Esther Choy, Author at Leadership Story Lab

Don’t Start With Your Credentials. Start With This Instead.

In one of the most-viewed TED Talks of all time, Simon Sinek said all business discussions and decisions must “start with why.” Most people don’t do this, he says. “Very, very few people or organizations,” says Sinek, “know why they do what they do.” Similarly, in our careers, we know our credentials. They’re what…

Internal Narratives: Lessons from the 2018 U.S. Open

The 2018 U.S. Open became more memorable by the minute. As Carlos Ramos and Serena Williams wrangled over the coaching violation Ramos had issued, it quickly became clear what was at stake for Williams. She believed her character had been maligned, and she felt that this was a grave injustice. Often in the workplace,…

How to Inspire Customer Stories

Hearing a customer’s story about an experience with a product or service can be more powerful than any marketing message a company can come up with. So when it comes to your own company, how are you encouraging customers to share their stories? In this article for Kellogg Insight, Esther explores how to design an…

Are There Flaws in the Stories We Tell Ourselves?

The stories we tell ourselves help us understand and interpret the world. When a stranger at a networking event doesn’t smile back at us, we imagine a possible backstory. Or, when a colleague disparages an idea we think is brilliant, we try to fit their actions into a plausible narrative. When our marketing campaign exceeds…

Been An Underdog? Tell That Story In Your Next Presentation

Some of the world’s most successful people started out near rock-bottom. There are the stories of John Paul DeJoria sleeping in his car at the time he cofounded Paul Mitchell Systems hair care with $350 he borrowed from his mom. And there are the stories of unemployed single mom J.K. Rowling writing drafts of Harry…

An Easy Template for Telling Your ‘Overcoming The Monster’ Story

Industrialized countries throw out about $680 billion worth of food each year, and this waste releases the greenhouse gas methane while it rots. Many organizations, like the consumer goods company Unilever, are working to find solutions to address the “monster” of food waste. When Unilever learned that nearly 400 million pounds of pumpkins go to…

Leadership Is Hard. Crafting Origin Stories Shouldn’t Be

There are as many stories as there are people, but the most compelling stories in business can all be boiled down to five basic plots: stories of origin, rags to riches, rebirth, overcoming the monster and quests. All of these plots are crucial for a leader’s toolkit, but perhaps the most basic and essential are…

Storytelling Techniques To Maximize Your Summer

At the start, three months of summer sounds like an extravagant amount of time. Yet at the end of it, many of us will find ourselves asking, “Is summer really over? What have I done?” Every year, we seem to prove the saying right: “The day is long; the year is short.” Here are two…

Give a Storytelling Presentation That Connects

It was the day before their big presentation and the R&D managers had a problem. Their team had compiled a 62-page study on the company’s new product (not counting the appendices!). From this study, they had built a PowerPoint deck with 41 slides and teeny-tiny text. Would the managers be able to cover everything they…

Empathy Is A Skill. Here’s How to Apply It.

An interview with Michael Ventura, author of Applied Empathy. After enduring an unpleasant experience, figuring out how to improve upon it comes naturally. However, improving upon something you’ve never actually experienced is much harder, as Michael Ventura of the strategy and design practice Sub Rosa learned. Several years ago, General Electric asked Ventura and his…