Esther Choy, Author at Leadership Story Lab

Persuading Audiences That Think They Know Everything

Let’s do a word association game. I say “story” and you say…? “Telling!” Indeed, most people would say “telling.” After all, storytelling is everywhere now. There’s a big caveat though. A wise person once said, “to become a great storyteller, one must first become a great story collector.” In other words, you have to prompt…

3 Painless Ways to Take a Conversation Beyond Small Talk

“So… how was your vacation?” Summer has finally arrived in Chicago; tourists are pouring onto the magnificent miles, the museums, ballparks… everywhere. The sight of crowded downtown streets is reminding me of answering this frequently asked summer question: So, how was your vacation? When people ask questions like this, it’s tempting to rush, thinking of…

Summer Reading: Leisure or Leadership-building?

Immersed in careers and often balancing jobs and families, busy, working parents often feel that they have little time to read, even in the summer. But if we want to be better storytellers, we need to do some summer reading, so no matter how little time we think we have, we must make time! This…

What Your Audience Wants From Presentations

A manager walks into yet another presentation. It’s the third in a row of the day, and he’s dreading it. Experience tells him he will see rows and rows of numbers: concepts he feels like he should know but doesn’t and is too embarrassed to ask, and most importantly, he has no idea why…

Getting A New Perspective On Leadership Storytelling

Imagine that a friend brings you an optical illusion she just found. You stare at it for several minutes, wondering, where on earth is this badger I’m supposed to be seeing? Then your friend motions to the portion of the painting where the badger is lurking. Suddenly, it pops out. What had been impossible to…

Your Business Storytelling Toolkit: Let the Story Do the Work

One sticky summer day not too long ago, I received a box in the mail from a sender I didn’t recognize. When I decided to open it, I discovered contents that made my heart beat faster. Copies of my business storytelling book, Let the Story Do the Work! My first book! I was overjoyed! However,…

We Are a Nationally Certified Woman-Owned Business

We are very pleased to share with you that we have received national certification from The Women’s Business Enterprise Council (WBENC). WBENC certification authenticates that a business is at least 51 percent woman-owned, controlled, operated and managed. It is the leading authority on women-owned businesses in the United States, and is the most rigorous and…

Turn Customers Into Brand Storytellers

Most companies have their best marketing tool right in front of them, but they don’t use it. When you give your most devoted customers a platform, you turn them into brand storytellers. In other words, you create an authentic marketing strategy that immediately builds trust with customers and potential customers. 1. Tap into the core…

5 Quotes That Show How To Simplify Complex Information

This situation happens in the workplace again and again: various business units must collaborate over multiple long-term projects. However, each team struggles to communicate exactly what their value propositions are, much less what each team really does. Without writing a three-page memo, how will these teams know the best way to collaborate with each other?…

There’s No Such Thing As an “Average Attention Span”

The shrinking attention span is an urban myth… well, almost one. Here’s why. Attention is all about individuals and what interests them. “People can and do focus their attention well when they want to and are interested in a particular task or activity,” says Dr. Gemma Briggs, senior lecturer in psychology at The Open…