The Art of Business Storytelling | Ameen Haque | Talks at Google
Summary
TLDREl video ofrece una perspectiva única sobre el arte de contar historias en el ámbito empresarial. Amin Hake, quien superó su tartamudez y timidez en la infancia a través de la lectura y el teatro, explora cómo las historias pueden influir emocionalmente en las personas, establecer un terreno común y utilizar el contraste para destacar lo que es y lo que puede ser. Hake comparte su experiencia personal y profesional, pasando por una variedad de roles que incluyen la publicidad y la consultoría de estrategia de marca, antes de lanzarse a la narración de historias como coach y consultor. Presenta un enfoque estructurado para construir y compartir historias convincentes, enfatizando la importancia de la autenticidad y el arte de 'bien contado' para que las historias tengan un impacto duradero. Además, discute el concepto de 'WIFFI' (What's in it for you), que es crucial para la narración dirigida y efectiva. Finalmente, el video resalta la importancia de la escucha en el proceso de creación de historias y cómo la verdad y la historia se complementan para lograr comprensión y éxito en la comunicación.
Takeaways
- 📚 La importancia de contar historias: Amin Hake comparte cómo la lectura y la narración de historias influyeron en su crecimiento personal y profesional.
- 🎭 El teatro y la narrativa: Descubre cómo el amor por el teatro y la narrativa de historias se convirtió en una pasión y herramienta efectiva en su carrera.
- 🚀 Emprendimiento y narrativa: Aprende cómo Hake utilizó su pasión por las historias para construir su propio negocio y atraer a clientes.
- 🤝 Conectando emociones: Comprende cómo las historias pueden hablar a las emociones de la audiencia y generar una mayor respuesta.
- 🏗️ Construyendo terreno común: Descubre la importancia de establecer un terreno común con tu audiencia para aumentar la aceptación de tus ideas.
- 🔍 Usando el contraste: Aprende a usar el contraste para resaltar la diferencia entre lo que es y lo que puede ser, para crear una narrativa poderosa.
- 📉 Llamadas a la acción (CTA): Reflexiona sobre cómo un exceso de énfasis en la CTA puede ser perjudicial y cómo se puede manejar de manera más efectiva.
- 🌟 La verdad y la narración: Comprende la importancia de que las historias provengan de la verdad y sean contadas de manera efectiva.
- 📈 Habilidades de liderazgo y narración: Explora cómo las historias pueden ser utilizadas para el liderazgo, el desarrollo de talentos y la construcción de equipos.
- 🧳 Viajar con historias: Descubre cómo las historias pueden llevarte a lugares interesantes y cómo compartirlas puede ser una herramienta de aprendizaje y crecimiento.
- 👂 El arte de escuchar: Aprende la importancia de escuchar las historias de los demás para comprender sus perspectivas y necesidades, lo que puede llevar a soluciones innovadoras.
Q & A
¿Cómo de joven solía Amin Hak?
-Amin Hak solía tartamudear bastante cuando era joven y en la escuela. Le costaba terminar sus oraciones y a menudo se quedaba en medio de una.
¿Qué dos actividades destacaba Amin por hacer en casa?
-Amin destacaba por tener conversaciones reales y leer mucho. Leía principalmente historias, no tanto matemáticas o ciencias.
¿Qué tipo de libros de historietas leía Amin?
-Amin leía historietas de Indrajal Comics, Champak, Chandamama, Amar Chitra Katha y más adelante, libros de la serie Famous Five y Secret Seven, así como libros de misterio como Hardy Boys y Nancy Drew.
¿Qué impacto tuvo la terapia del habla y la participación en actividades extracurriculares en Amin?
-La terapia del habla y las actividades extracurriculares, como el debate y el teatro, ayudaron a Amin a superar su tartamudez y desarrollaron su amor por el teatro y el arte de la narración.
¿Cómo describirían Amin sus primeros pasos en la escritura y la dirección de teatro?
-Amin escribió su primera obra de teatro en el instituto, la dirigió y participó en ella. Aunque el resultado no fue excelente, sus maestros lo animaron a continuar, lo que llevó a Amin a involucrarse más en el teatro en el instituto y la universidad.
¿Cómo se describe la trayectoria profesional de Amin en el ámbito de la publicidad y la estrategia de marca?
-Amin trabajó en ventas y luego ingresó a uno de los mejores colegios de publicidad en la India, el Institut Amad. Luego, trabajó en la agencia de publicidad Ugal y Mead, donde se especializó en estrategia de marca y entrada al mercado.
