The great default word for businesses trying to describe their ‘what’ is…solutions. You see it everywhere, far too often. The trouble is, we all provide a solution of some kind. And by using the term, you then immediately have to explain what your particular solution is. So why not use the wonderful extent of english … Continue reading ‘Solutions’, a sign of desperation or lack of imagination
To know what your business really really is, and express it in a form that resonates with all is rightly a holy grail. Understand and use your business essence, expressed as words, and you: Have the basis of your first, most important story…and all other stories Have an internal company rallying call Have soul However … Continue reading Your essence – the gem at the heart of your business
The world and its climate is going to hell in a handbasket. Yep…I get and accept the science…and that we’d better not mess around too much in slashing our carbon emissions (and also stop plundering the rest of our planet’s resources). However there is a vital missing message around the “I’m telling you something and … Continue reading The vital missing message from climate change action
Words have power, and people have “an appetite for well-expressed wisdom, motivational or otherwise,” says Ward Farnsworth. He’s dean of the University of Texas School of Law, and author of Farnsworth’s Classical English Rhetoric. The book shows examples of rhetoric (the art of persuasion) from the famous such as Churchill, Lincoln and Dickens, and lesser … Continue reading The power of language
A good business story allows the viewer or reader to imagine themselves as part of the action. A great business story enables that person to be the hero(ine) in that story. Which means a Wellington bus-shelter billboard for Auckland University elevates itself into the realm of great. Make your future self proud Five simple words … Continue reading Wish I’d thought of it
The backbone of any business, and its story, is its metaphor. It’s the picturable image, the mindful impression of your what and why. Subway espouses fresh when it comes to fast foods. Wellington used to promote positive. Coke’s bought its way to the idea of opening happiness. You ‘see’ something when you hear their (very … Continue reading Why business survival depends on your Gateway Metaphor
The richness of our language allows the same word to have different meanings. (Of course, this also makes English a bit of a nightmare if you’re learning it as a second language!) The E3 Recruit poster (and photo illustration above) seen in a window I passed recently forced me to think, then smile (and take … Continue reading The beauty of a multiple meaning message
“You’ve got to tell a story” is heard so often it’s almost a cliche. Such an exhortation is more often than not heavily directed at science and science policy storytelling. But no one ever tells you how. Well, here’s a (summarised) how – based on a ‘science of stories’ – written by Michael D Jones … Continue reading How to write a scientific narrative
Whether you find Donald Trump appealing or appalling, there’s no way you can sit on the fence in your opinion of the world’s greatest liar. (Check out The Washington Post science article about ‘Why liars lie’). One aspect of language the Twitterer in Chief has mastered though – surely as a byproduct of his low-level … Continue reading From a metaphor POV at least, here is someone to (partly) emulate
Your first story must Ring true; unearth an aha. Use a metaphor.