories?)
3. Localize. (How might we speak to community to provide deeper meaning and connection in an increasingly commoditized world?)
4. Be discriminating. (How might we identify the key aspects of design that connect to the story's focus?)

What stories do you use to describe your business and the way you enact your values?

A New Twist on Google Analytics' Story

2010-09-30T14:47:00.000-07:00

Google's search engine analytics are well known and relied upon to track data on website activity, and a new twist on the use of their analytical culture is reported in the October issue of Harvard Business Review. Many companies traditionally have relied on performance reviews, exit interviews, and surveys to learn what motivates employees and Google has taken the process a step further.

Described in the article as a "highly analytical" company, Google has created a "people analytics" function composed of a director and a staff of 30 who study and quantify such information as how many recruiting interviews are optimal and what traits and backgrounds indicate the highest chance of success at Google.

The people analytics group's findings have changed the way the company recruits and manages people; all their work is centered on the three main reasons they have discovered that employees stay: the mission, the quality of co-workers, and the opportunity to develop leadership and entrepreneurial skills.

What's the Story on Multitasking?

2010-09-28T12:22:00.000-07:00

One of the reasons storytelling has caught on as a valuable skill for business leaders is that the deluge of information in our world continues to grow exponentially--and stories stand out in the clutter. Because humans are "wired" for story, our ears and brains perk up when we hear the beginning of a tale.

But what about multitasking? Does the ability to multitask help people handle more information--or just clutter their minds with more data they can't access later? Researchers haven't conclusively answered that question, but it appears that attempting to do more than one task at a time reduces a person's effectiveness and also increases stress. And stress impairs short-term memory.

So when you're reviewing e-mails while listening to your co-worker's report, a lot of the information doesn't stick. According to a study at the University of Utah, less than 3% of the population can juggle multiple streams of information successfully. For most of us, it seems, focusing on one thing at a time is a better choice.

Multi-media Storytelling: New Form of "Book"

2010-09-21T14:22:00.000-07:00

Is "disruptive technology" making you yearn for the way things were? Or bringing excitment to business as usual and generating creative thoughts for you and your work team?

Technology can certainly be disruptive, such as when people either forget to turn off their cell phones when they go into a meeting or intentionally leave them on in case they get a call they'd rather pay attention to. But while the speedy rate of change in today's world can throw us off balance, it also presents opportunities we never could have imagined just a few years ago.

One change I'm excited about is the emergence of the multimedia e-book. With links to the Web as well as audio and video files and formats designed for e-readers and cell phones, it opens up an entirely new way to "read" a "book". As L. Gordon Crovitz wrote in The Wall Street Journal recently, "It's the ideas that count, not how they're transmitted. Independent bookstores gave way to chains, which are fast giving way to Web-based retailers.... These are new pages in the history of the book, whose final chapters are yet to be written."

What do you think? Will print books co-exist with multimedia formats--or become obsolete?

Stephen Fry Redefines the Book

2010-09-16T12:59:00.000-07:00

If you wonder where the publishing industry is headed--and especially if you have an iPhone or iPad--you'll want to check out Twitter guru Stephen Fry's new "book." It's a totally new format for organizing book content, and it's so different that some will argue it isn't really a book.

But with so many e-readers already on the market, the perspective on what a 21st-Century book is, or should be or will be, is rapidly changing. Check out the video demo featured in yesterday's Fast Company online and tell us what you think: http://tinyurl.com/34dqmy9

Great Leaders Communicate Commitment

2010-09-14T16:08:00.000-07:00

Many business sages predict that there will be a huge wave of job hopping when the economy improves. This prediction is based on the assumption that even the go-getters are hanging onto whatever position they have until it feels safe to take a leap and look for better opportunities.

With the pressures of declining revenues and uncertainty in the marketplace, I wonder how many organizational leaders are taking steps to learn what their best, brightest and most productive employees want and need--and doing their best to keep them happy so they will remain committed to the company. And I wonder how many leaders are clearly communicating their commitment to employees.

I love the story about Thomas J. Watson, the late president and chairman of the board of IBM, who was asked if he was going to fire an employee who had made a mistake that cost the company $600,000. Watson replied, "No, I just spent $600,000 training him. Why would I want somebody to hire his experience?"

Online Media: Dizzying Speed of Growth

2010-09-07T13:33:00.000-07:00

It's obvious that Internet-based communications has expanded at a rapid pace, but the rate of growth for social media is still likely to astound you. According to Eric Qualman, the author of Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business, here's how long it took for traditional and Web-based media to gain millions of followers:

* Radio audiences grew to 50 million over a period of 38 years

* TV viewership grew to the same number in 13 years

* The Internet acquired 50 million users in just 4 years

* Facebook added four times as many users--200 million--in just one year!