¿Qué principios clave de narración de negocios presentó Amin en su charla?
-Amin presentó principios como hablar a las emociones de las personas, construir un terreno común, utilizar el contraste y contar historias auténticas y bien contadas. También destacó la importancia de no ser demasiado directo con la llamada a la acción (CTA).
¿Cómo sugiere Amin utilizar la estructura de historias universales para contar la historia de un producto?
-Amin sugiere utilizar una estructura simple que involucre un personaje, un conflicto y una resolución. Para los negocios, el conflicto esencial es el problema que el producto resuelve, y la historia se centra en cómo el producto transforma la vida de los usuarios.
¿Por qué Amin destaca la importancia de la riqueza del vocabulario para un buen narrador de historias?
-Amin destaca que el vocabulario enriquece la capacidad de comunicación y permite expresar nuevas ideas de manera interesante o presentar ideas existentes de nuevas maneras. Un vocabulario rico, tanto verbal como visual, es fundamental para contar historias de manera efectiva.
¿Cómo utiliza Amin el ejemplo de Google Search para demostrar cómo contar la historia de un producto usando un marco narrativo?
-Amin utiliza el ejemplo de Google Search sugiriendo que se puede contar su historia con una metáfora simple como 'imagina un mundo donde todos pueden encontrar su aguja en un pajar', lo que resalta la eficacia del algoritmo de búsqueda de Google.
¿Cómo aborda Amin la importancia de la escucha en el arte de contar historias?
-Amin enfatiza que los grandes narradores no solo son oradores elocuentes sino también escuchantes atentos. La escucha permite recopilar historias de otros, lo que a su vez puede inspirar nuevas ideas y enriquecer las propias historias.
Outlines
😀 Introducción y lucha personal de Amin Hak
Amin Hak comparte su experiencia de crecimiento y superación de su tartamudez durante la infancia. Describe su vida introvertida y cómo el hablar y leer historias, especialmente las de Indrajal Comics, fueron sus actividades favoritas. Amin también destaca la importancia de la terapia del habla y su participación en actividades extracurriculares que lo llevaron a enamorarse del teatro y escribir su primera obra.
🎓 Educación formal y trayectoria profesional
Amin relata cómo, a pesar de su pasión por el teatro, siguió la senda tradicional de la educación y la carrera en administración de negocios, trabajando en ventas y luego en la publicidad. Narra su camino hasta convertirse en estratega de marca y su eventual especialización en consultoría de historias, destacando cómo la narrativa y los cuentos están presentes en todos los aspectos de su vida profesional.
📚 El poder de los cuentos en la toma de decisiones
Se profundiza en la importancia de los cuentos y las emociones en la toma de decisiones, contrastando el lado lógico y el lado emocional del cerebro. Amin discute cómo los historiales se aprovechan para conectar con el público y cómo la información abrumadora puede hacer que los cuentos sean aún más importantes para hacer sentido de los datos.
🤝 Construyendo un terreno común y contraste en las historias
Amin habla sobre la importancia de establecer un terreno común y el uso del contraste en la narrativa para captar la atención y crear un mensaje impactante. Explica cómo el cambio de un mensaje puede tener un efecto magistral en la percepción y la respuesta del público.
📈 La estructura de la historia y su aplicación en los negocios
Se presenta una estructura universal de historias que consta de un personaje, un conflicto y una resolución, y cómo esto se puede aplicar en los negocios. Amin argumenta que sin conflicto no hay historia y describe cómo los empresarios ven el conflicto como una oportunidad para innovar y resolver problemas.
🌟 El llamado a la acción y la importancia de la vocabulario
Amin discute la tendencia de sobreutilizar el llamado a la acción y cómo es mejor no afirmar lo obvio. Aboga por la construcción del vocabulario, tanto verbal como visual, para mejorar la capacidad de comunicación y storytelling. Utiliza el ejemplo del juego Scrabble para ilustrar cómo un producto puede resolver un conflicto y transformar la vida de las personas.
👵 La importancia de escuchar en el arte de contar historias
Se enfatiza la importancia de escuchar historias ajenas como parte integral del proceso de storytelling. Amin comparte una anécdota sobre un vendedor de televisores que aprende la valoración de las historias compartidas en comunidad, destacando cómo la escucha activa puede llevar a la innovación y resolución de conflictos.
