In this 23 minute TEDtalk video, Itay Talgam weaves a powerful tapestry narrative about leadership and its corollary to great conductors of our time.
From an organizational or business perspective, this video emphasizes how to create conditions of partnership between leadership and employees – a perfect corollary of the conductor and symphony. Throughout the video, Itay Talgam reinforces the message of how to channel a different kind of ‘control’ when leading, or conducting, a group.
Control in his example becomes a shared partnership among the multiple layers of symphonic instrumentation and orchestral leadership. In business, this example would highlight shared layers of control among employees – including those from staff, to mid-management, to the C-Suite.
This clip is entertaining and enlightening, with practical application for teaching. Portions of this clip lend well to teaching topics such as leadership, group facilitation and management.
Even among those who may not know or appreciate classical music, most audiences will enjoy the last few minutes (18:43 – 20:35) of Itay Talgam’s TEDtalk. I have successfully used this clip to emphasize what it means to have synergy between presenters and audiences or with CEOs and employees. It is powerful in that it evokes the emotion of music and passion with the nonverbal cues of intention.
Watch and enjoy as you transform into “the player telling the story – and become the storyteller that the whole community listens to…”
David’s Note: Also, notice when you watch the clip in the last few minutes about what a great metaphor it is for how you don’t need to micromanage, you don’t need to use old fashioned Command and Control approaches to managing when you A) have the right players, B) have done the hard work to teach, train, and coach C) are the kind of leader that people want to follow.
Notice the minimalist approach Leonard Bernstein takes as well as the joy he shows as he experiences the beauty his “team” creates.
Whitney Blondeau is an academic medical educator who seeks to share with others the inspiration she finds in music, creative expression, travel, and unexpected connectivity.
How might you offer hope and encouragement to others in a more active way…especially those who are going through challenging times right now?
Here’s an example of how, when we act courageously, we en-courage others.
The example comes from a remarkable person I heard about from John Brubaker (www.coachbru.com). John interviewed him on his radio show and shared with me Jia Jiang’s wild story about his 100 Days of Rejection project. After listening to his interview and watching some of his videos, I knew I wanted to interview him.
Here’s the origin of his 100 Days of Rejection project: After getting a very impersonal rejection email from a venture capitalist, Jia was stunned by how much the rejection stung.
Here’s an excerpt from my interview with Jia, where he describes his response and what he did next:
(The rejection) really hurt. It took me by surprise. Not because of the rejection itself, but how much I was hurt by that rejection. I’m a very well educated guy. I felt I was mentally prepared for this as well. But how did I get hurt so bad by a no even though I prepared for it?
I started searching to see if I want to be a great entrepreneur I cannot be hurt like this. If I keep going I’m going to be rejected more often than not, and so I can’t just be living this fear of rejection. I went online and looked for this thing. I found this thing called rejection therapy. That’s a game where you go out and look for rejection.
Last November I started my blog to just go out and start looking for rejection. I did that because I wanted to do this for 100 times and have the world keep me accountable. It really fits my personality to try something crazy like that. So the story went from there, but that’s how I got into this situation. It was rejection therapy.”
To get a sense of Jia’s personality and essence, here’s a video of my favorite Rejection Therapy: Rejection #36 “Trim my hair at PetSmart”
Jia Inquires About Getting a Haircut at PetSmart
Now, when you see the video, it’s easy just to think “Oh, this is nothing more than a fun, amusing, and charming stunt”. But when you learn more about the person behind the series, you realize its way more than that.
Underneath the quirky sense of humor is a deeply caring person who has a strong sense of mission and purpose to make the world a better place.
You’ll learn more about that when I share the whole interview at a later point.
But in the meantime, I’m sharing this excerpt with you to illustrate how our stories of overcoming adversity and fear can give others hope and courageous to face their fears.
In our interview, I asked Jia if he could share a story or two from people who have followed his adventure and how it has made a difference in their lives.
Here’s a story he shared:
A person wrote me an email. He said he has always been afraid of rejection, so much so that he’s afraid to ask for ketchup in the restaurant so he sent his kids to ask for ketchup.
Of course that’s one extreme case, but it just got real because his wife was diagnosed with cancer last year. In the American medical society, for good or for bad one thing for sure is you have to actually push the doctors and nurses, the hospitals, to get things done sometimes. You can’t just wait and everything comes to you. It doesn’t work that way.
