In Episode 230 of Anecdotally Speaking discover how purpose and storytelling can skyrocket performance. In Episode 230 of Anecdotally Speaking, Shawn shares a research story …

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In Episode 229 of Anecdotally Speaking, explore how Edwards Everett and Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Addresses demonstrate the impact of concise communication. In Episode 229 of …

The post 229 – Less is More: Edward Everett appeared first on Anecdote.

In Episode 220 Paul Fairweather joins Anecdotally Speaking to discuss all things storytelling and creativity in business and beyond. In Episode 220 of Anecdotally Speaking, …

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Welcome to the last episode of Anecdotally Speaking for 2021! We’re taking a short break over the holiday period but will leave you with one final episode! This week, Shawn shares a story he heard from Mike Adams, our Head of Story-Powered Sales. And after discussing it as per our usual episode format, Shawn and Mark talk about stories and the festive season! We hope you enjoy a safe and happy holiday period, and we’re looking forward to seeing what 2022 brings! Note that the Anecdote office will be closed from the 20th of December until the 10th of January.

This week on Anecdotally Speaking, Shawn is back! And a member of the Anecdote team you haven’t yet heard on the podcast joins him—Cynden Adams, our Head of Marketing. Shawn shares a short but sweet story that he recently heard from a friend. It’s a great story for encouraging empathy and illustrating emotional intelligence. Cynden mentions our upcoming public Storytelling for Leaders programs, which you can learn more about via our events webpage: https://www.anecdote.com/events/ She also invites listeners to tell the team what they’d like to see from Anecdote in 2022! If you have a request for Anecdotally Speaking, the Anecdote Blog, or anything else, you can contact Cynden at cynden.adams@anecdote.com. If you intend to reach out to us, keep in mind that the Anecdote office will be closed from the 20th of December until the 10th of January.

Rob Grundel joins the podcast this week! He’s standing in for Shawn, who’s on leave. Rob shares a story that recently came up in an Anecdote team meeting. It’s from Hugh van Cuylenburg’s first book, The Resilience Project: Finding Happiness through Gratitude, Empathy and Mindfulness: https://buff.ly/3pyo8eT Rob also mentions Hugh’s new book, Let Go: It’s Time for us to Let Go of Shame, Expectation and our Addiction to Social Media: https://buff.ly/3y0FXXS And the pair discuss Rob’s debut on Anecdotally Speaking, which occurred for 122 – Grumpy maestros and all that jazz: https://buff.ly/3gN5yfp Our podcast email notifications include a list of business points that you can make with each featured story. To subscribe, fill out the subscribe form on our podcasts webpage: https://www.anecdote.com/podcasts/ Trigger warning: This week’s episode touches on suicide, so some listeners may prefer to skip this one and tune back in next week. If you need help, you can call Lifeline at any time on 13 11 14.

Shawn’s on leave this week, so we’re re-releasing an earlier episode of Anecdotally Speaking! In episode 034, Mark shares the story of Southwest Airlines’ ‘Bags Fly Free’ campaign, which generated more than $1 billion for the airline. The book Mark mentions as his source for this story is Selling with Noble Purpose: How to Drive Revenue and Do Work That Makes You Proud by Lisa Earle McLeod: https://buff.ly/3xFaF8H

We like to say that there are three ‘buckets’ of stories: your stories, other people’s stories, and everything else—books, movies... You name it. You can pull a story from any of these buckets and use it to make a business point.  This week, Mark shares a story that may surprise you. It’s from the third bucket of stories and a very well-known book and movie series, Harry Potter. Specifically, he shares an anecdote from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. You can watch a relevant 2-minute snippet of the movie here: https://buff.ly/3kFjiLr Shawn mentions a previous episode (037 – Fortran reveals Hidden Figures) where he shared a story from the movie Hidden Figures. You can listen to it here: https://buff.ly/2sUTWO7 The pair also announce that we have just published the dates for our first public Storytelling for Leaders workshops of 2022. You can find more information and register via our events page: https://www.anecdote.com/events/

