Category: Story

The Best Work Happens When Ideas Feel Safe Enough to Misbehave

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I have facilitated numerous workshops, strategy days, narrative sessions, and conference experiences. Regardless of the setting or participants, a consistent pattern emerges. Typically, the most senior, outspoken, or confident individuals are the first to contribute, filling the room with their perspectives. However, as the session transitions to deeper reflection, it is often a quieter participant who introduces a profound idea, causing everyone to pause and absorb the insight.

Beyond the Hero’s Journey: Why We Need Collective Storytelling Now

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film stills of actors in the movie the martian and project hail mary

Recently, I wrote an article about why I don’t teach the Hero’s Journey; you can read it here. It got people talking. Not because people disagreed, but because people said they had a similar critique of the Hero’s Journey. In particular, as the default of what a story is in terms of point of view, form…

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Emotions: The Feature That Powers Our Operating System

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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.

Audience First: Where Acting, Storytelling, and Leadership Play Supporting Roles

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I was sitting in a row of red theatre chairs at the Producers Club in Times Square. I had just finished two weeks of acting training in NYC, and we were reflecting on all we had been through as a class. The Miesner trainer leaned forward from his seat on the stage and asked, "Do…

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Sticky Power: Become an Everyday Storyteller

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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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Small Story = Big Empathy

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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

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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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