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 […]

He looks the part; he knows all the right buzzwords; he can quote chapter-and-verse from all the best-known pundits and practitioners. But is it all just empty ‘smart-talk’? Smart-talk is information without understanding, theory without practice – ‘all mouth and no trousers’, as the old aphorism puts it. It’s all too common amongst would-be ‘experts’ […]

Since starting Anecdote in 2004, I’ve been lucky to meet a bunch of inspiring people. One of them is Paul Costello, who I’ve written about in my book, Putting Stories to Work. Paul is an amazing story practitioner and has been in the field for decades. He’s an Aussie who moved to America about 20 […]

Yes, I’ll admit it: it’s a trick, of course. But it’s a useful trick – especially for those of us who need to collect stories for organisations, communities, and even for family-history. The place is important here: it needs to be the right kind of place, the right atmosphere – the kind of ‘story-place’ where […]

  20 March is World Storytelling Day. On that date back in 2011, we launched TheStoryTest.com, a website designed to help people develop their ability to spot stories. We now have close to six years of data from across the globe about the ability of people to know what is and what is not a […]

I’m a fan of the Getting Things Done time-management methodology, the one David Allen first suggested in his 2001 book of the same name. Its main tenet is to get things out of your head – ideas, plans, appointments, interesting snippets – by jotting them down and, where necessary, making them actionable. The thing is, […]

Back in 2014, I was at the mighty MCG about to watch my beloved Tigers play a game of AFL football with my 15 year old son. I remember asking him where he would like to sit assuming he would respond by saying “behind the goals” or “amongst the cheer squad on the fence”. No […]

Last year I was a judge for Volunteering Victoria’s State Awards. Volunteers make such an important contribution to our society, ranging from helping to fight fires to coordinating junior basketball competitions. These annual awards are a great way of recognising the best examples of volunteering programs in Victoria. The award winners are chosen based on […]

It seems as though we might not have been kidding ourselves all these years. According to a pair of American researchers, good storytellers really are more attractive. Last month, John Donahue, from the University of North Carolina, and Melanie Green, from the University at Buffalo, published the results of a study they conducted into the […]

There aren’t many certainties in professional life, but one is that when it comes to persuading someone, making an assertion or giving an opinion runs a far second to telling stories.   Let’s say you want to alert someone to a problem in your organisation, and perhaps get their help in addressing the issue. There […]