,

Build the strength of your connections, your tribe and witness your growth

 

Your unique way of breaking and growing stronger creates connections.

 

Share the story of your descent into broken-ness

and your rise out of that to strong and whole,

whatever that means to you.

 

It will create connections,

friendships,

maybe even a tribe,

with those who are breaking,

and those who have rebuilt.

 

This is our year, my friends

our year

to own our stories

to grow,

to share those stories

to prosper

to live stories worth the telling

and to make if only our own part of the world

the best it can be.

 

Let’s DO this

together!

 

Because while resolutions and positive thinking are fabulous,

you and I both know that there will be breakages, down times, sometimes ugly times.

 

Those are the times to do two things

…  look towards the growth, the up times, the beauty (even if it’s only the next door garden’s geraniums!!)

and

…. remember those connections, that tribe?

 

It’s not just you telling them stories, they are also telling theirs and

 

I know that in the hard times, the lost times, the despair time

 

if I turn to them and listen

I will, you will, find that connection,

along with the ideas and models

that will allow you to access the inner wisdom

for re-writing your own story

… from them.

 

So yes

Let’s do this

TOGETHER!

Seasons Greetings and a Story Wish for you

 

 

So it’s the holiday season

 

Christmas for us,

school holidays

beaches

and end of year reflections and festivities.

 

Along with the traditional seasonal wishes,

I wish you the joy of stories uncovered,

stories re-written

and stories that will be your legacy to all who share this time with you now and in the future.

 

I wish you the healing that they bring,

the wisdom

the deep strength

and the hope for the future that always lies in stories if you take the time,

and finally uncover it,

 

but especially I wish you joy and peace and love.,

wherever you may find it now and in 2018.

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Story dreaming

We are on holiday.

A road trip of sorts, travelling down part of the east coast of Australia, to see and experience our country.


We visited Coffs Harbour, a coastal city, and then drove up the winding mountain roads to the lookouts at the top of the mountains behind the city.  

The views were awesome,

the facilities provided by local government inviting and well-built. 

To get to the second lookout, we walked along a track, about 400 metres, 

surrounded by towering gum trees, 

tantalising glimpses of the sea and coastal plain, 

and occasionally by reminders of the Story of Gumgali.

The Gumbaynggirr people are the garlugun-gi girrwaa, or “first mob” of the Coffs Harbour area, traditional owners of the land, and last year they granted permission to tell the story of Gumgali the black goanna.

The Story of Gumgali

Jalumbaw yarrang Gumgaliyu nyaawang niigarrin biguurr-garri waruungga juluumba.
Long ago that Gumgali saw men with spears high in the mountains.
“Galang, Yaam ngaya wambi. Ngaya yaarri yarraang giili,” yirraang Gumgaliyu.
“Oh gosh, I’m scared. I’m outta here now,” said Gumgali.
“Ngaaja yaanggu jaliija wajaada gaagalgu waalgaw yarrang muniim barrway manggarla.”
“I’ll go underground to the ocean and push that big rock ahead of me.”
Yaarrigay yarrang Gumgali burraabading gaagala. Wanaawang niigarrin wajaada.
And then Gumgali arrived at the ocean, leaving the men behind on the land.

The aboriginal people all across Australia have stories of their country. 

 Many of the characters in the stories are based on the animals that live there. 

The stories have been passed down from generation to generation,

as have been the stories and myths of our culture.

They give meaning and connection to the country,

and confirm the role of humans, and the view that humans have of themselves – give that meaning, too.


If you read the story again, think a bit about what it says about the humans who lived there and 

a bit about what it says about humans and animals,

and a bit about the goanna head way out into the sea.


The stories that the aborigines tell are called The Dreaming or The Dreamtime.


And as I walked along the track back to out next adventure, I couldn’t help thinking that that is just where the magic of story lies, in the dream-state it can create for us as we listen and imagine and travel along with the storyteller, absorbing the culture, the lesson and taking that experience and that lesson into our personal consciousness.

Thank you Coffs Harbour, the Gumbanggyir, and Gumgali.

That thing called The Dreaming that I learned about at school doesn’t seem such a “foreign” concept after all.
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Leadership engagement – story does it easily, naturally and powerfully

I have had several clients come to me, having left the corporate sector, and wanting to engage an audience without the power of their position.

Story will do that for you as a leader, without you having to rely on your authority, and that makes it so much more effective!!

Jane came from a position as Project Manager with a large mining company.