He saw what I’m doing with rejection therapy. He’s very inspired. He told me, “Hey, because of what you are doing now, I’m saying you can do this for therapeutic reasons. I’m trying to save my wife’s life here, so I’ve got to just go ask. If you can ask I can ask.” He started asking for things and he thanked me for helping me with that. This one example is very dear to my heart just because the nature of it. It really helps people in a very real sense.
It’s really those kinds of emails that got me, again, doing these rejections. A hundred of them is a lot. It takes you awhile to count, and doing each one takes preparation and videotaping. Then editing, producing, put it online and telling people about it and then writing a blog. So a lot of things went into every rejection.
But it’s because of these emails I’m getting, the support I’m getting, that keeps me going because I know I’m doing something important. I know I’m doing something that helps people. That makes a real difference in life.
Even say if I know that from beginning to end I’m doing this for 100 days and I spend a lot of time doing this, I can help a husband. A life might be changed. A life might be saved. Is it worth it? Absolutely it’s worth it. Then you can multiply that effect by thousands. I’ve got thousands of emails with people with stories. Maybe not to this extreme, but everyone has rejection issues and many of them thank me for doing this. So with that type of influence and impact I feel it’s totally worth it.
Think of the difference Jia’s willingness to share his stories of facing his fears has made in that man’s life.
Think of the power sharing our stories of facing our fears encourages others.
By the way, the word “courage” has its roots in the old French word for “heart” (“couer”). So when you en-cour-age someone you give them heart, you help them connect with their heart and their true capacity for courage.
Are there people in YOUR life right now who might be in need of encouragement?
How might you en-courage them?
What stories of how you faced and overcame your fears might you share with those who need it right now?
Jia Jiang’s TEDTalk
For More of Jia’s writing, check out his website Entre.sting.
Here’s a great example from a wonderful organization about how you can use customer stories to make all of the following more interesting and memorable:
1. Employer Branding
2. Corporate Branding
3. New Employee Orientation
4. Volunteer Recruitment (if you’re a non-profit)
5. Donor solicitation (again…if you’re a non-profit)
At the end of this post, you’ll find more about the power of customer stories to give you a sense of why you want to be capturing and sharing them. But for now…let’s get to this story…
The story you are about to hear is designed to connect with:
1. The most desirable job applicants
2. Potential volunteers who have an endless number of non-profits to choose from.
3. Potential donors who want to feel like their donations are serving a great cause and making a big difference.
The Back Story…
I first met Patsy Murphy, the Executive Director from the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland as part of my work on how businesses can capture client stories on video and use them in their marketing efforts.
I was so taken by her and what she’s done with the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland, and with their wonderful stories, that I ended up doing a series of interviews with her and her staff. (in a previous post “For Better Employee Testimonial Videos, Don’t Spout Platitudes, Tell Stories”, you can see another video I shot for them).
A Somewhat Different Kind of Customer Story Video
This video is a somewhat different twist to the “Customer Story” video genre in that:
1. The Customer is not telling the story, instead someone from the business/organization tells the story
2. The Customer is a dog–actually two dogs (well, actually the Customer is also their new parents)
Customer Stories That Speak to What Employees Want in a Work Experience
As you watch this video and take in the charming story, notice the psychology behind it. More specifically, notice what human needs it taps into. Notice how it addresses what today’s employees want in an employer and work experience. Notice especially how it speaks to the caring, idealistic individual who would be drawn to non-profit work.
These core human needs include:
1. The need to know you can make a difference
2. The need to know you are doing good in the world
3. Feeling like you’re part of something greater than yourself
4. Being part of a group that makes you feel good about yourself
5. Getting to work with people you enjoy seeing everyday
6. Working in an organization where fun is on the menu
Using a Story to Subtly Overcome Potential Objections
Also, you will notice that the story subtly addresses a potential obstacle to a tenderhearted person–the kind ARLGP wants to hire–from applying. Notice how it challenges the perception that working at a shelter might be a “downer” because the story involves what people might imagine would be impossible-to-place animals.
Also notice that the theme of the video isn’t “Aren’t we awesome”…it’s “Because of you, we can do wonderful things”.
