Business stories don’t need to be fancy. They should be told just like you would tell it if you were catching up with a colleague informally. I would tell this one when chatting to senior leaders about how they can model the behaviour they want–in fact they must. Or it would be good as an […]

Sometimes it’s a good idea to finish a story so that the audience has to put some pieces together to get what the story is about. When someone puts some work in understanding a story they own it and it’s more meaningful for them. As an example, my 21-year-old daughter told me this story the […]

By Amanda Marko, an Anecdote Partner based in the USA One way to think of a good business story is as a roadmap that points listeners toward an intended emotion or insight. But even with the best of intentions, a story can get off track or lose its way. When it comes to driving, the best advice […]

Anjali Sharma is the Managing Director of Narrative: The Business of Stories and an Anecdote Partner for the Storytelling for Leaders Program in Singapore and Malaysia. Adam works as a corporate communications head in a hospital. He is just about to announce a new initiative to the entire hospital: the formation of a Pediatric Rapid […]

By Christopher Kogler, an Anecdote partner based in the USA. I recently had the pleasure of interviewing a senior sales manager for a big box retail operation on the West Coast of the US and asked her to share a few of her secrets for success with me. Danielle shared the 3 principal keys she […]

Your willingness to share a failure can have a powerful effect. I remember this one clearly. It was a real punch to the gut. I was standing in the foyer of the Melbourne Fire Brigade headquarters when I received the call. The voice on the other end of the line was a new client: ‘I’m […]

By Paul Joosten, an Anecdote Partner based in the Netherlands ‘In our company, I like to work with people who have the courage to make mistakes!’ So said the new Vice President of Oracle Northern Europe, Ad Nederlof, in his kick-off speech in June 1994. Was he serious? Did I hear him right? We worked at Oracle, […]

By Amanda Marko, an Anecdote Partner based in the USA On the main convention floor of Madison Square Garden in New York City, thousands of screaming party loyalists had temporarily replaced thousands of screaming Knicks fans for a week in late August 2004. Behind an unmarked door off the main floor, the volume was more […]

Often people mistakenly think oral stories are about words when in fact good oral stories are about pictures and emotions. When you hear a story and can see it happening you’re transported to the place where it’s taking place and you relive it with the teller. This natural and effortless collaboration between teller and listener […]

This week I’ve been at the Middle East Leadership Communication Conference in Abu Dhabi. I ran a Storytelling for Leaders workshop and gave a keynote on strategic stories. In the workshop I asked the participants to think of a good leader and share a story that illustrates why you think they’re outstanding. One participant shared […]