Esther Choy, Author at Leadership Story Lab

3 Basic Storylines You Should Be Using In Business Contexts

Every person’s life is rich with material for stories! And storylines create an easy-to-digest structure to your audience. When it comes to sharing our stories, it is helpful for listeners if we structure them in a well-organized manner. We can do this using the five basic storylines that work best in business contexts. Whenever…

What Is Leadership Storytelling Anyway?

When I started Leadership Story Lab 10 years ago, I got a lot of blank stares whenever I said “I teach leadership storytelling.” People would search for the closest thing they knew. “You mean, like writing children’s books?” Now, a decade later, almost all responses I hear are in the variety of, “oh, I just…

5 Ways to Make Networking A Lot Less Awful

According to informal polls, many people would rather get poked in the eye than attend a networking event. But by using storytelling techniques, you can make networking less torturous and… dare I say… even fun. Networking events can become fun when they break out of the expected ruts and when we begin to learn from…

What Christmas Songs Can Teach You About Leadership Storytelling

For some people, Christmas songs are an invitation into divine mysteries. For others, they’re a precursor to days with “earworms”—catchy tunes that get stuck in your head. Whatever your own experience, Christmas songs are as much a part of the holiday atmosphere as crowded parking lots and eager children. Why have some of these songs…

Every Leader Needs To Know About Narrative Economics

The field of economics is highly quantitative. Storytelling, on the other hand, is creative and literary. One would think these disciplines have nothing in common. This had been true until Nobel-Prize-winning economist Robert J. Shiller released his new book Narrative Economics. In it, Shiller argues that economic narratives—contagious stories that can alter people’s economic planning—…

Your Storytelling Holiday Survival Guide

The holiday season can always be stressful, and 2020 comes with extra challenges. Every invitation requires a risk analysis. And if we “go virtual” with friends and family, we may worry about finding true connections. Not only that, grief and loneliness may surface. These are stressful times. Storytelling can’t turn the clock back to earlier…

Don’t Overlook Key Leadership Storytelling Moments

Nobel laureate and economist Robert J. Schiller’s new book, Narrative Economics, argues that economic narratives– contagious stories that can alter people’s economic planning– are so influential they are worthy of serious academic study. Not only that, Shiller has explained exactly how to create a contagious economic narrative (more on that here). For leaders, the point…

Are You Making These Common Job Interview Mistakes?

For a few days about ten years ago, I felt like I was stuck inside a version of the movie Groundhog Day. Except instead of being in the sleepy little town of Punxsutawney, I was in a Hilton hotel in downtown Seoul, South Korea. But I was experiencing a feeling of deja vu quite similar…

Better Conversations Start With 3 Listening Skills from StoryCorps

Conversation patterns reinforce relational roles. A manager with 20 years more industry experience than her average team member will likely default to “expert” role, doling out work-related advice (maybe even life-related advice) while non-experts listen. From colleagues to friends to family members, we tend to lock into these roles. Patterns offer comfort, letting us know…

Break Out Of Unproductive Conversation Patterns

My good friend–let’s call her Jane–is the life of the party, someone everybody wants to be around. She is funny and social, a talker who uses her eyes, face, hands, and voice to pull you in and keep you listening, no matter the topic. It’s a match made in heaven because, as a well-adjusted introvert,…