Esther Choy, Author at Leadership Story Lab

Perspective: The Best Leaders Quickly Admit When They Don’t Get It

What do you do when you encounter a person who holds a fundamentally different perspective than you? Think climate-change denier aunt eating Thanksgiving dinner next to her climate activist niece. With so many polarizing issues, encountering disagreement in our homes and workplaces is not hard to imagine. Julia Minson, Ph.D., an expert in the psychology…

Don’t Let Perfection Get In The Way Of Connection

In 2022, I got to lead a workshop for the Kellogg School of Management annual alumni reunion – a much anticipated event after two years of delay due to COVID. I arrived for the weekend prepared and excited to speak to a room full of people again, and they probably weren’t shocked to see me…

Cultivate Curiosity: A Simple Way To Navigate The Holidays

This month on Forbes.com, I shared about the necessary skill of leaning into our incomprehension when we encounter people and situations we don’t understand. I was inspired by the work of author Ann Morgan. She shares about the revelatory experience of learning to be comfortable with discomfort in her forthcoming book Relearning To Read: Adventures…

Storytelling Unlocks New Tool “What’s Your Enough?” To Empower Families

“What is enough?” That question seems starkly at odds with the widely accepted assumption that more is always better. Authors and family philanthropy advisors Elaine Gast Fawcett of PhilanthroComm and Sue Schwartzman of Schwartzman Advisors found this question coming up when working with donors and families. They wrote a children’s book, Two Measly Spots, to…

Performance Reviews: 3 Simple Storytelling Tips To Make You Succeed

No one loves annual performance reviews. While they are necessary to make sure employees and employers are staying on track and striving for growth, the process is time consuming and nerve racking for both the managers and the employees. So how can you make the process more enjoyable for both you and your manager — while…

3 Simple Elements You Need To Tell A Riveting Business Story

Valerie’s team was ready for the presentation. They demonstrated their knowledge and experience, relying on logic and facts. Valerie felt confident that they outpaced all the competitors in the expertise needed to win this $50M project. Since the procurement process was public, Valerie was able to watch the other teams present their pitches. She saw…

Data-Driven Leader Finds Storytelling To Be Crucial Leadership Skill

Kennith Jackson (KJ), former Director of Professional Services, AI Solutions at Google, realized that storytelling was a crucial leadership skill. Specifically, his team experienced a major transition, and he needed to be able to explain their purpose and impact persuasively. So he came to Leadership Story Lab for coaching. After working with me for 12…

Want To Build Trust? Here Are 3 Stunningly Simple Tips

How well do you know your audience? Not just the superficial data about buying habits and demographics, but truly know someone? From presidential candidates seeking votes to consumer brands interested in increasing customer loyalty, the holy grail for leaders is understanding their audience. How do you build trust with someone? The best way to get…

Leadership Development Course Celebrates The Art of Story Facilitation

Unlocking Leadership Transformation through Story Facilitation Leadership Story Lab celebrates the graduation of its newest cohort of Certified Story Facilitators (CSF). A unique program designed for leadership transformation through storytelling facilitation, CSF graduates are equipped with facilitation skills and storytelling curricula that allow them to empower others to tell their stories. Unlike most storytelling courses,…

Now Tell Me More: Q&A with Genuinely Curious Malin Leschly

What does a chief designer of a global tech company actually do? How did a pot scrubber play a pivotal role in her career? Why does she ask the stunningly simple question, “Tell me more,” nearly everyday? All of these questions and more are answered in my interview with Logitech’s Chief Design Officer Malin Leschly.…