Posts by Esther Choy
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…
Read MoreVisual 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…
Read MoreHow To Find Your Work’s Purpose Through Storytelling
Meghan Juday of IDEAL INDUSTRIES tells me it’s about leaving things better than you found them—in other words, good stewardship. Chris Herschend of Herschend Family Entertainment talks about leading a company that creates memories and working with a family committed to living, loving, and serving together. Kent Johnson asserts that children are the world’s most…
Read MoreHow To Introduce Business Storytelling Culture — And Change Your Workplace
Brian suspected that his all-department meeting had become a waste of an hour each week. A few people were sure to skip, while others would stare into space or constantly glance at the cell phone in front of them. The same two to three people gave input or asked questions when he presented company-wide updates,…
Read MorePowerful Visuals: How A Photographer And Nonprofit Leader Is Using Business Storytelling To Save The Florida Panther
Three years ago, I was visiting my favorite art museum, which was hosting a traveling photography exhibit. The exhibit was of portraits. Some were self-portraits (“selfies” from decades before the smartphone), with the subject telling the story of who they were in that moment through attire, expression, setting, and body language. Others were portraits of…
Read MoreBusiness Storytelling Culture Can Improve Your Organization In 3 Big Ways
“No tribal chief or elder has ever handed out statistical reports, charts, graphs, or lists to explain where the group is headed or what it must do.” As management consultant and author Peg Neuhauser has emphasized, it’s the stories we tell that allow us to effectively lead and inspire others. Stories create our realities, preserve…
Read MoreWhy We Fail To Persuade Others—And What To Do Instead
A couple of weeks ago, I was riding my bike along Lake Michigan with my husband, when I toppled right over and fractured my foot. (Ouch.) I know I have two fractures in my ankle because I went to see a specialist—a highly-rated, experienced doctor I chose for his expertise. He discussed my condition and…
Read More3 Ways To Increase Empathy And Embrace Diversity In The Workplace
Do an experiment with me: take a piece of chalk and go to your driveway or the sidewalk. Write a big lower-case “n” on the ground. Then call out someone in your family and have them stand over the top of the “n.” Ask them what letter they see. Point of view unmistakably shapes your…
Read More4 Surprisingly Effective Audience Research Steps Most Speakers Don’t Take To Reach And Influence
Imagine writing a company-wide memo to hundreds of employees informing them of the exciting news: your company has sold! You heap praise on the buyer and on the ways this acquisition will impact business opportunities. You give some financial updates and talk about the company’s value through this development. After months of keeping it under…
Read MoreHow To Use Business Storytelling To Attract And Retain Talent
Rebecca is the HR Director for a uniforms wholesaler, and she has a frustrating problem. Employee turnover has been steadily increasing, and the resounding feedback from these exiting employees is they feel invisible and inconsequential at the company. Their work feels mundane and meaningless, and they don’t feel like their efforts are recognized. As she…
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