It’s Not “All About Me”
This is actually a nuance I learned from Ritz Carlton years ago, when I saw Diana Oreck, their VP of Leadership Development, present at the first ever onboarding conference (I wrote about this in ” Onboarding That Welcomes and Inspires”).
I was impressed by the video Ritz Carlton had created for their new hire orientation because it combined the message “When you join the Ritz Carlton, you have joined the top 1% of people in the hospitality industry” with “We are so thrilled to have you join us”. They very artfully framed this new employer-employee relationship in a way that communicates “We’re both lucky” vs. a one-sided “We rock…you’re lucky to be working here” or “We’re so very thankful you chose to work here…”–neither of which sends a desirable message on its own.
While the story in this video communicates that ARLGP does great things, it is framed in a “You-centric” way, rather than in a “We-centric” manner.
So…while I know you will enjoy the video and the story (especially if you are an animal lover), let it be a catalyst for you to gather and tell your own customer stories.
In Conclusion: About The Power of Customer Stories
Dr. Grant and his team have conducted multiple studies involving university fundraisers who call alumni seeking contributions for university scholarship funds. In one study, a scholarship recipient visited a group of fundraisers and shared their story about the difference the scholarship made in their ability to attend the university and in their lives. In the control group, no such story was shared.
A month later, the performance of both groups was measured. The control group showed no increase, not surprisingly. The callers who had listened to the story about how their difficult work made a difference in the world, averaged twice as many calls per hour. Not only did they work twice as hard, they also produced exponentially better results.
Their average weekly revenue increased from $411.74 to $2,083.52 — an increase of over 400 percent.
That gives you an idea of the power of customer stories for just ONE of their uses.
So…go out and collect and share those customer stories!
It’s not only a cautionary tale for the marketing department in businesses to get clear on what is a story and what isn’t.
It’s also relevant to an issue on my mind for the last few years:
Employers who THINK they are engaging in Employer Branding when they post videos of employees saying nice things about them.
There’s a problem with this:
These “Employer Branding” videos are essentially meaningless…
They are essentially meaningless, because what they say is basically no different from what all the other employee video testimonials are saying–e.g. “It’s a fun place to work” “We get to do great work”, “We have great values that we live by.”
Etc, etc. etc.
If you want to truly want to communicate what makes you different, have your employees tell stories.
OK…enough of my rant, let’s listen to Daniel tell his story and think of how you can apply it to your business, whether marketing your product or service or…as an employer…marketing your Employer Brand.
Here’s Daniel’s story:
“Every great coffee has a story.”
That’s what caught my attention this morning from the back of the Caribou Coffee bag.
So okay. You got me. Tell me a story.
“After summiting a mountain in Alaska, our founders realized life is too big to dream small. So they started a company that would go to any length to create a rich coffee experience that…”
Blah blah blah.
Not okay. You lost me.
You told me you wanted to tell me a story. You began by telling me about unnamed “founders” climbing a mountain in Alaska at the top of which they found a motivational thought. Which somehow inspired them to start a coffee company. The rest of the “story” is marketing bromides: “…That’s why we search the world, meet the growers, choose the finest beans from the best harvests, and roast them to perfection.”
Is there any major coffee company in the world that doesn’t say these things?
Here’s one of my favorite stories. I often use it in programs on dealing with stress, managing change, and building resilience. I’m sharing it with you both because of the content and also as an example of using a story to make your point hit home at a deeper level and live on in the listener’s memory…i.e. using a story to make your point “stickier.”
After watching the video, notice how I could just have just said “Learn to tune your brain to notice the hidden opportunities that exist in crises” or I could have just told the audience “the Chinese character for Crisis is actually a combination of the character for Danger and the character for Opportunity”.
While that little factoid definitely makes the point stickier, it is also possible that a lot of people involved in personal development have already heard that. So…by using a story to make this point, I offer them a fresh perspective on the concept. Also, because the point is framed in a story, chances are they will remember it better than if I just used the other two methods.
For people interested in being more attuned to finding stories to use in the presentations, this Perspective Shift Story is a great example of how you can find stories in simple, everyday experiences.
This past week, my mother visited us in California from the East Coast. With a superb memory and deep interest in genealogy, Mom is a treasurer of family history.
