Narrative – Storytelling Built For Innovation

Emotions: The Feature That Powers Our Operating System

June 4, 2025June 6, 2025by stayintouchwiththelambLeave a comment

Friend and futurist Simon Waller invited me to explore the future of acting on his podcast, The Future with Friends. It led me to a surprising place. The conversation evolved into a discussion about the importance of emotion in navigating life as a human being. It led me to reflect on how emotion shapes communication. Not as something that drives us irrationally as a holdover from our distant past, but as the feature that has allowed humanity to outpace other species and thrive in increasingly complex societies.

Strategic Future Narrative: Connecting Past, Present, and Future Goals

May 9, 2024May 9, 2024by stayintouchwiththelamb

Organisations seek to innovate, adapt, and envision new futures in our fast-paced business landscape. Effective communication of these future visions can feel daunting in the hustle and bustle of day-to-day operations. While communication departments are adept at crafting engaging messages and disseminating information, they can face significant hurdles when envisioning a future that has yet…

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Sticky Power: Become an Everyday Storyteller

February 6, 2024by stayintouchwiththelamb

In the world of storytelling, we glorify narratives of the extraordinary - epic adventures, heroic feats, and life-altering events that seem to lie outside our everyday existence. However, the true power of storytelling resides in the simplicity of the every day, in the stories of the relatable and familiar. These stories shape our perspectives, influence…

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The Life of a Narrative Strategist

February 8, 2023February 8, 2023by stayintouchwiththelambLeave a comment

Seven years ago, I typed two words into the google search box, ‘Narrative’ and ‘Strategist’. A small but mighty list of communication agencies and professionals who used narrative to create impact appeared.

Why Are We So Bad At Imagining The Future?

January 28, 2020April 8, 2021by stayintouchwiththelamb

But this is not why is conceptualising what our lives will be like in the future is difficult. The wiring of our brains leads us to be bad at it. We evolved to think day by day. To survive situations as they occurred in weeks and months. And for hundreds of thousands of years, this has served us well.

Small Story = Big Empathy

June 5, 2019June 6, 2019by stayintouchwiththelamb

With storytelling, smaller is bigger. I recently met a screenwriter and he told me about a project he's working on, a cross-cultural romance. In his story, a feminist from the West falls in love with a chauvinist from the East. He was having trouble creating the backstories of these characters, why they are together despite their differences. We kept coming up against sticking points and the story wasn’t working.

Story: A Tool For Design Led Innovation

April 8, 2019November 18, 2020by stayintouchwiththelambLeave a comment

Once upon a time there was a president who was known primarily by his initials, JFK. He and the nation he represented was upset that Russia was beating them in a competition called the space race. Every day the USA and Russia ran against each other to be the ‘first’ when it came to exploring…

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Organisational Narratives – Creating the Vision For An Ideal Future State

March 6, 2019March 6, 2019by stayintouchwiththelambLeave a comment

The future can feel like a scary unknown. A key challenge for businesses implementing a change program or innovation project is being able to project what a new ideal future looks like after the major milestones of a change project has been completed. How do you chart the course for a new way forward to…

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Why is ‘Just Do It’ more than a tagline, how is it a Narrative?

November 22, 2018November 22, 2018by stayintouchwiththelambLeave a comment

In this examination, I deconstruct Nike's Narrative of 'Just Do It'. We look at how this simple statement acts as a bridge between its external communications and it's internal communication framework of Mission, Vision and Values. A good narrative does that for businesses. It unifies the vision of what drives people internally within the company…

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Can Advertising Spend Buy You Love?

April 7, 2018June 6, 2019by stayintouchwiththelambLeave a comment

“Anyone can pay for something,” was a sage piece of dating advice I was given a long time ago. Beatles might have said it best when they said - “I'll buy you a diamond ring my friend if it makes you feel alright I'll get you anything my friend if it makes you feel alright…

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