This week, Shawn shares a scientific story. It’s a visual story that you’ll be able to picture in your mind’s eye. And it follows the reintroduction of wolves into the world’s oldest national park—Yellowstone National Park. There are numerous examples of humans removing species from particular ecosystems and witnessing impacts. There is only a handful like the one in this episode—of placing a species put back into an ecosystem and seeing a ripple effect of impact.  If you’re new to Anecdotally Speaking, you’ve joined us at the perfect time! Shawn and Mark start this episode by recapping our episode structure. Each week, Shawn and Mark take turns to share a story that you can add to your story repertoire. They discuss what they like about it, how it could be improved and, most importantly, how you can use it in a business context. They then wrap things up by rating the story out of ten.  This week’s story gets a rare 9/10 from Mark and a strong 8.5/10 from Shawn!

This week, we’re taking a walk down memory lane and revisiting (and re-releasing) an earlier episode of Anecdotally Speaking! In episode 023, Mark shares an industrial design story, which you’ll find particularly useful if you’re involved in product, process or service design.  The story follows Doug Dietz, who spent years designing a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine. When he finally went to see his machine in action on-site, he was shocked by what he saw, despite it functioning perfectly.  Shawn mentions now Anecdote team member Mike Adams’ book, Seven Stories Every Salesperson Must Tell, which he was still working on at the time of recording: https://buff.ly/3BDATtP Doug Dietz has given a TEDx talk about his MRI machine. If you’re interested, you can find it here: https://buff.ly/2QmF07X

Thank you for joining us for another episode of Anecdotally Speaking! This week, Shawn shares a short but lovely story from the world of sport. Shawn recently heard Evonne Goolagong Cawley share this story, a tennis story, on the radio. Evonne is an Australian former world number one tennis player. She was one of the world’s leading players in the 1970s and early 1980s. We hope you enjoy the episode!

Welcome back to another episode of Anecdotally Speaking! This week, Mark shares a historical story. The story follows Marie Curie’s actions during World War One. Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the first person to win two Nobel Prizes. She is also the only person to win a Nobel prize in two different disciplines, physics and chemistry.

This week, Mark is our storyteller. He shares a story about Nelson Mandela which lies at the intersection of sports, politics, and leadership. You might have heard this story before, but Mark adapts it for telling in a business context. He suggests that he might use it to, for instance, illustrate the importance of leading by example.

In Episode 219 of Anecdotally Speaking, learn how to change minds, build trust and influence others through your storytelling In Episode 219 of Anecdotally Speaking, …

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Last week, Mark shared a short but impactful scientific story, and this week Shawn does the same! Shawn first read the story in The Code Breaker by Walter Isaacson: https://buff.ly/2WZu1Yi It follows the actions Jennifer Doudna, an American biochemist, took to have her team’s paper published and illustrates the impact of gender constructs.  Shawn and Mark mention our upcoming public programs. You can find more information via our events page: https://www.anecdote.com/events/

This week on Anecdotally Speaking, Mark shares a short but impactful scientific story about Alexander Fleming’s 1928 discovery of penicillin. The story prompts Shawn and Mark to consider what a world without penicillin must have been like and how to best foster creativity. They mention a John Cleese video, which you can find here: https://buff.ly/2KxoUXZ

Welcome to another episode of Anecdotally Speaking! In this episode, Shawn shares a values-in-action story from Mars! You’ll hear how Five Principals—Quality, Responsibility, Mutuality, Efficiency, and Freedom—guide decision-making within the international organisation and an example of what this looks like in practice. Shawn first heard this story from Mim Gaetano. Mim was Corporate Ombudsman at Mars from 2014 until his retirement in 2017. You can read more about Mars’ Five Principals here: https://buff.ly/3obnTqY

This week, it’s Shawn’s turn to share a story. He shares one about Franklin Roosevelt using an analogy to get an idea across, which he found in Erik Larson’s book, The Splendid and the Vile: https://buff.ly/3AqdbQS In discussing the story, Shawn and Mark encourage us to be aware of things that often happen to us that we can use as analogies. Mark mentions our upcoming Storytelling for Leaders programs, which you can read more about here: https://www.anecdote.com/events/