Social media clearly has an important role in your communications plan. The key is to get your story out in ways that your target audience prefer to receive it.

Social Media: Core Part of Marketing Communications

2010-08-31T13:49:00.000-07:00

If you're still wondering whether social media are an important part of your marketing communications mix, the numbers recently reported by Forrester Research should remove any doubt. Forrester estimates that $716 million was spent on social media marketing last year and expects spending to quadruple to $3.1 billion in 2014.

One of the key uses for social media in the corporate world: recruitment. No less than 80% of companies report using social media to find job candidates.

So to be competitive, you've got to be there. As with any medium, strategic positioning will be key. Eric Qualman, the author of Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business, sums up the issue this way: "The question isn't whethert you should participate in social media; the question is how well you do it."

Stories Cut through the Clutter

2010-08-26T13:08:00.000-07:00

What we typically call "information overload" is so heavy--and growing so rapidly--that it's become an avalanche. According to some estimates, as many as 5,000 messages a day compete for each person's attention, so cutting through that clutter is a monumental task.

Stories will help you help your employees not only cope with the mountains of information bombarding them, but also, more importantly, filter out which messages aren't relevant to the tasks at hand.

Stories are the glue that help people stick together and stay focused on the goal. And because stories touch the heart--evoking emotions that are connected to our own experiences--they're memorable. They become a lasting, internal compass for employees who otherwise will easily get lost in the piles of information.

Bill Cosby: Storyteller Extraordinaire

2010-08-24T14:20:00.000-07:00

Summing up his extraordinarily successful career as an actor and stage performer, Bill Cosby describes his talent with the simple statement, "I'm a storyteller."

In an interview The Seattle Times when he was in town for a performance, Cosby told the reporter: "I can get your attention unless you're negative or have problems. Stories deliver something" that capture the audience.

How can you learn from the master and incorporate the power of storytelling in your corporate communications program?

Authenticity Lacking in BP's Storytelling?

2010-08-19T16:41:00.000-07:00

More news about BP's Gulf of Mexico clean up efforts reveals a need to manage its story more judiciously. Associated Press reported today that Transocean, owner of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, is accusing BP of "withholding evidence" needed to investigate the cause of the worst maritime oil spill in history. In a confidential internal document the AP obtained, Transocean says BP's refusal to turn over the documents has prevented the rig owners from fully informing families of the victims as well as state and federal investigators about the accident.

The letter from Transocean says, "This is troubling, both in light of BP's frequently stated public commitment to openness and a fair investigation, and because it appears that BP is withholding evidence in an attempt to prevent any entity other than BP from investigating the cause of the April 20 incident and the resulting spill."

Authentic Cultural Stories Shape Who We Are

2010-08-17T10:58:00.000-07:00

In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell set out to help us understand that the culture we're part of and the people we surround ourselves with shape who we are and (who we become). As he writes, "Cultural legacies are powerful forces. They have deep roots and long lives...and they play such a role in directing attitudes and behavior that we cannot make sense of our world without them."

This has been the case since humans first populated the earth. Each tribe's set of stories taught members--and reminded them throughout their lives--who they were, how they viewed the world, and what their place in the world was. These stories formed the foundation of decision-making for life.

The same principle is true today. Each organization we join becomes another "tribe" that influences our world view and guides our choices. It's crucial to listen to the stories a prospective employer tells, and to stay tuned to the organization's stories once you're on board. As noted in my previous post, the personal and business-related stories that a CEO and other leaders tell reveal values that each employee must identify with and support for the entire organization--and each individual in it--to thrive.

Yahoo CEO: Leaders Need to Fit Company's CultureTo Be Effective

2010-08-12T12:49:00.000-07:00

The importance of recruiting people who fit the organization's culture has been stated here before, and Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz recently added another dimension to that discussion.

In an interview with "Fast Company," she shared her belief that if someone--including the CEO--discovers a disconnect with the culture after they're on board, they need to face the reality and deal with it. "If who you are doesn't fit where you are, then you should go," she said. "I personally think that the most important thing you can be is who you are.... If you're trying to change who you are it doesn't work. People sniff that out."

I say, Amen! Telling an authentic story about the organization, what it stands for, and how it operates is one of the primary responsibilities of a leader. To do that requires that the leader first demonstrate personal authenticity. Sharing stories about why they joined the company, how/why their own values align with the organization's, and experiences that shaped their leadership style all reflect who they are--and help employees relate to them and support their goals.

