“Great stories happen to those who can tell them”
- Ira Glass
The Story Rules Content Hub
Welcome to the Story Rules Content Hub – the best place on the web to learn all about storytelling techniques for work. Here’s where you get rich storytelling examples, analyses, viewpoints, interview nuggets, visuals, quotes, and much, much more. To find out how you can make the most of this resource, please watch this 12-minute video.
You can explore this (for now free!) resource in four ways:
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Amazon’s competitive advantage: Narrative
Till 2003, a weekly ritual would play out in the Amazon head office. Every Tuesday their S-Team (the seniormost leadership group) would meet for four hours to discuss progress on key goals. The team would select two to four S-Team goals and do a deep dive into their progress using PowerPoint presentations by the relevant team. Four hours being spent by a dozen-odd folks – that’s expensive leadership time. And it was not being spent well. “Too often, we found the presentations did not serve the purpose for which they were intended. The format often made it difficult to evaluate …
ACE your story by aligning with Authenticity, Empathy and the Clear, Comprehensive Facts
The stories you tell at work need to be aligned at three levels: What happens in case of misalignment? Let’s explore through three fictional stories: 1: Dan leads a business division in a large company. His division outperforms the others and he leads from the front. However, he can be abrasive and disrespectful to employees and peers. If someone commits even a genuine mistake, they are due for a massive tongue-lashing from him. And yet, recently during the company’s 50-year celebration, when Dan was asked to speak about the company’s values, he waxed eloquent about them. Especially about one value: …
Discovering joy in 1950s Hindi film music
This one is a short, slightly self-indulgent one on old Hindi music. 🙂 (It’s also got a cool gift!) I grew up listening to music from the late-80s and early 90s. We had a small radio cum cassette-player at home and my music-loving uncle would be the one to get all the latest movie releases. The reigning kings then were Laxmikant-Pyarelal. Saudagar, Hum, Tezaab, Ram Lakhan – they were the guys directors went to for the blockbuster, big-budget movies. But they were on their way out. A new crop of youngsters was vying for the crown. Anand Milind, Nadeem-Shravan, Jatin-Lalit. …
A part of you can stretch from Ahmedabad to Assam: Guess which one?
Hi folks, It’s time for my content recommendations for Feb-21 – a book, a podcast, articles and videos. Let’s get started 1. Book a. ‘The Body: A Guide for Occupants’ by Bill Bryson I used to abhor Chemistry in school – especially organic chemistry. In fact, it was one of the reasons why I preferred taking Commerce. And then many moons later, I read this passage in a book: “What sets the carbon atom apart is that it is shamelessly promiscuous. It is the party animalof the atomic world, latching on to many other atoms (including itself) and holding tight, …
Decoding the Biden inauguration speech – 5 Storytelling Lessons
After 4 chaotic years of shockingly divisive politics, the US is seeing a memorable transition in power. No one knows what the next four years would bring. But this moment – a historic one – deserves its story to be told well. And the responsibility of telling that story falls, disproportionately, on the shoulders of one guy. Joseph Biden’s speechwriter. (who, incidentally, happens to be of Indian origin). In today’s post, I will share 5 storytelling techniques used in the US Presidential inauguration speech. (You can quickly read through the transcript, if you haven’t heard it). A tough ask Speeches given to …
Four incidents, Four lessons
Hi there, This would be my last post in the Swara chronicles. 🙂 (For those who came in late, here’s the first letter about how we got her home and then this one shared some more stories.) As of today, it’s been about 2 months since she’s come home (although, it seems that she has been part of our life for longer than that)! She has integrated beautifully well with the entire family. (Touchwood!) In this post, I’m sharing four incidents over these couple of months (and four lessons) which might be useful for anyone with young kids (or about to have one)! 1. …
How Improv can help you cope with the uncertainties of life
It’s time for my content recommendations for Jan-21 – a book, a podcast, articles and videos. Let’s get started 1. Book a. ‘Improvise! Use the Secrets of Improv to achieve Extraordinary Results at Work’ by Max Dickins My first tryst with Improv was not a very impressive one. Several years back, I was attending an improv workshop at the quaint and idyllic ‘Pagdandi Bookstore Cafe’ in Pune. The instructor – a 25-something guy – was taking a bunch of (mainly) youngsters through the basics of improv. I must have been the oldest guy in the group. Perhaps the coach was inexperienced, …
Begin with impact: Five ways to grab your audience’s attention at the beginning of your presentation
Beginnings can be beautiful, fun, and most of all, motivating. But for a data-storyteller crafting a critical presentation, beginnings can also be stressful. When you have a mound of information to share, you can get paralysed by one thought: Where do I begin? A break from the usual Welcome to the first edition of ‘Story Rules on Saturday’ of 2021 – a year that brings in hope and cheer after a gloomy 2020 (although, as my friend Harish quips, the virus doesn’t know that yet). In today’s post, I decided to postpone the usual book and other content recommendations, and, paying heed to …
Decathlon: Enough with Santa, let’s tell stories of the elves
I remember the first time I saw a Decathlon store. It was on one of those unending trips from Bangalore city to Hydera…, sorry, Bangalore airport. I saw this huge hulking shed lording over the road with the name DECATHLON in large letters, accompanied by that short iconic tagline – ‘Sport for all, all for sport’. That’s a brilliant line, I thought. And then I shook my head. Really, do you think that folks will drive ALL the way from the city just to get a tennis racquet? What a bad business decision, I thought. Clearly, there’s a reason why …
