For the past six months, it’s been anything but business-as-usual around here, and here’s why. In March of this year, our attention got swept away by a development that originated in Bentonville, Arkansas. My friend Donna, who has been a bigSTORY client at her previous two companies, [...]
We don’t care about one another as human beings. Our interests are purely our own. We are oblivious to the pain of others as long as our own comfort is secure. We lack empathy. The fates of those we don’t know, or who cannot help us, are no concern of ours. Our public smiles conceal our [...]
Want proof that a ‘Hollywood model’ of storytelling is insufficient for business communication? Look no further than the rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes — which, of course, Hollywood is going to turn into a major motion picture. A comedy directed by Adam McKay, to star [...]
By the trending on my Twitter feed, it looks to be #InternationalWomensDay. Aside from a skeptical voice whispering to me that this is a day for misogynists to cover their tracks for whatever they’re up to the rest of the year, I do believe it’s good to call attention to worthy women [...]
Here’s an excerpt from my book, GameChangers–Improvisation for Business in the Networked World, on the future of the organization. Key phrases are my italics: Forces of Nature The old models are giving way today as surely as mountains give way to the elements. The citadels of the [...]
It’s good organizational practice to express stories in as many different media as possible, and by media I don’t mean the obvious platforms–video, audio, social, podcasts, press releases, books, memes, and what have you, though there’s nothing wrong with them, they’re [...]
Among the most-frequently heard complaints by employees, it doesn’t matter how large or small a company is–is that there are too many meetings. That meetings are too long. Involve too many people, many of whom spend most of the meeting distracted by texts and emails. That they don’t [...]
This is a story about a big problem, writ small. The big problem is this: We can’t let go of the scripts and roles that have been assigned to us and see the unscripted opportunities that are often right in front of us. Or, in the story I’m about to tell, right behind our backs. This [...]
Numbers, on their own, represent quantity, and do not guarantee quality. 100 can be a perfect score on a test, an average IQ, or a bad round of golf. What guarantees quality is the story that provides context for the data. Data and stories are co-constituted. One cannot, does not, exist [...]
Corbin Smith a writer from Vancouver, Washington, the host of the Take It Or Break It podcast, who is described in his logline as ‘a handsome young man of note,’ posted an article yesterday on Deadspin, entitled What I Learned at Phil Knight’s Big Basketball Party. It’s [...]