This week in the world’s #1 newsletter on leadership communication:
- The 7 Deadly Sins of Storytelling
- The 21-day Brand Launch Program for Consultants and Coaches
- How to Become a Creative Leader
- The Narrative Fallacy
The 7 Deadly Sins of Storytelling
Storytelling is rocket fuel for your business and leadership – if done right.
But 99% of us commit at least one of the 7 sins of storytelling.
I have certainly been guilty of no. 7 – until I studied story structures more deeply.
A mistake I see a lot: confusing narratives and traditional storytelling, which is often a morality tale.
The truth is: a morality tale can be extremely powerful.
But it often backfires, because the audience believes you are telling them that they are wrong.
No one likes to hear that.
The same happens when leaders announce change initiatives. “The word is changing, so we must change as well. If not, we are doomed.”
Predictably, people resist this kind of change story.
If you want to motivate people to change, create connections first.
Tell them what is good about their organization, and that it has always embraced evolution. Now it is time for the next chapter, at the end of which a brighter future awaits.
OLIVER'S RECOMMENDATION CORNER
The 21-Day Brand Launch Program for Consultants and Coaches
LAST CHANCE!
Close date: Sunday, September 1st
My friend Howie Chan, author of the Legend Letters Newsletter with 80,000+ followers has launched a waitlist for his 21-day brand launch cohort for consultants and coaches.
4x 60 min workshops to cover everything you need: From strategy to tactics to launch.
- Brand architecture (how to think about your personal and business brand)
- Ideal customer profile (define your target customer/ niche)
- Positioning (determine what is relevant and different)
- Brand personality (the magic mirror, brand archetypes and more)
- Brand assets (create signature brand assets)
Reserve your spot here.
PODCAST
How to Become a Creative Leader
I do a podcast to help you become a top 1% communicator.
With the world changing so rapidly, we have to be more creative than ever. But how can we become creative leaders? And what does creative leadership actually mean?
To find out, I invited Josef Brunner back on the show. Josef has two nine figure exists under his belt, is a serial founder, successful entrepreneur, and investor.
He is currently the founder & CEO of NutriUnited, a company he builds in public that may change the way we eat. Josef shares why authenticity is so important for businesses and how building in public sets NutriUnited apart in the competitive food industry.
On top of that, we learn actionable strategies for cultivating creativity from Josef’s new book, The Creativity Code (co-authored with Christian Sellmann, currently only in German). If you want to lead with authenticity and creativity, this episode with one of the most impressive and down-to-earth CEOs I know is for you.
Listen on Spotify and Apple:
BOOK
The Narrative Fallacy
Once in a while you come across an utterly captivating book that challenges how you think the world works. Brian Klaas’s “Fluke – Chance, Chaos and Why Everything We Do Matters” is such a book.
Klaas shows how flukes and random events alter history, biology and our own lives. But, you may wonder, why do we see patterns everywhere and explain the world in neat narratives?
Klaas argues that when humans evolved, we had to find a way to pass on the wisdom we gained from generation to generation. Humanity found a solution to this existential problem: storytelling.
We became storytelling animals. This invention literally kept our ancestors alive and turned us into who we are. That’s why we see patterns everywhere, and our narratives tend to conform to certain structures.
Our storytelling minds became allergic to uncertainty, randomness and coincidence, and addicted to meaning. Thus, the narrative bias was born. But, says Klaas, “reality doesn’t have a narrative arc.”
Fluke is a perspective-altering book that is also a great read – thanks to the author’s phenomenal storytelling.
On that note...
Have an inspired weekend!
Best,
Oliver
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