She was confident, strong, obviously aware of her skills and her success in her career.

She has seen a need in the industry and decided to leave her job and create a startup to develop software that would make work more efficient and effective.

And now she needed to pitch her product, market it, share her vision for it.

And I was amused to see her so obviously confused and bereft, really, when she came to me, admitting that she suddenly realised she couldn’t use her authority to engage her audience.

 

Amanda came to an open mic night to get feedback on her corporate “town hall” presentation.

It was so full of jargon that I understand maybe one sentence in three.

Nevertheless, she was obviously proud of her presentation. It proved she could “speak the language”. Her engagement and authority relied on it.

 

Both of these women and the men that I coach are suffering from varying degrees of disconnection with their audience.

Many aren’t even aware of it. That’s how it is done in their world and they are simply perpetuating their culture.

And their audience tolerate it, thinking that if only they understood the language a little better, they, too, could achieve success in that world.

 

Story is the ultimate connection tool.

It’s the ultimate engagement tool.

It’s the ultimate persuasion tool,

 

Tell your own story.

Tell the story of someone your audience knows, someone they can relate to.

Tell the story of how it could be for them, of how they could be, of how success will feel.

 

Choose the story with your audience in mind, with a lesson they need, with a vision they already know they own,

and there will be no more need for “authority” of “corporate speak” or bullying,

just a bonding, relationship building and cultural alignment that will surprise even the most hardened of corporate gangsters.

 

 

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Saying Goodbye to a TERRIBLE, NO-GOOD, VERY BAD Year

And I have just watched another piece of social media madness telling me what a BAAAAAAD year 2016 was,

All those celebrities died.

America elected Donald Trump.

We went on making terrible decisions about our planet and its future.

We went on making terrible decisions about ourselves and our contribution to the economy.

We went on making terrible decisions about other humans and how they should run their countries, their lives, their relationships.

WOE IS ME!!

Yes, we learn from our mistakes.

I KNOW that.

But we will not learn if all we do is wring our hands and shiver with horror at how horrible it all is or was.

And that’s what it’s about isn’t it?  That shiver, that little, closet ripple, that little flow of adrenalin. We can indulge in it because it’s safe.  These things are not me, not us, and we can share in that little shiver, indulge in that little ripple, together.

After all, there’s nothing we can do about it.

and

It’s not really about us.

In the latest video (quite drastically edited from the original, but well done, nonetheless), the one that finally stirred me to write this piece, a man wakes up after being asleep for the whole year.  His minder lists the achievements throughout the year.  The man grunts.

His minder lists all of the dead celebrities.  The man grunts, and is noticeably moved.

A gorilla who was shot is added to the list with the additional statement that “No-one is safe.”

His minder prepares to top the list

“There’s one thing I haven’t told you yet and it’s really, really bad.”

The man’s response?

“We’ve run out of ham?”

The answer, of course, was Donald Trump’s election, and yet somehow it was a let-down after the possibility of the loss of ham.

Not me, not us, not anything that concerns me, really.

Shall I add the war and killings and genocide, the rapes of the environment and of humans?

Man’s inhumanity to man, woman’s inhumanity, humankind’s inhumanity?

People not being the best a human could be?

“After all, there’s nothing we can do about it.”

and

“It’s not really about us.”

In the way of all stories, it always is about us, and there is always something we can do about it.

You will know why it is about you, about us, and what you or we can do about it – your personal lesson from the story, the one you need right now

what you need to learn about death and dying

what you need to learn about humanity and being the best human you, me, we can be.

Right now I have to work on evolving into the best human I can be, in order to contribute to the best humans we can all be.

And right now, I need to learn how we can use story in order to lead us all to being the best humans we can be.




I end as I began – with social media – one of the most powerful storytelling platforms that we have – 




and return to that video,

which in the end, 



turned out to be a wonderful story – 



because it made us all return to just what mattered in 2016 – 

and that’s the ham, and Harambe, 

and how we can only really change the world with compassion 

and from within our own lives.

The Video I watched is here  and the original is here .

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Your Story Matters – Sing it!

 

That bird – he sings.

He doesn’t stop to ask if he is good enough.

He doesn’t stop to ask which song would be best.

He doesn’t practise first.

He sings.

And the song is just exactly how it is meant to be.

 

Your story.

BEFORE

you ask if you are good enough to live it or to tell it

BEFORE

you ask how it should be lived or told

BEFORE

you practise living or telling

just “sing”.