This week, Mike Adams joins Mark on the podcast, while Shawn has a few days off. Mike shares Rick Rescorla’s heroic 9/11 story. Saturday marked 20 years since the devastating 9/11 attacks. We had a different episode planned for you today, but Mike shared this story in our weekly team meeting on Friday morning. We quickly decided to record another episode, given the story is both topical and touching. To watch a video of Mike telling this story, visit: https://buff.ly/3E4izeC To learn more about our Story-Powered Sales program, mentioned at the beginning of this episode, visit: https://buff.ly/2YcPRVS You can also email Mike, our Head of Story-Powered Sales, at mike.adams@anecdote.com. The movie mentioned is We Were Soldiers: https://buff.ly/3ldhtEO Trigger warning: this episode covers issues relating to 9/11. If you choose to skip this one, we look forward to having you back next week.

Welcome back to another episode of Anecdotally Speaking! This week’s episode is dropping into your feed a little later than usual (our apologies), but we hope you enjoy it, and we’ll be back to our regular schedule next week! Mark shares his first story since returning from his 5-week holiday—one which reveals some important insights about human nature. Trigger warning: Shawn and Mark discuss a murder in this episode. If you choose to skip this one, we look forward to having you back next week.

This week, another special guest, Rob Grundel, joins Shawn and Mark on the podcast! Rob has just joined the Anecdote team, and we recorded this episode on his third day with us! Rob shares his background before launching into a story that you might use at work. The story is that of the Köln Concert, where American jazz pianist Keith Jarrett recorded the best selling solo album in jazz and the best selling solo piano album in any genre. Shawn and Mark mention our upcoming virtual Story-Powered Data and Storytelling for Leaders programs. For more information and to register, visit our events page: https://www.anecdote.com/events/

Mark is back after a 5-week outback adventure! Shawn welcomes his cohost back to the show, then shares the story of how Wunsiedel, a small town in Germany, tricked neo-Nazis into raising thousands of euros for EXIT Deutschland, an anti-extremist charity. To view the photo Mark mentions, visit: https://buff.ly/3goVrgQ And to view the video Shawn mentions, visit: https://buff.ly/3sIairI You can find out more about our upcoming events via our events webpage: https://www.anecdote.com/events/

Shawn and Mike host this week’s episode, and Mike shares a story about optimism and problem-solving. The story follows Fermat’s Last Theorem and the 358 years it took to solve it. The theorem holds a Guinness World Record for being the longest-standing maths problem ever: https://buff.ly/3sskvIE You can find the Wikipedia article Mike mentions here: https://buff.ly/3iMVZOX If you want to get in touch with the team and perhaps tell us how you’ve used a story, you can contact us via people@anecdote.com!

In an Anecdotally Speaking first, this week’s episode is a solo episode with Shawn as host! He shares a story from Gina Keating’s book, Netflixed: The Epic Battle for America’s Eyeballs: https://buff.ly/2U3LKMR The story follows the period in which Blockbuster went from being at its peak with some 9,000 stores worldwide to declaring bankruptcy. If you would like to receive an email every time we release a new episode of Anecdotally Speaking, you can fill out the subscribe form on our podcasts page: https://www.anecdote.com/podcasts/

In Episode 218 of Anecdotally Speaking, discover how boxing legend Vasyl Lomachenko’s unconventional training shaped him into one of the greatest of all time, and …

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Welcome to another episode of Anecdotally Speaking! This week, Anecdote Principal Paul Ichilcik joins Shawn as cohost. Shawn shares two stories that, although apocryphal, are useful in a business context. He also mentions his new blog post, Why would you share your point BEFORE telling your story?, which you can find here: https://buff.ly/3l6M9Jq You can find more parables and learn more about using them in the following episodes. - 114 – Tails with the Raj of mice and men: https://buff.ly/3qOxSll - 054 – Looking upstream for causes of downstream problems: https://buff.ly/2WFBafP - 017 – All about apocryphal stories: https://buff.ly/2jl942A