Around the dinner table last weekend, she told stories of her immigrant Swedish grandmother who was an accomplished seamstress living with the wealthy Guggenheim family in New York city. Another night, Mom shared how the Japanese lacquer miso soup bowls we were eating from had come into the family. The wooden bowls were purchased in Asia by her father who remained in the Navy in the Pacific through 1946. As a young girl, my mother described how she would play house with these “exotic” items he had brought back to New England.
After we heard that story, I noticed my kids pausing, looking, and beginning to pay more attention to the bowls they had eaten from, without much thought, so many times before. Knowing the connection to their great-grandfather and Japan (a country they have been fortunate to visit) made the lacquerware much more meaningful for them. More than a simple container for food, the bowls now represent a thread from the past to the present.
Calculating the Story Premium
This blog post isn’t only about family keepsakes, though. It’s about how stories can bring tremendous value and meaning in the business world, too. But exactly how much return on investment do stories offer?
In 2009, Joshua Glenn and Rob Walker, the founders of the Significant Objects project, tried an experiment to calculate the “story premium.” They wanted to see how much value interesting backstories would contribute to the random objects.
They purchased 100 inexpensive items like coffee mugs and pepper shakers at thrift stores at a dollar or so each, for a total of $128.74. Then they recruited writers to create interesting fictional backstories about the origins of each item, before selling the items on eBay. (Bidders were clearly told that the stories were fictional and that all proceeds would be donated to charity.)
When everything was totaled up, the 100 objects had brought in an astonishing $3612.51 in winning bids, for a 28X return on investment. Glenn and Walker pointed out, “Stories are such a powerful driver of emotional value that their effect on any given object’s subjective value can actually be measured objectively.”
The Business of Stories
While Significant Objects wasn’t a scientifically valid study, an astonishing 2800% return is definitely something worth paying attention to. If you sell a product, are you engaging customers with the story of the product? Or are you merely overwhelming their brains with all the technical features of your gizmo?
And this isn’t just about stories augmenting the value of physical objects like the products you design and sell. Stories work in the service business, too.
If you run a service business or provide a client experience, you know that the potential value of stories is even greater in this case. After all, with no physical product as a reminder, it is the memory of the story that will linger long after the service itself has ended.
World class organizations like the Ritz Carlton reinforce exceptional customer service with their WOW stories, told at daily stand-up meetings at their properties across the globe. They recognize that their customers aren’t just renting a bed for the night—they are looking for a meaningful experience—and are willing to pay a premium for it.
Stories work well because they combine logical and emotion. When you look at your organization, do you only complete projects, or do you also deliver memorable client experiences?
As Dan Pink wrote in A Whole New Mind, “Story is having another important impact on business. Like design, it is becoming a key way for individuals and entrepreneurs to distinguish their goods and services in a crowded marketplace.”
When you think of it that way, sharing stories is serious business!
Now Apply the Story Premium
Imagine how you can release the power of story to distinguish your business in a crowded marketplace.
Review your company history, past projects, and successes. Even be so bold as to look at how you’ve recovered from failures. What about your future plans? I call this process StoryMining. Are there additional opportunities to share stories inside and outside your organization?
Here are Four Types of Stories to Get You Started:
Origin stories for your “About Us” page. How did you get started? What made you want to get into your line of work? What challenges did you overcome? Have you encountered forks in the road along the way?
Stories of employees going the extra mile. Forget the corporate manual and bland mission statements on the wall. What does great customer service really look like?
Product or service stories. What is the backstory of the inspiration behind your newest offering? People love gaining insight into the creative design process.
Client success stories. Let your clients tell, in their words, how your product or service helps them. Clients are more credible and often know your solutions better than you do.
So go ahead! Leverage the emotional impact of story. People will remember these kinds of stories long after your latest brochure, power point slide, or “service specification sheet” fades from their minds.
David: In a recent interview titled How to Tell Your Company’s Story in Under 90 Seconds, you noted how agencies are missing the boat because they aren’t telling stories. I see the same thing with employers who think they are engaging in employer branding by saying things like “When you work here, you get to work with great people with high integrity, you get to grow professionally…” etc etc. and all sorts of Corporate Speak. The end result is one company’s message is interchangeable with another’s. How does storytelling help employers set themselves apart?
