Esther Choy, Author at Leadership Story Lab

Why Conflict Draws Us In And Prompts Collective Action

The whole world watching the story unfolding in Ukraine. As the images of destruction have made their way out of Kyiv, the human suffering is clear and heartbreaking. Though our thoughts and prayers may be of little comfort to the people of Ukraine, we remain riveted to the daily events and looking for ways we…

4 Truths About Connecting With Your Audience Through Business Storytelling

Storytelling in business settings is about creating fit: that between story and audience. You might have what you think is the world’s greatest story, but most audience members of a certain type may disagree. Conversely, you could have what you deem to be a mundane, uninspiring story, but it may resonate deeply with some audiences.…

Business Storytelling through Uncertainty: Mergers and Acquisitions

The gaming industry is all abuzz with the breaks that Microsoft will be acquiring “powerhouse” Activision Blizzard Inc. for a cool $70B. WSJ writes that the merger’s going to try to “shake up the game industry by expanding the software giant’s library of blockbuster videogames and bolstering its efforts to entice consumers to its cloud-gaming…

Theranos: Four Questions to Evaluate a Business Story

In the “fake it until you make it” world of Silicon Valley, one of the fakes just got busted in the long-unfolding story of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos. Like many scandals of the past from Bernie Madoff to LuLaRoe, many smart people fell for the too-good-to-be-true story of Theranos. Where was the wisdom of the…

4 Business Storytelling Habits For The New Year

About 30% of Americans make new year’s resolutions – which usually have something to do with health and fitness. Unfortunately, studies have found that for a lot of people the motivation to keep their goals peaks in January. In a 2019 article by Foursquare, analysts compared data of gym attendance versus fast food activity and…

5 Holiday Quotes To Get You In The Spirit [Storytelling Edition]

Sitting in his home office, Ben gets the invitation to the office holiday party. It will be virtual again, but the email makes it clear that it will be shorter than last year’s anti-climatic party. It had seemingly unending and awkward moments and long speeches, but none of the cheer brought by a glass…

How Storytelling Helps Us Lead During Uncertainty And Fatigue

Uncertainty is all around us. On Thursday, November 18, 2021, you and your team are setting goals for 2022. You’ve taken into account the delays in the supply chain, labor shortage, and inflation going into the new year. You and your team feel confident: your goals are optimistic but feasible for a better year ahead.…

5 Key Facts About Structuring An Effective Business Story

A business story with impact can be as short as one sentence, a three-minute speech, or a thirty-minute product demonstration. But no matter what, it should have an: Intriguing beginning Riveting middle Satisfying end Here are five facts about story structure that will help you develop endless brief and brilliant stories for business settings. 1.…

Performance Evaluation: Learn more about how to ace it

Performance evaluations are here again. After a year of working from home, how do you share your value and impact in a way that will make you stand out? In previous articles, I’ve shared how a few well-told stories about your accomplishments will help you soar through a performance evaluation. Now more than ever this…

Visual Storytelling Techniques For Powerful Communication

If you took your logo off of your latest pitch deck, could it pass for another company’s? How about your latest presentation at an industry conference? When you’re competing for audience attention, your visuals are a powerful asset. This is even truer in a virtual environment, where companies can find themselves trying even harder to…