 

What is your message then – if you tell your own story?

What would your life be if you lived your own story?

 

Your story matters in its own pure reality. Sing it!

So that the message is pure, so that the life is your own.

 

Then you can polish so it is good enough.

Then you can choose the parts of most value.

Then you can practice.

But only then!!

Ramping up your impact with the bigger story

Behind your business story your personal story, your leadership story, there is a bigger story.

 

 

Whenever we tell a story – in a speech, online, as a leader, as a motivator, we drop the energy, but increase impact.

If we do it well, we have our readers, audience, teams in the storytelling trance, in our story with us, following our lead.   Their brains and heart rates drop and they relax both their physiology and their resistance.

Nevertheless there is powerful impact happening with that storytelling, points communicated, minds moving towards change and messages embedded.

What we do after that can break the spell and undermine the success of our message or it can support it, build on it and add even more power.

Take your audience|readers|team out of the story trance and shift the energy and the brain patterns by introducing some left brain, rational support for the point you are making.

Tell the bigger story.

Why is this relevant to the times?

Why is this relevant to the industry you all inhabit?

Why is this relevant to your part of the world or your culture?

You are bringing yourself and your audience back into why this experience you have created with the story, and the message that is embedded behind it, is so very relevant and important to them on a much larger scale than their personal needs or wants.

They feel swept along in a movement far greater than themselves.

Then you can take them further along in the flow of your message.

,

Make me the hero of your story

Tell me a story and

I will relate to your hero,

be your hero,

learn from your hero’s journey.

If the learning is irrelevant and I cannot continue to relate,

the story is lost,

wasted.

 

Make me, (and I am

your client,

your student,

your prospect),

my possibilities,

my needs

and my problems the prototype for your hero

whether that hero be a raccoon, a robot or a real person,

and I will relate,

I will follow you through the story and to the inspiration, persuasion, learning that you want for me.

,

Winning the Story Wars : Why Those Who Tell (and Live) the Best Stories Will Rule the Future

Trying to get your message heard? Build an iconic brand?

 

Welcome to the battlefield. The story wars are all around us. They are the struggle to be heard in a world of media noise and clamor. Today, most brand messages and mass appeals for causes are drowned out before they even reach us. But a few consistently break through the din, using the only tool that has ever moved minds and changed behavior–great stories.

With insights from mythology, advertising history, evolutionary biology, and psychology, viral storyteller and advertising expert Jonah Sachs takes readers into a fascinating world of seemingly insurmountable challenges and enormous opportunity.

You’ll discover how:

* Social media tools are driving a return to the oral tradition, in which stories that matter rise above the fray

* Marketers have become today’s mythmakers, providing society with explanation, meaning, and ritual

* Memorable stories based on timeless themes build legions of eager evangelists

* Marketers and audiences can work together to create deeper meaning and stronger partnerships in building a better world

* Brands like Old Spice, The Story of Stuff, Nike, the Tea Party, and Occupy Wall Street created and sustained massive viral buzz

Winning the Story Wars is a call to arms for business communicators to cast aside broken traditions and join a revolution to build the iconic brands of the future.

It puts marketers in the role of heroes with a chance to transform not just their craft but the enterprises they represent. After all, success in the story wars doesn’t come just from telling great stories, but from learning to live them.

Globally recognized storyteller, designer, and entrepreneur Sachs argues that only those brands that tell “values-driven stories” through the “right” channels will revolutionize marketing and may become humanity’s greatest hope for the future.
About the Author: Jonah Sachs. As the cofounder and CEO of Free Range Studios, Sachs has helped hundreds of major brands and causes break through the media noise with unforgettable campaigns. His work on renowned viral videos including The Meatrix and The Story of Stuff have brought key social issues to the attention of more than sixty-five million people online. A constant innovator, his studio’s websites and stories have taken top honors three times at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival. Sachs’s work and opinions have been featured in a variety of media, including the New York Times, NPR, and Fast Company magazine, which named him one of its fifty most influential social innovators. About the Illustrator: Drew Beam Drew Beam is the Innovation Director at Free Range Studios, where he helps clients see the future and leap into it. After earning his BFA at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Beam built a successful career creating visuals and innovation strategies for dozens of Fortune 500 companies. His illustrations have been published by Time Warner Books, Penguin Books, and Rolling Stone magazine, to name just a few.

