I’ve spent a lot of time in rooms watching leaders communicate. Town halls, board presentations, client pitches, team meetings, all-hands sessions. And the same mistakes show up, with remarkable consistency, regardless of industry or seniority. What’s interesting is that most…
Here’s something I’ve noticed about presentation storytelling advice. Most of it is correct in theory and awkward in practice. Start with a story. What kind? About whom? How long? When do I get to the point? Make the audience the…
This is a distinction I make almost every time I start working with a new client, and it consistently surprises people. Story and storytelling are different things. They’re related, obviously. But the relationship between them is not symmetric. Good storytelling…
Companies in transformation spend enormous amounts of energy on the “what” of change, such as new structures, processes, technologies, and operating models. The consultants who designed it are usually good. The logic is usually sound. The business case is usually…
I’ve been asked some version of this question by almost every senior leader I’ve worked with: What’s a good leadership narrative? It’s a fair question and also slightly the wrong one. A better question is: “What does a leadership narrative…
I want to tell you something about culture that most culture programs miss. Culture is not what you put on the wall. It’s not the values in the onboarding deck or the behaviors in the performance framework. Those things can…
Ask a sales leader why their team is losing deals, and you’ll hear some version of the same answers. It would be about price, competition, the client went with someone they already knew, and the timing wasn’t right. Occasionally, if…
I read a lot of brand stories. About pages, company narratives, founder letters, and brand positioning documents. I read them because clients send them to me, usually with a version of the same question: “Why doesn’t this feel right?” Here’s…
Most companies have a strategy. Fewer have a narrative. Almost none have both working together. That gap is where much of the organizational effort disappears. Narrative strategy is not a communications function. It’s not something you hand to marketing after…
Here’s a pattern I’ve seen in more organizations than I can count. A CEO delivers a brilliant all-hands. It was clear, energetic, and genuinely compelling, with the strategy making sense and the vision landing. People leave the room feeling, for…