With Mark still on leave, Mike joins Shawn again as cohost. The pair talk about insight and discuss the role stories can play in helping people find, share, and gain acceptance for their insights. Mike mentions The Challenger Customer, written by Brent Adamson, Matthew Dixon, Pat Spenner, and Nick Toman: https://buff.ly/2Wbn71i He also references his book, Seven Stories Every Salesperson Must Tell: https://buff.ly/3BDATtP And Shawn’s book, Putting Stories to Work: http://puttingstoriestowork.com/

Mark is on leave this week, so Mike Adams, Head of Story-Powered Sales at Anecdote and author of Seven Stories Every Salesperson Must Tell, joins Shawn as co-host.  Shawn and Mike discuss the effectiveness (or rather, the ineffectiveness) of case studies. They propose the use of success stories as an alternative. Instead of showcasing the seller, success stories showcase the client and the buyer’s success so that prospects can envisage the same success for themselves. Mike shares an example of a success story, a story within a story, and details the success story structure. To watch a video of Mike telling this story, visit: https://buff.ly/3wScvRu To access our eBook, The Ultimate Guide to Anecdote Circles, visit: https://buff.ly/3kB3qtW

Welcome to another episode of Anecdotally Speaking! This week, another special guest joins Shawn and Mark, Anecdote Partner Mark Janssen: https://buff.ly/3wDFkRI Mark is based in Gouda, the Netherlands. He shares how he became an Anecdote Partner and a story you can add to your story repertoire. Shawn and Mark mention our upcoming public programs, including two Storytelling for Leaders workshops that we have just announced. For more information, visit our events page: https://www.anecdote.com/events/

Shawn’s on leave, so Paul Ichilcik, Anecdote Principal, co-hosts this week’s episode of Anecdotally Speaking. Mark shares a story about a story (or, more specifically, a story about a fable—a short, fictional story with anthropomorphised characters.) We often have people say to us, “But there’s no place for storytelling with senior leaders. They’re just too busy. There’s no time for stories.” Well, this week’s story makes a case against that perspective, illustrating how a senior leader can use a story to effortlessly and effectively make a business point. The pair mention our upcoming Storytelling for Leaders and Story-Powered Data public programs. Note that the Storytelling for Leaders program is better suited to timezones in the Asia Pacific and the Americas, and our Story-Powered Data program will run in September. For more information, visit our events page: https://www.anecdote.com/events/

Welcome to another episode of Anecdotally Speaking! Mark is feeling a bit of pressure this week after hearing such a great story from Doug Keeley in our last episode (https://buff.ly/3xFF1Xz). He shares a sports story following the actions that led Svetlana Khorkina to win a gold medal at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. Shawn mentions this study of professional golfers and how they react to their hole-by-hole play: https://buff.ly/3hidULM We’ve just announced a series of virtual public programs to run in July, August, and September. Whether you’re a leader, a salesperson, work with data, or in a school, we have a program for you! For more information, head to our events page (https://www.anecdote.com/events/). We would love to have some of our listeners along!

This week on Anecdotally Speaking, we have a special guest! Doug Keeley joins Shawn and Mark on the podcast. Doug is an Anecdote Partner and the CEO and Chief Storyteller at Stories Rule! He shares how he got into storytelling, met the Anecdote team, and his all-time favourite business story, which all three guys give a solid 9/10 rating. Mark mentions Dave Carroll’s 2009 YouTube sensation, United Breaks Guitars, which Shawn wrote about in this blog post: https://buff.ly/2ZRDePb If you would like to connect with Doug, you can find his LinkedIn profile here: https://buff.ly/3zFaLhl

Shawn shares the story of how BlackBerry went from holding a 50 per cent market share to a market share of less than 1 per cent. He heard the story from Adam Grant when listening to a Clubhouse conversation between him and Malcolm Gladwell. It illustrates that you shouldn’t get too stuck in your thinking but welcome opportunities to adjust.

