Posts by Esther Choy
Learn Leadership Storytelling Strategies With These 3 Podcasts
“We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak,” said Greek philosopher Epictetus. When we listen, we learn. Through active listening we can learn new skills, gain new perspectives and a deeper sense of empathy, and even grow our own leadership communication toolkit. So the question…
Read MoreProf. Gina Fong Is The First Woman of Color to Earn “Outstanding Professor of the Year” at Kellogg School of Management
Professor Gina Fong credits leadership storytelling in helping her master the craft of storytelling and increasing her impact on her students. CHICAGO, IL, USA, July 6, 2023/ When Professor Gina Fong started teaching marketing at Kellogg School of Management, she applied her training in ethnographic research to understand the student experience: “Much like visiting a customer…
Read More7 Actionable Tips To Help You Share Your Expertise With A General Audience
Rita is an actuary with years of training in how to assess risk using complex tools and a myriad of data. Recently, she’s been assessing the risk of insuring real estate in low-lying areas that could be more prone to flood-damage as climate change progresses. When she meets with her clients she wants to share…
Read MoreLeadership Communication Tools for Analytical Leaders
I recently wrote an article for The Actuary about leadership communication for actuaries (and other professionals) who are experts in rational thinking. These analytical leaders need to practice empathy for their clients when presenting data. With finite memory for numbers and a propensity for emotion- and intuition-based thinking, most of their clients need help wading…
Read MoreLeadership Storytelling Example: Trivial Told Brilliantly
“Given the choice between trivial material brilliantly told versus profound material badly told, an audience will always choose the trivial told brilliantly.” – Robert McKee. Eating bagels, playing baseball, or commuting to work. While they are common, everyday occurrences, when told brilliantly these experiences can make for powerful, relatable stories. Gina Fong, for example, started…
Read MoreLinkedIn Networking: How To Write A Cold Outreach Email
Networking has been described as “getting to rub elbows with people who like to geek out about the same things you do.” As accurate (and as fun) as that sounds, growing our network virtually often lacks this joy. Most people are repulsed by cold outreach — both the act of doing the outreach and receiving…
Read MoreLearn Why Business Storytelling Experts Are Crossing Borders To Share Their Leadership Insight
Imagine for a moment that your grandparents ran an extremely successful enterprise. Their nine children and 22 grandchildren have all benefited generously in terms of inheritance, except for your uncle Michael who was forced out of his participation in the business and of his inheritance by your uncle James. Your uncle James has more than…
Read MoreUnlocking the Power of Leadership Storytelling to Transform Your Workplace
On average, you will work about 90,000 hours over the course of your lifetime. That’s roughly a third of your life dedicated to whatever career path you chose. There are very few things that you will even come close to spending that much time doing, and yet, many people aren’t satisfied with their jobs. This…
Read MoreThe Secret To Building Effective, Happy, Healthy Corporate Culture
Today’s leaders not only have to make strategic business decisions, they are given the behemoth responsibility of building and cultivating corporate culture. In a recent PwC Global Culture survey, its importance was shocking. They found culture was understood to be the key indicator of an organization’s performance and adaptability: “66% of C-suite executives and board…
Read MoreChatGPT-4 Will Replace Leadership Storytelling — Except For This
When OpenAI released its most current version of ChatGPT-4 on March 14, 2023, one thing was abundantly clear. A whole new world of possibility is opening up and simultaneously closing doors. There will be no more need for a whole cottage industry of people (like me) helping clients craft their leadership stories, when a mere…
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