The Changing Story on Books

2010-08-10T11:18:00.000-07:00

What is a book, anyway? The definition is changing at warp speed, it seems. Amazon.com recently reported that the number of e-book sales has surpassed print book sales, and the terms "multimedia" and "interactive" are becoming just as applicable to books as to presentations.

Times of transition that fundamentally change how we go about our daily lives are always disorienting--and they're also exciting. As I develop a self-guided e-version of the Corporate Storytelling system, I'm both frustrated at the complexity and excited about the dynamic nature of the end product. The "book" will be a virtual online presentation with audio and video; and it will be relatively simple to incorporate periodic udpates. Not only will the multimedia format enable me to include fresh stories to illustrate what's happening in the world of organizational storytelling, but it also will allow me to continually add value and help clients maximize results!

The bottom line, as explained in yesterday's "The Wall Street Journal", is that it's the idea that counts (and I would say, the rich experience and results), not the way it's delivered.

BP's Cleanup Effort Should Include Corporate Communications

2010-07-22T15:08:00.000-07:00

While BP is busy cleaning up the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the leadership should also make cleaning up corporate communications a top priority. The Wall Street Journal reports that, following BP's pledge to be "open and transparent," the company has released doctored photos purporting to show off its diligence in the cleanup effort. But the company has touted its work--not once, not twice, but three times so far as is known--with photos that have been altered.

A corporate communications team that would issue obviously touched up and faked shots either doesn't understand the meaning of "open and transparent" or doesn't care and clearly could benefit from a cleanup of its own. It's no secret that today's public are well-educated, sophisticated consumers who watch a company's actions very carefully and can spot a lack of integrity in a hearbeat.

It's past time for BP to get its act together. A lack of commitment to honesty and, yes, openness and transparency, only harms "big oil's" image and the image of corporate leadership in general--not to mention BP's credibility. If their corporate communications team isn't able to support the leaders in walking their talk, the communications group itself should be cleaned up. At the very least they should kept quiet so the company can keep the focus on getting the job in the Gulf done.

Telling A Great Story Earns Millions

2010-07-12T12:13:00.000-07:00

One woman's story earns her nonprofit organization $10 million per year, according to Nancy Lublin, author of the new book Zilch. Elaborating on how to "get what you want for nothing," Lublin explains that nonprofits are experts at raising money with no promise of material goods. The reward is in helping others.

Take the case of Zainab Salbi, founder and CEO of Women for Women International, whose father was the pilot for Saddam Hussein. Lublin credits Salbi's ability to tell her personal story with raising funds for her organization, which helps women and children victimized by conflict in various parts of the world.

Salbi uses three essential techniques of good storytelling to win support from complete strangers: 1) her mission is compelling, 2) her own story is engaging, and 3) she's specific about which segment of the population she's helping (and she also allows donors to choose a specific group in a particular part of the world where they want their own donations to be used).

As Lublin says in a current issue of "Fast Company", "Smart companies weave such narratives into the ask -- and the organization at large." How can you put stories to work for your company or nonprofit?

Effective Leaders Value Employees

2010-06-30T23:30:00.000-07:00

Most business people realize, and most executives know from experience, that retaining good employees is far less less costly than hiring and training new people. And yet, many companies still make the mistake of not finding out what their best employees want--and giving it to them.

Allyis, a technology consulting company, is a shining example of how to create the kind of workplace people thrive in. The founders have successfully identified the characteristics and benefits that others would like as much as they themselves do, and the company has just been named by Seattle Business magazine as the Best Midsized Company to Work For in the Seattle area. And it's the second time the 13-year-old organization has been named to the "best" list!

What are some of the things Allyis does that keeps nearly 200 employees happy and productive? The founders have retained "the human connection" they wanted through recognition, empowerment, open, two-way communication, transparency, and an intranet that includes blogs, discussion boards, and team sites. Financial results are posted monthly and management is open to questions on any topic. What's more, a few years ago Allyis allocated most of its marketing budget to employee benefits!

What would happen if your employer adopted at least some of these practices? Do you think it would make a difference anywhere?

What's the Story at Toyota?

2010-06-28T12:56:00.000-07:00

Toyota's top reputation for quality products has suffered a great deal in recent months, with more news about car recalls again this past week. The company's management communications continues to limp along, too.