It’s Mark’s turn to share a story, and he chooses to share the story behind the founding of Earth Hour. Earth Hour is a global event held on a Saturday at the end of March every year, where participants across the globe turn out their lights for one hour to advocate for action against climate change. Shawn and Mark first heard this story from Todd Sampson, who was part of the group that came up with the initial idea for the event. Todd uses the story to illustrate the importance of asking good questions.

We’ve had a busy few weeks here at Anecdote HQ, so this week, instead of giving you a new episode, we’re re-releasing our 7th episode! In this episode, Shawn shares an engineering story from the 1970s. This episode is one of Shawn’s all-time favourites, partly because Mark gave the story a low rating (4/10), but we’ve since had friends and clients tell us how useful it’s been! Shawn also recently reread the article where he first found this story, which he highly recommends. You can find it here: https://buff.ly/2SBRWKR We often have people ask us, “Does storytelling work with scientists or engineers?“ There seems to be an assumption that some professions only care about numbers and facts and aren’t interested in stories. We answer, “Of course!“ Everyone tells and listens to stories—it’s a human condition. But if you are talking to engineers, they will likely be most interested in engineering stories. Shawn mentions the Hidden Figures story he later told on the podcast in 037 – Fortran reveals Hidden Figures (https://buff.ly/2sUTWO7) and encourages us to look to movies as potential sources of stories.

In Episode 217 of Anecdotally Speaking, listen to hear an exemplary foundation story and learn how to effectively use foundation stories in the sales process. …

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This week, Shawn shares an innovation story. It follows researcher Dr Everett Rogers and the insight that led him to develop his innovation diffusion theory: https://buff.ly/2SjxVsj In the past, Shawn and Mark told this story frequently, but they forgot about it somewhere along the way. You’ll hear how excited they are to use it again, particularly to aid change management. Shawn makes another book recommendation. This time he recommends Change: How to make big things happen by Damon Centola: https://buff.ly/2TdPSsR

It’s Shawn’s turn to tell a story, and he chooses to share an analogy story gleaned from two scientific studies. Steve Jobs first told this story in the 1980s, providing a perfect example of taking something that has happened and relating it to an audience to make a point. Shawn mentions the Micheal Phelps story he heard from a sales leader, which he shared on episode 038 – Dolphin kicks out number one: https://buff.ly/2Gy0T0p

This week on Anecdotally Speaking, Mark shares a story about mindset, which spurs the sharing of several other anecdotes that demonstrate how the expectation of an event can cause it to occur—the Pygmalion effect. Shawn mentions the book he is currently reading, Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman: https://buff.ly/3o27O4U

This week on Anecdotally Speaking, Shawn shares the story of Lewis and Clark’s expedition to the west coast of America, focusing on three specific journeys—the initial planning, the preparation, and the actual expedition.  Shawn found this story in Stephen Ambrose’s Undaunted Courage: https://www.amazon.com.au/Undaunted-Courage-Stephen-Ambrose/dp/0684826976 Shawn also mentions this paper that he wrote with David Drake: https://www.anecdote.com/2008/05/new-whitepaper-three-journeys-a-narrative-approach-successful-organisational-change/

Podcasts are great places to find stories. This week, Mark shares a story he heard on an episode of Invisibilia (https://www.npr.org/transcripts/817977005). The story follows 71-year-old Joy Milne and how she discovered she had an unusual ability.  Shawn also mentions Sudhir Breaks the Internet, another podcast (https://freakonomics.com/sudhir-breaks-the-internet/), and Gary Klein's Triple Path Model of Insight (https://www.gary-klein.com/insight) in this episode. 

Welcome to another episode of Anecdotally Speaking! This week, Mark shares a sports story featuring National Football League (NFL) player Tom Brady. It illustrates that, despite our best efforts, our ability to assess potential is poor.  Have you been waiting for an opportunity to learn from Anecdotally Speaking's Shawn Callahan? Shawn is delivering our upcoming virtual Storytelling for Leaders program! For more information and to register, visit: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/storytelling-for-leaders-europe-apac-tickets-137546183337

This week on Anecdotally Speaking, Shawn shares a story he first heard more than ten years ago from his friend and fellow storyteller, Victoria Ward. It follows the events leading up to Gerald Ratner’s departure from his family business, Ratners Group, and shows how quickly you can kill a brand by using the wrong words. You can watch the speech Ratner gave, which Shawn mentions, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj9BZz71yQE. And you can listen to the episode of Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford which also features this story here: https://timharford.com/2021/02/cautionary-tales-martin-luther-king-jr-the-jewelry-genius-and-the-art-of-public-speaking/.

