08.
Better Stories
are understandable.
Better Stories simplify complexity and communicate effectively because audiences are not persuaded by what you say, but by what they understand.
08.1
Heating & Lighting.
Business stories are usually about two things: provoking a reaction with an audience and simplifying a complex issue. Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Tom Friedman describes this as "heating and lighting". I created this short video to explain why this is such a powerful concept. [10 mins]
08.2
The Shape of Stories.
Kurt Vonnegut does a sublime job of explaining the shape of a story here (with so much clarity and humour) that I had to share it with you. Aaron Sorkin, Dan Brown, Neil Gaiman and David Mamet have all given amazing masterclasses on story structure but Kurt is the most fun! [4 mins]
08.3
Clarity Tutorial.
I made this short tutorial about a video we made at IBM for the Mayflower, the world's first autonomous ship to cross the Atlantic. In this clip I show the story structure and explain how we managed to create a compelling 2-minute video from hours of footage. [9 mins]
08.4
Quantum Storytelling.
Let's take one of the world's most complicated topics and try to make it engaging for the most non-technical person? That's the challenge that always faces IBM's Quantum computing team. I break down how they do it and why it works here. [10 mins]
08.5
The Truth in Ten.
"Tell me the story of IBM in 10 minutes using only one slide". That was the difficult challenge I faced recently when I needed to tell the transformational story of IBM's 112-year history, in an engaging and understandable way. Here's how I did it. [10 mins]
08.6
Talk Like TED.
There have been some great books written on presenting like TED speakers. This one by Chris Anderson is excellent, as is ANYTHING written by Carmine Gallo - but before you go there, here's short masterclass from the man himself, Chris Anderson (Curator of TED) sharing his thoughts. [8 mins]
08.7
Understand Your Audience.
According to smart folks at Harvard, there are 5 core decision making styles in the C-suite. That means for any business story you may need 5 versions of the same story depending on who you're communicating with. I made this cheat sheet from a HBR article that you might find useful to pin by your desk as a reminder.
[Click image for PDF]
08.8
Understanding the Brain.
This opening lecture by Nancy Kanwisher (Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience) is part of a FREE course from MIT about understanding how the brain works. Nancy asks "can we think without language?". The full course is here. It will help you to understand your audience better, so that you can communicate with them more effectively. [80 mins]
08.9
Better Words.
Better Words = Better Stories. I love this useful little word wheel that I saw posted by Terry Szuplat - former speechwriter to the Obama administration. It was inspired by another great infographic, the "Feeling Wheel". [Infographic]
08.10
Periodic Table of Storytelling.
I'm a sucker for a periodic table! Many are massively over-engineered but this one from James Harris is one of the good ones. (He loves to tackle complex problems and make them easier to understand). This infographic will take you as far down a storytelling foxhole as you wish to go. [Click Image]
08.11
45 Storytelling Quotes.
"Life is too short for a long story". Mary Montagu
45 of my favourite storytelling quotes to inform and inspire you. Many focus on the art of brevity and the importance of simplifying complexity.
[Click Image to Download PDF]
08.12
Vinh Giang.
Vinh Giang is an Australian magician and communications coach who teaches business leaders how to engage audiences. He's a lot of fun on Instagram and YouTube where he has lots of short form content for you to enjoy when you've got a few moments to waste. [Vinh's Website]