Rather than get ahead of the first story by announcing the "stuck acceleration pedal" issue before the news broke and generated a Congressional hearing in the U.S., Toyota executives tried to avoid the problem. When word got out that there was a problem, Toyota at first denied it, then downplayed the seriousness of the issue and the potential harm for the company's customers and their families. And the CEO at first designated other spokesmen to talk with the news media, agreeing to be the spokesman himself only after the public demanded to hear from him.

Well into the Information Age, with 24/7 global news coverage the norm, it's astounding that the leadership of any major organization still believes it's advisable, not to mention possible, to squelch a valid news story. It's also astounding that the leader of a major corporation would try to neglect his primary job of a leader: communications--open, approachable, two-way communications with all the organization's stakeholders, news media included. Open communication with those at the top is not only advisable, it's essential in a world that expects transparency and a public that assumes the right to be heard.

The Zappos Story: Maximizing Profits More Important than Employees and Customers?

2010-06-14T12:17:00.000-07:00

"We believe that forming personal, emotional connections with our customers is the best way to provide great service," writes Zappos Co-founder Tony Hsieh in a recent Inc. magazine article. "We'd bet that by being good to our employees...we would be able to offer better service than our competitors. Better service would translate into lots of repeat customers, which would mean low marketing expenses, long-term profits and fast growth."

An excerpt from his upcoming book, Hsieh's article reveals that, despite the company's phenomenal success, investors and board members still just wanted their ROI, which drove the sale of Zappos to Amazon.com. Even though the investors got more than a five-fold return on their money, they thought Hsieh should have focused even more on profits and less on employee and customer happiness.

What do you think? When a company demonstrates that employee- and customer-centric values produce impressive results, should that be celebrated, encouraged and rewarded? Or is business totally about showing as large a bottom-line number as humanly possible?

Med Schools Use Stories for "Case Studies"

2010-06-08T14:00:00.000-07:00

Video storytelling has proven to be a therapeutic tool for physicians as well as patients, particulary those dealing with life-threatening illnesses--and now stories are being used in medical schools as teaching tools. In today's "Health Journal", The Wall Street Journal reports that medical schools are using the life stories of fictional characters to teach psychiatric analysis.

The story tool has proven so effective, the topic was a presentation at last month's American Psyciatric Association's conference. "It was much more fun that sitting in a didactic lecture," said a chief resident at the Unversity of South Carolina School of Medicine, which delivered the presentation.

"Students in the mental-health disorder disciplines can sometimes learn as much about what it means to be human from studying popular films and novels as they can from sitting with a patient," says Glen Gabbard, professor of psychiatry and psychoanalysis at Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Gabbard uses movies in his optional monthly sessions with medical students because movies offer a wide array of conditions to diagnose, and movie characters don't have the privacy concerns that real patients do.

Data Overload Frying Your Brain? Think in Stories!

2010-06-07T15:24:00.000-07:00

Data overload is frying our brains, scientists say. While many people believe they're skillful multitaskers, the fact is, according to recent studies, only three percent of the population is able to multitask effectively. The rest of us are finding it more difficult to focus on anything and to filter irrelevant information. One significant result is higher stress and declining short-term memory.

The increasing amount of information people process each day is mind-boggling. The average person two years ago consumed three times as much information as an average person 50 years ago. And we're jumping from one task to another with alarming frequency. According to an article in The New York Times, computer users at work change windows or check e-mail or other programs nearly 37 times an hour!

One way to manage the deluge of information is to create a story around data you need to remember. Stories help us make sense of our world, creating context for what we see and hear. The trick is to focus on the useful data and ignore the rest; discerning the difference is becoming more and more challenging by the day.

New CD: Storytelling for Nonprofits

2010-06-04T16:15:00.000-07:00

Nonprofits throughout the country are working hard to win back donors now that the economy appears to have bottomed out and slowly started recovering. Which of the thousands of worthy service agencies will attract much-needed funds? The ones with a heart-warming, engaging story, of course!

I've interviewed six leaders from top organizations, such as The Community Health Foundation of Western and Central New York, United Way of Kentucky, and the University of Notre Dame, to learn how they leverage the power of storytelling to reach their audiences, keep traditions alive, and win crucial support. Their insights--a total of 56 minutes with these insightful leaders!--are now available on CD or as an MP3 file from my website.

Listen and learn from top nonprofit executives who are accomplished storytellers. Tune in while driving to and from work, jogging, or waiting for a flight--any time throughout your busy day when you have a few extra minutes. It's just $39.95 plus tax and shipping for the CD and only $29.95 plus tax for MP3. Order your recording now and learn from the leaders: www.corpstory.com/products.htm.