In this episode of Anecdotally Speaking, we explain what it is that Mark and I do for work, why some stories work for some audiences and not for others, and the difference between the typical ‘brand stories’ we see and the one we share today. Lots of companies have ‘brand stories’. The problem is that […]

We recently began an Anecdote book club for the office. For our first book, we read The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact. The authors, Chip and Dan Heath, wanted to explain what a moment is and how you can purposefully create these moments to have more impact on things like a […]

Oprah Winfrey gave a powerful speech at the 2018 Golden Globes accepting the Cecil B. de Mille Award. It seems to be talked about everywhere with some even suggesting Oprah should run for the US Presidency. One of the reasons her speech was so powerful were the stories she told and how they helped the […]

There’s an incredibly strong urge that comes over us, right when we end an anecdote, to explain what the story means. This urge seems especially strong when we tell a story at work. We’ll finish it and then go on and say something like, ‘So, what this means is …’ You must resist this urge […]

We understand that life gets busy. Between emails, meetings and projects it can sometimes be hard to deliberately think about useful business stories that you’ve encountered recently. We want to make it easier to become better business storytellers, and for that reason we’ve decided to post regular stories that include bite-size tips on how to […]

As Gandhi stepped aboard a train one day, one of his shoes slipped off and landed on the track. He was unable to retrieve it as the train started rolling. To the amazement of his companions, Gandhi calmly took off his other shoe and threw it back along the track to land close to the […]

Jean-Francois Gravelet was famous for tight-rope walking over the Niagara Falls in the late 1800s. This story was inspired by these amazing feats: Upon completing a highly dangerous tightrope walk over Niagra Falls in appalling wind and rain, ‘The Great Blondin’ was met by an enthusiastic supporter, who urged him to make a return trip, […]

A few weeks ago I had dinner at a friend’s house. At the table, my friend’s 9-year-old daughter challenged me with a riddle. You might be familiar with it. A father and son are involved in a serious car accident. The father dies instantly while the son is airlifted to hospital in a critical condition. […]

Simple Slides I’m a big believer in simple, clear PowerPoint slides. If I’m going to talk about the 54% of people who have no idea about the company strategy, I’ll put up a slide with a big ‘54%’ in 155-point font on it, and only after I’ve spoken about it will I add any other […]

On a recent plane trip to Sri Lanka, I found myself sitting next to a man by the name of Johann Peries – coincidentally, both of us had missed our flight from Kuala Lumpur the previous day. It turned out that earlier this year, Johann was one of two Sri Lankans who attempted to be […]