Author: Yamini Naidu
Date: 16.05.12
‘It's all about connecting with your audience, nothing else matters, if you don't connect you are dead' says John Polson the founder of the immensely successful Tropfest short film festival. This possibly applies to everything we do in business, presenting, communicating, selling, customer service and leading.
We probably all get connecting intuitively. Like when we say 'I just connected wi [...]
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Author: Yamini Naidu
Date: 14.05.12
"Leadership involves plumbing as well as poetry". This quote from Stanford University emeritus professor James G. March has always struck a chord with me. I was again reminded of it recently when I was watching Mark Stephenson speak.
I realised at that moment that's what great presenters and great leaders have in common. With poetry and plumbing, they are able to engage both our minds and [...]
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Author: Yamini Naidu
Date: 01.05.12
Having just reorganised the books on the bookshelf in my study on the weekend (will have to see how long the ‘new tidy’ lasts) I rediscovered a favourite, Dan and Chip Heath’s ‘Made to Stick’ (highly recommended for all communicators). This is where I first came across the Curse of Knowledge, and had one of my biggest ‘aha’ moments as a business communicator.
The ‘Curse [...]
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Author: Yamini Naidu
Date: 26.04.12
I have a confession to make. I am loving ‘The Voice’, Channel 9’s new reality TV show. Feels good, got that off my chest. I could pin the blame on my 13-year-old daughter, but have to take full responsibility for this one. I thought I would watch a few minutes and was instantly hooked! Just when you thought that whole category was done and dusted (really Australian idol, Australia [...]
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Author: Gabrielle Dolan
Date: 18.04.12
In the recent Labour leadership battle Julia Gillard stated that “Government is about having the courage do get the big reforms done and the strength in adversity to ensure you stay focused and get the job done. I believe I have demonstrated those attributes as Prime Minister”.
You will no doubt have your own opinions on whether she has demonstrated those attributes or not …I am not going [...]
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Author: Gabrielle Dolan
Date: 11.04.12
Since 2005, we have been helping leaders achieve success through storytelling and there is nothing that thrills us more! Especially when we receive comments like this:
“What a wonderful experience it’s been soaking up your storytelling knowledge and applying it to my business. You really sharpened up my game over the course.”
Paul Kaan, The Social Larder
We are experts in business and tho [...]
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Author: Gabrielle Dolan
Date: 02.02.11
If you want to learn how to deliver more engaging, powerful presentations then we have some exciting news for you. We have just released our first eBook titled Eliminate Death by PowerPoint and even better it is absolutely free.
In the work we do with leaders around storytelling they often ask for tips and techniques to be better presenters. This combined with our professional goal t [...]
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Author: Yamini Naidu
Date: 27.09.10
Yamini Naidu interviews Noel Turnbull former journalist, public relations consultant and adjunct professor in communications at Melbourne’s RMIT university.
Yamini Naidu: What is your definition of business storytelling?
Noel Turnbull: I think it’s narrative and making sense of things. I suppose what a story does in a corporate sense is to construct stories about the culture. I think [...]
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Author: Yamini Naidu
Date: 26.08.10
Yamini Naidu interviews Terry Dwyer (Executive General Manager – Organisational effectiveness CPA Australia) on storytelling and leadership.
Yamini Naidu: Terry why did you consider storytelling as part of the leadership development at CPA?
Terry Dwyer: We embarked on a program to build the capability of our leaders particularly our senior leaders because we feel that senior le [...]
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Author: Yamini Naidu
Date: 18.08.10
Gabrielle Dolan interviews John Stewart, Chairman of Legal and General, member of the Court of the Bank of England (London) and non executive Director of the Telstra Corporation. John is also ex CEO of National Australia Bank Group, Barclays Bank and Woolwich.
Gabrielle Dolan: John you are a passionate sailor and sailing was a source for many of your stories, can you talk about that?
J [...]
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Author: Gabrielle Dolan
Date: 03.04.12
There seems to be quite an influx of articles on the power of storytelling and a significant increase in the actual use of the word 'story'. Even the Financial Post in Canada wrote recently that storytelling is core leadership skill. So is this just the latest fad or should it be taken very seriously by business leaders?
Seven years ago, when I left the relative security of my corporate job [...]
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Author: Gabrielle Dolan
Date: 19.03.12
Only if you were hiding under a rock all of last week could you have missed the Kony 2102 viral video campaign. The campaign swept the Internet, becoming the number one news topic, raising over $15 million dollars in two days and attracting over 70 million views. Even our hairdresser was talking about it!
The Washington Post summarizes its success by noting “the viral video campaign has achie [...]
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Author: Gabrielle Dolan
Date: 13.02.12
Four years ago today February 13th , former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made an apology speech to Indigenous Australians. Can you recall what stood out for you? At what stage did you become really connected and engaged? If you’re like many Australians who have spoken to us since that historic morning, you will probably be thinking about the Nanna Nungala Fejo story.
All business leaders c [...]
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Author: Yamini Naidu
Date: 15.12.11
Sometimes someone can provide you an insight into life that stays with you forever. And when you share that as a story, it can have an influence on countless other people. Here's an example of just that shared at one of our recent presentations.
Just yesterday I was sharing this with my husband and he said it must be really important to you as you still remember it, after all these years. [...]
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Author: Yamini Naidu
Date: 06.09.11
Earlier this month we conducted a workshop in Melbourne and this is where Matt Ritchie, National Manager, Sales Strategy & Delivery at MLC Advice Product shared this story:
'I was recently reading a magazine that featured an interview with Bruce Springsteen. Bruce Springsteen has been a musician and performer for over 20 years and has a tremendous reputation as a live act. The in [...]
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Author: Gabrielle Dolan
Date: 26.04.12
We have been working with the National Australia Bank (NAB) since 2005. Training their leaders in the use of organisational storytelling for a variety of applications. The NAB understands that storytelling is a key tool to not only engage their employees but also their customers and the wider community.
When Cameron Clyne took over as CEO in 2008 he took on a mission to change the communi [...]
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Author: Yamini Naidu
Date: 26.04.12
Early 2009, Sonia Aplin was facing a challenge. As the Internal Communications Manager for Ericsson Australia and New Zealand Sonia was tasked with advising the senior leadership team on how best to communicate the new corporate strategy.
The challenge for Sonia and Ericsson was two-fold. She knew that for the strategy to be successful, employees needed more than to be able to just [...]
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