Just Story It

An art history professor makes her students sit in front of a painting for three hours. PampG invents the Swiffer. Those events are more alike than...

I was at a meeting today and my friend Barbara showed me this postcard (see photo above) she received in the mail from the motivational products company Baudville. Barbara runs Mind Masters, a small business coaching enterprise. As we passed around the postcard we all remarked at how personalized the card was -- mentioning Barbara and her company by name. Now that impressed us!

But even better yet, I love Baudville's creative use of story for promo purposes. From what I know about Baudville, it seems their culture is in alignment with their marketing -- which is what we want. Anyway, this is a terrific idea and story! We were all smiling as we read it. 

If you are not able to read the text on the photo above, here is the story:

"Once upon a time, a company called Baudville offered Barbara $25 to give their products another try. Barbara accepted the offer, but saving a bundle on some amazing employee recognition tools was just the beginning. As Baudville products circulated Mind Masters, joy erupted, scattering polka dots and moonbeams throughout the air. Goodwill became contagious, productivity soared, and spirits rocketed into the stratosphere. Some even say a unicorn was spotted that day. A miracle? Nope, we get that all the time. And that's how Barbara saved the day (and $25)."

What a hoot! And you can do this too for your biz :)) 

Have a wonderful holiday weekend everyone and chat with you next week. 

Keep sharing your stories!

This review was written by Karen Dietz for her curated content on business storytelling at www.scoop.it/t/just-story-it 

As business leaders speak of the “Human Age” and claim that capitalism is being replaced by “talentism”--defined as access to talent as a key resource and differentiator--many companies have embarked on initiatives to “unleash their human...

Is your business a humanist business? Not sure? Then you'd better find out by reading this article.

Why did I curate this piece? Because if you are seriously working with stories with any depth, then you are connecting with the core of our humanity. There is both beauty there and ugliness.

So how do you get your head wrapped around this so you can continue to work with stories to connect, empower, survive, and thrive? Well, if you are operating from the principles given here, you will succeed:

1. Empathy -- a core ingredient and outcome of story work.
2. Community -- building a 'social mind' based on trust and collaboration
3. Morality -- walking your talk is the only sustainable position in today's business, says the author. This happens with actualized values, purpose, and character.
4. Creativity -- working with chaos, uncertainty, and dreaming -- which BTW is much more fun and produces better results than 'innovation'.
5. Aspiration -- the realms of the imagination and hope, and creating alignment between org aspiration and employee passions (and I think customer passions, too).

Like the author says, "As the new millennial workforce demands meaning over money, and prefers employers that are different by making a difference, humanist businesses shift their organizational rationale from productivity to impact, from excellence to significance."

Actually, these desires belong to more than just the millennial workforce, so don't limit yourself there.

More wonderful food for thought this week :)

This review was written by Karen Dietz for her curated content on business storytelling at www.scoop.it/t/just-story-it 

A Polaroid camera is nothing more than bookshelf eye candy if you don't have the magical film to go with it. Which is why The Impossible Project pulle...

Last year, Pixar story artist Emma Coats (@lawnrocket) tweeted 22 rules of storytelling like ”give your characters opinions” and “no work is ever wasted.” Alex Eylar, aka ICanLegoThat, has illustrated twelve of those rules with Legos. He gave us the chance to premiere them at Slacktory. 

What a hoot! It's Friday and here's some fun.

I recently curated an article on Pixars story rules that I encouraged everyone to keep handy.

Now someone has taken 12 of those rules, created LEGO characters and scenes for each, and put them together here. LOL -- these are great!

Have fun viewing these -- and keep them handy too! A picture is worth a 1000 words :)

Now how can you take expertise in your business and do the same?

This review was written by Karen Dietz for her curated content on business storytelling at www.scoop.it/t/just-story-it