In this episode of Anecdotally Speaking, Shawn shares a story from when he was working in computer programming in the late 1980s. It follows how he made a groundbreaking discovery for his team, but only once he had found the right phrase to gain access to what he needed.  Shawn mentions our upcoming School Story Lab. If you’re interested in attending or know someone who might be, visit: https://www.anecdote.com/school-story-lab/. Our second cohort begins in May! 

Welcome back to another episode of Anecdotally Speaking! This week, Mark shares a story from his time in the airforce. The story describes how a design fault caused a Macchi jet trainer to crash at the RAAF Base Pearce. Mark often uses the story to encourage others to ‘stop transmitting and start listening’. You can find an image taken on the day of the crash via www.anecdote.com/podcasts.

Welcome to our 100th episode of Anecdotally Speaking! In this week’s episode, and to celebrate 100 episodes, Shawn and Mark look back on some of the stories they have told on Anecdotally Speaking and discuss which ones they tell most frequently. For each story, they explain what it is, why they like it, and in what circumstances they find themselves telling it. If you are interested in listening to the full episodes behind the stories, click on the links next to the titles below: 1. 004 – Can’t see the bathroom from the grout https://bit.ly/3lsFCqs 2. 045 – Old oak forester beams https://bit.ly/3tpXyVA 3. 040 – Moving forward on a backwards bike https://bit.ly/30Q0COA 4. 037 – Fortran reveals Hidden Figures https://bit.ly/3bVcm8F 5. 029 – Paul revered while Dawes knocked https://bit.ly/3bWIkBJ Tickets are now available for our next Storytelling for Leaders public program! These workshops are timed for Europe & Asia Pacific participants. If you are interested in attending, visit www.anecdote.com/events to register.

In Episode 216 of Anecdotally Speaking, listen to hear how Todd McFarlane repopularised the Spider-Man comics by going against the status quo. In episode 216 …

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In this week’s episode of Anecdotally Speaking, Shawn and Mark share a handful of short stories that showcase, both positive and negative, reward and recognition within the workplace. If you are interested in reading our paper, Corporate Storytelling: The Definitive Guide, click here.https://bit.ly/3qRw4q6 Shawn and Mark would love to hear your examples of reward and recognition, times it worked and times it didn’t. Send us an email at people@anecdote.com We recently launched our new program, School Story Lab, and are currently taking the first cohort through the program. In the School Story Lab, we help schools craft and tell their school strategy story. It is a highly practical and hands-on 4-part program that is suitable for all schools, all around the world. Our next cohort begins in May, so if you are interested or may know a school that may be interested, click here.https://bit.ly/3lhpAjo

In this week's episode of Anecdotally Speaking, Shawn shares a story he found in Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez. The story is one of many included in her book to demonstrate how unconscious gender biases can impact our actions and decisions. Shawn also mentions the premortem technique, which you can read about here. https://bit.ly/3qtqFp5 Stay tuned to see what we come up with for our 100th episode in just two weeks! Don't forget that you can subscribe to our podcast via email (we will email you each time we release an episode) on www.anecdote.com/podcasts. 

TW: sexual assault at 27:04 In this week’s episode of Anecdotally Speaking, Shawn and Mark are joined by communication experts and Anecdote Partners, The Story Spotters, Sarah Jane McKechnie and David Pullan. Sarah Jane and David recently joined the Anecdote network late last year and are facilitators of our Story-Powered Sales program. Thank you to Sarah Jane and David for providing excellent insight into how authenticity plays a major role in effective leadership and communication.  To connect with Sarah Jane, click here. https://bit.ly/37J2SuP To connect with David, click here. https://bit.ly/3bCqZMQ