Posts Tagged ‘Storytelling techniques’

It’s January. What kind of year will it be? The town hall is scheduled. The kickoff is outlined. Vision memos are circulating in half-finished drafts. Somewhere, a brand-new slide deck is born, lovingly assembled over dozens of hours, destined for one brief moment in the spotlight. Then it disappears. It gets uploaded to a server,…

If your sales presentation is designed to convert, it’s probably doing the opposite. Not because your product is wrong. Not because your pricing is off. But because the moment a buyer feels sold to, trust leaks out of the room. People don’t buy when they feel persuaded. They buy when they feel understood. The transaction…

In a World Where Change Comms Fall Flat… Most change communications rush to the good news. “Team, exciting update! Big moves ahead. Bright future. Trust us.” It’s the corporate equivalent of skipping to the last page of the novel. You get the resolution… but none of the meaning. Leaders do this all the time. They…

Lessons from a Texas Cold Front Earlier this week, North Texas slipped under 40 degrees for the first time this season. Overnight, fleece tech vests appeared everywhere and the trees finally committed to changing color. At my house, that first cold snap means warm apple cider on the stove. Cinnamon in the air. A little…

Familiar Feels Fresh When it’s Done Right What do Led Zeppelin, Queen, and AC/DC have to do with Harry Styles, Olivia Rodrigo, and Billie Eilish? More than you’d think. Listen closely and you’ll hear it. Zeppelin’s blues riffs echo through the clean pop minimalism of “As It Was.” There’s swagger beneath the polish. The same…

No one buys an idea unless they see what’s in it for them. It’s why so many great ideas die in conference rooms, buried under polite nods and parking-lot comments like “Let’s revisit this next quarter.” It’s not that your idea wasn’t good. It’s that you didn’t make the value visible. When leaders quantify the…

*Taps stand. Raises wand. Inhales… The sonata is one of the most dramatic and influential song patterns in history. Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn and so many others composed sonatas that remain instantly recognizable and timelessly relevant. At its core, the sonata is a three-part form designed not just to display technical skill, but to move the…

Anecdote vs. Story vs. Narrative “Storytelling” is everywhere in business. These days it seems everyone claims to be doing it. But much of what passes for “story” is really just an anecdote. Or worse, a lifeless recap of data disguised with charts and stock photos. (But you already feel that way about decks, or you…

A Scene from the Harris Household When my kids were little, movie night was a sacred ritual (still is). Popcorn in mismatched bowls, everyone in pajamas, the lights low, and a well-worn DVD spinning in the player. We had our rotation: The films they loved and the ones I was willing to watch 57 times…