Posts by Esther Choy
An Honest Conversation About Wealth and Philanthropy
“What kind of terrible world have we entered?” This is how Lisa Greer, a panelist in the ”Inside Out” webinar Leadership Story Lab recently co-hosted with ALUMinate, ended her poignant, personal story about realizing how differently her family was being treated solely because of their wealth. It’s a feeling many first generation wealth creators experience…
Read More7 Techniques To Take Your Business Storytelling To The Next Level Now
High quality, comprehensive storytelling training for a team isn’t cheap. Even a half-day workshop can cost over $10,000. And after the company pays for the training, your team will still need to continue to take time to practice the lessons learned to make the investment worthwhile. Whether you’re in the process of searching for…
Read MoreHow To Fully Understand Your Donors’ Stories
For six years, I taught in a major gifts strategy program at Kellogg School of Management while being a major gift donor myself. One thing puzzled me greatly. Fundraisers mostly learn from other fundraisers who are very rarely major gifts donors themselves. How do they know if their messaging actually resonates and their fundraising strategy actually works?…
Read MoreThe One Category of Major Donors Fundraisers Can’t Miss
Before Covid hit, my family often traveled to Germany. There, we found “Asian” restaurants in many small German towns. I had to chuckle at the generalization. Did these restaurants serve East Asian food? South Asian? Chinese? Indian? Thai? I considered, too, how even the flavors, textures and colors of what gets called “Chinese food” vary…
Read More3 Storytelling Secrets To Winning Major Gifts
Have you ever been surprised by news so positive, you had to pinch yourself to make sure you weren’t dreaming? Quite a few colleges and universities were in this position recently when they started receiving $10, $20 and $50 million dollar donations, all from a mystery donor. Finally, this past Tuesday, the stealth donor was revealed.…
Read MoreWhen to Share an Embarrassing Moment
During a Q&A session in a seminar I taught at the prestigious Swiss Finance Institute, I had an embarrassing moment. The talk had been going well. In fact, when I asked my audience to exchange their answers to my “interactive questions” with someone sitting next to them, they filled the whole room with engaging discussions.…
Read MoreGlobal Business Storytelling: Insights From 6 Countries
In 2016, I gave a talk on business storytelling in Switzerland at the invitation of the Swiss Finance Institute. The auditorium was packed. The audience seemed satisfied. But afterwards, one attendee approached me to say, “Storytelling seems useful, but it also sounds so much like some BS marketing ploy that Americans have come up with.” I…
Read MoreBiden Used A Key Leadership Storytelling Tool To Unite America Against Covid
When facing a tough audience, many leaders fail to fully acknowledge that audience’s views. Sure, they might explain the opposing position. But usually they will quickly follow it up by saying “here’s why I respectfully disagree,” and then launching into mountains of data to support their own argument. That approach always fails. It was a relief, then, to…
Read More7 Steps for Writing Business Stories Quickly
How do you begin to rebuild your company after your industry lost more than $35 billion in 2020 in the U.S. alone? How do you inspire confidence when your industry continues to lose $150 million a day? This is the challenge U.S. airlines face right now. They must spend money even while they are losing money,…
Read MoreTell Yourself the Right Story About the Impact of Your Work
All I dared to ask for was a quote. After all, I was approaching the Paul Sullivan, world-renowned wealth columnist for a newspaper many people recognize nearly as well as they recognize their own face in the mirror: The New York Times. I hoped Paul Sullivan would answer a few questions that would show others…
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