View all posts in Thoughts »

Thoughts

We are on the move!

At the recent Creative Innovation conference we attended, many speakers shared their views on what was required for innovation to occur.  Many talked about the technology that will drive innovation and allow us to be 'super connected'.   Tania deJong the host of ci2011 believed that collaboration was the key to innovation and Professor Alan Fells talked about storytelling being crucial to inn [...]

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Gen Y’s have the perfect attributes for innovation

Just so this is clear, I have no hidden agenda in singing the praises of Generation Y's.  I am a Gen X and my children are Gen Z, or Gen Next or Gen Now, whatever they are called.  But I do admire and even envy Gen Y's and am excited about the difference they will make to society.    In my previous post, I discussed Victor Finkel's presentation at the Creative Innovation 2011 Conference an [...]

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Communicating Strategy to Gen Y’s

As you know from previous posts we recently attended the Creative Innovation ci2011 Conference, and one of the speakers was Victor Finkel presenting on the Why's of Gen Y. There is no  consensus over the exact definition of Gen Y's, but the generally accepted range is from 1980 to 1999.  So pretty much anyone who is 12 to 30 years old today is considered a Gen Y.  On reflecting on F [...]

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The desires that drive us to connect

 Recently we had the pleasure of both presenting and attending the Creative Innovation 2011 conference in Melbourne.  The theme was ‘Challenges and opportunities in a super connected world’ and expert after expert presented cutting edge ideas from the present as well as  glimpses of the future…including do you want to live for ever (Raymond Kurzweil)?  But what are conferences if not [...]

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Storytelling is Essential for Innovation

It was day 2 of the ci2011 Global Conference in Melbourne.  We had just presented our masterclass on storytelling the day before with some pretty positive feedback. I was excited about what the next 2 days had in store for us with some of Australia's and the worlds leading experts in their field. One of the opening speakers was Professor Allan Fels AO and his words were music to my ears. [...]

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View all posts in Interview with… »

Interview with…

Who wants to be a better presenter?

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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Business storytelling for leaders – Interview with Noel Turnbull

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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Interview with Terry Dwyer

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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An interview with John Stewart

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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An interview with Andrew Thorburn…

Andrew Thorburn is CEO and Managing Director of Bank of New Zealand and shares his thoughts on leadership, storytelling and listening. Gabrielle Dolan: Andrew you tend to use a lot of ‘normal language’ when talking, which is both rare and refreshing, do you think it is important? Andrew Thorburn: I think leaders need to use normal language to connect with their people instead of coming [...]

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View all posts in Examples of Story »

Examples of Story

What’s your secret?

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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Bruce Springsteen and Customer Service?

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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Why I do what I do? Business storytelling at its compelling best

‘In July 1985, 5 year old Eve van Grafhorst was banned from attending her local kindergarten in Kincumber, NSW.  Eve was HIV positive and had contracted HIV from a blood transfusion when she was born.  This was the time of the grim reaper ads about AIDS and families in the town of Kincumber would cross the street to avoid Eve and her family.  Completely ostracised Eve and her family migrated [...]

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Fly like a butterfly – another example of business storytelling

Last week we ran a workshop for Many Rivers who provide micro financing predominantly for Indigenous Australians.  One of the participants was David Bagheri,  the National Development Manager for Many Rivers.  David is often in a position of explaining to their clients that Many Rivers can support them but cannot do the work for them.  This is the story David developed during our workshop, t [...]

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Who else wants to raise millions of dollars?

I read with interest in a recent Smart Company post about Ernst and Young's nominees for Entrepreneur of the year.  The research presented some surprising facts such as 60% of Entrepreneurs start off working in corporates.  It also revealed some not so surprising facts. "Not surprisingly, funding, people and know-how presented the biggest barriers to entrepreneurial success. The difficult f [...]

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Most Popular Posts

Fly like a butterfly – another example of business storytelling
Last week we ran a workshop for Many Rivers who provide micro financing predominantly for ... Read more » | 14 comments

The desires that drive us to connect
 Recently we had the pleasure of both presenting and attending the Creative Innovation 20... Read more » | 12 comments

“Storytelling Techniques” – Negative stories have their limits
Negative stories in business have a purpose and also  have limitations.  We came across... Read more » | 11 comments