Eric: Stories make things exciting and memorable. The most exciting companies right now are the ones that tell stories about their culture. They convey their culture through blog posts, on their social channels and even on their website – not just by saying “1 week of paid vacation, benefits, etc” – we’re all use to that – but by showing what it’s like to work there.
Feel free to ride your scooters among offices and stop in at our cereal bar for some Frosted Flakes before that 1 o’clock meeting…er…I mean, ‘get together’. On the way, have a go on our colored slides, use our private phone rooms or chat about geekery next to our Star Wars decorated walls, among other things.
We’ve all seen pictures of Google’s awesome workplaces and share them because they’re memorable and exciting. It looks as though their culture is the DNA of the company, that work really isn’t “work” because it’s so fun. Work that isn’t work – Who can’t get excited about that? The stories (and images) are what get a prospect excited to work there. That sets their company apart from the “other guy” and is a lot more memorable (and potentially viral).
David: What about companies wanting to break through the media clutter, how does storytelling help them do that?
Eric: Stories are the way we all learned and connected to ideas since we were children. Almost everyone on the planet grew up listening to stories. Story defined us and were our form of entertainment. Our favorite times growing up often centered around storytime, and that hasn’t changed much. Storytelling stimulates more parts of the brain than any other communication.
What we hear is immediately connected with our personal experiences and we’re more likely to understand, remember, etc. Remember your grandpa’s war stories that brought forth feelings of anxiousness and nervousness? They kept you on the edge of your seat and you couldn’t wait to tell the other kids at school about how heroic Gramps was.
Tell a good story (a story that others think is good, not just you) and it will surface above the rest.
David: Can you talk about Explainify and how you are helping clients use visual stories to make their message more “sticky” to use Chip and Dan Heath’s term?
Eric: You can’t sell products if you’re not able to get a potential customer’s attention. We realized with businesses, there’s an epidemic of whitepapers, long business plans, and credentials being thrown around like confetti – but there isn’t anything being said that gets us as prospective customers excited enough to warrant that confetti being used. In fact, there’s a big gap between your boring business website and me signing up.
At Explainify, we wanted to address that gap and inject some fun into it. We help businesses capture the essence of what they do and turn it into a remarkable 60-90 second animated explainer video (or explanatory video) packed full of fun and strategic writing that converts and sells.
David: Why video and when might you use written story instead?
Eric: They say a picture is a worth a thousand words, so that makes video worth 1.8 million, according to Forrester Research. Can’t argue with proverbs mixed with research like that! Seriously though, 90% of online shoppers say that video helps them in their purchasing decision and 82% of internet users watch video online. We’re surrounded by video in our lives, so it’s a medium where we’re likely to get and keep their attention. In fact, a more illustrative style benefits information recall significantly over text. 80%!
That’s not to say written story isn’t effective, it’s just not our focus.
David: What would you like to say about what makes a story fascinating and what makes one Ho Hum?
Eric: A memorable story has to be simple, easy to follow and easy to recall. The problem with most businesses stories is that they think every detail has to be included. Think about a memorable billboard you saw driving down the road or an ad you saw sitting in the dentist’s office. What was remarkable about it? Its simplicity! It evoked emotion and wasn’t full of boring facts or details. Those aren’t too memorable. Facts are great, don’t get me wrong. Take those facts and spin them into one cohesive, memorable story.
David: Anything else you want to say to a business wanting to communicate in a more compelling way, whether to the marketplace or to the labor market?
Eric: You’ve got to break up the monotony. You’ve got to do something different than your competition. Be adventurous. Be bold. Be daring. Be offensive. Be creative.
We’ve seen simple animated explainer video facilitate quick understanding and interest among potential customers which leads to increased conversions, search engine results, and ultimately, real dollar sales. It’s pretty amazing what a well packaged (and presented) idea can do for your business. Don’t underestimate it and don’t undervalue it.
Eric Hinson is the Founder and CEO of Explainify, which specializes in short, engaging, remarkable explainer videos for businesses. You can see a wide selection of videos they’ve produced in their portfolio. If you’re interested in learning more about how Explainify helps companies tell their stories, sign up for the newsletter on their homepage.
s an academic medical educator who seeks to share with others the inspiration she finds in music, creative expression, travel, and unexpected connectivity.