Reviews

“Story Wars is a thorough guide for the novice or even practiced storytellers in all of us. Sachs offers story structures, ways of thinking about characters and messages. He pulls artfully from recent brand successes from companies including Nike and Apple. And he tells a few good stories along the way.” — Forbes

“Sachs is full of ideas and strategies to help readers give their brands the rare, compelling story that will raise their message above the melee of advertising noise… the ideas are powerful and solid, and will make inspiring reading for marketing professionals looking to set their stories apart.” — Publishers Weekly

“In this timely, practical, perceptive, and thought-provoking book, Sachs (CEO, Free Range Studios) does a remarkable job trumpeting storytelling as a means by which people can effectively influence others.” — CHOICE

“The book is an interesting blend of marketing and advertising history, mythology, and psychology that pulled me in and kept me turning the pages… the eye-catching illustrations of Drew Beam. Beam’s artwork combined with Sachs’s writing style kept me glued to the pages… this one has earned a place on my bookshelf and a noteworthy position on my leadership development reading list.” — T+D magazine, American Society for Training & Development

“This fast-paced entertaining book takes on storytelling from the POV of a 24/7 information culture and shares the strategies and tactics that fuel today’s most compelling content.” — Ketchum PR, On the Bookshelf: New Year Reads

“Sachs offers a step-by-step guide to corporate storytelling, showing how brands can use recognisable characters, such as “freaks, cheats and familiars” to create instantly relatable campaigns…Marketers who are able to define the core values of a brand then use them to engage the target audience in a compelling, relatable story are the ones who will thrive in the new media landscape of the “digitoral” age.” — Warc

“His investigation also unveiled a process to help others create winning stories that he shares with great depth and charm in this book.” — 800 CEO READ

“To influence this brave new world, first convince the global media marketplace of your story. The better the story, the better chance of making people think differently.” — Quantas magazine

“In the often superficial, deceptive world of marketing and advertising, social innovator Jonah Sachs is an individual with a conscience…Sachs’s engaging work is a call to arms for anyone who works to influence consumer choices.” — getAbstract

ADVANCE PRAISE for Winning the Story Wars: Dan Heath, coauthor, Switch and Made to Stick– “Jonah Sachs knows stories. He’s responsible for some of the most popular and respected viral messages of all time: The Story of Stuff, The Meatrix, Grocery Store Wars, and others. This book is a storytelling call to arms, an appeal to tell the stories that matter. So read Winning the Story Wars–and join the fray.”

Nick Coe, CEO, Bath & Body Works; former President, Land’s End– “History is written by the winners. And as Jonah Sachs makes abundantly clear, it is now being written by the marketers, the new mythmakers of our time. Whatever your product or your cause, if you want it to succeed, read this wise and enlightening book.”

Kumi Naidoo, Executive Director, Greenpeace International– “Winning the Story Wars will convince you that storytelling is the most powerful way to move people to action. And it will teach you to use that power to orient our world to a more positive future. If you’re ready to be a great storyteller, read this book.”

Deepak Chopra, founder, The Chopra Foundation– “Great leaders transform the world through stories that inspire hope, stability, trust, compassion, and authenticity. This important and thought-provoking book shows that leadership in marketing will require the living and telling of such stories as well.”

Bill Bradley, former US Senator; Managing Director, Allen & Company– “We know about who we are both individually and as a society through stories. In this brilliant book, Jonah Sachs tells us how we lost our storytelling capacity and how we must regain it, constructing our own myths and living the truth of the stories we tell.”

Paul Hawken, author, The Ecology of Commerce and Blessed Unrest– “In the current maelstrom of media babble and corporate deceit, Jonah Sachs makes sense where none appears to exist. Winning the Story Wars explains why we respond to lies–whether in political or product ads, campaigns or speeches–and how truth ultimately trumps all. This remarkable book delivers on that rare promise of changing how you see the world.”

Me?  I am getting so many ah-has I have to stop reading to absorb them all!!

You can buy the book at The Book Depository , The Nile , Fishpond or Amazon

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Speakers – build your brand using stories

Stories are a subtly powerful way to support your speaking outcomes.

You can use them to support the points you want to make, but you can also use them to position yourself in the eyes of your audience.

When you speak you need to be seen as an expert, though an approachable expert, and the audience needs to understand you and your why.

They need to know why they should listen to you and why they should do what you expect from them at the conclusion of your speech.

You also have an opportunity to establish yourself and your brand in their memories, through the power of storytelling.

Here are 4 specific ways you can use storytelling to build your brand…  Read the article at my public speaking blog