📚 Historias corporativas y aprendizaje continuo
Amin sugiere que las historias existentes dentro de una organización son una fuente invaluable para el aprendizaje y la creación de nuevas narrativas. Fomenta la reflexión sobre las experiencias personales y la historia de la empresa para construir un banco de historias que se puedan utilizar en diferentes contextos.
💡 El poder transformador de la historia en la vida y el liderazgo
Se explora cómo los cuentos pueden ser utilizados en diversos aspectos de la vida, incluida la liderazgo, el desarrollo de talento y la construcción de equipos. Amin comparte una experiencia personal donde utiliza la historia para transmitir un mensaje de trabajo duro y pasión a un empleado, lo que resultó en un cambio de actitud positivo.
📧 Conclusiones y interacción con el público
Amin concluye su presentación con una historia que resalta la importancia de la historia y la verdad, y cómo estos elementos se complementan para comunicar de manera efectiva. Ofrece su contacto para continuar la conversación y responder a preguntas adicionales, destacando su disposición para interactuar con el público.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Narrativa de negocios
💡Conflicto
💡Contraste
💡
💡Empatía
💡Vocabolario
💡Estrategia de narración
💡Llamada a la acción (CTA)
💡Estrategias de desarrollo de negocios
💡Lecciones de la vida
💡Estrategias de liderazgo
Highlights
Amin Hakeem shares his personal journey of overcoming a stammer and finding solace in storytelling.
Growing up, Amin spent a lot of time at home engaging in real conversations and reading extensively, particularly enjoying Indrajal Comics.
Amin's mother, out of concern for his reserved nature, enrolled him in various activities like speech therapy and drama club, which he credits for his development.
He discovered his love for theater and wrote his first play in grade nth, directing and participating in it, despite its initial shortcomings.
Amin's professional journey included a course in Business Administration, work in sales, and eventually attending one of India's best advertising schools.
He emphasizes the importance of leveraging stories in work and education, and transitions into discussing business storytelling principles.
Stories should speak to people's emotions, as they are a powerful tool in decision-making processes.
Building common ground is crucial in storytelling; starting with 'I' is not ideal as it assumes shared interest.
Contrast is a powerful storytelling device that brings stories to life, especially when highlighting what 'is' versus what 'can be'.
Amin discusses the importance of authenticity in stories, stating that they must be based on truth and data.
The concept of 'well told' in storytelling involves articulation, presentation, visualization, and the use of metaphor and contrast.
Amin advises against overusing the Call to Action (CTA), suggesting that subtlety and allowing the audience to infer the action can be more effective.
He introduces a framework for product storytelling that involves imagining a world with the product and describing it in a way that inspires desire.
Amin provides examples of how to use the framework for non-tech products and emphasizes the need for rich vocabularies to be a better communicator.
Storytelling is not just for products; it's also vital for leadership, nurturing talent, and setting a vision.
Sharing personal stories, including failures, can be a powerful leadership tool to teach and inspire others.
Amin reflects on his own entrepreneurial journey, sharing the lessons learned from failure and the importance of learning how to bring business to your door.
He concludes with the importance of listening to others' stories, as great storytellers are also great listeners, and how stories can lead to innovative ideas.
Transcripts
[Music]
[Applause]
good afternoon my name is Amin hak and
uh when I was growing up when I was
young when I was in school I used to
stammer quite a bit I would stammer I
would stutter and
uh I would Trail off mid sentence I
would not finish off my sentences I
realize I'm not the only one who does
that there quite a few who do that uh
but it took me some f to you know took
some time to find that reassurance that
I'm not the only one uh so when I was
growing up I used to stay a lot at home
I was a little shy I was a little
reserved I would not go out and play
with other kids as much as I'd like
to and what do you do when you stay at
home and spend more time at home than
most people do I remember two things
very distinctly we used to talk a
lot real
conversations but talk a
lot we do that sometimes when we don't
have electricity but we don't have that
Comfort anymore power backup kicks
in but we used to talk a lot about
everything the second thing I used to do
a lot was that I used to read a lot and
I used to read uh uh a lot of stories
not math or science I may have been
somewhere else if I was reading math or
science uh but I I am over indexed on
stories uh the same stories that youve
read but you know I could win a quiz on
indrajal Comics hands
down and I was a bigger fan of indrajal
comics than amitra Kata but I started
off with indrajal comics and the usual
stories that we all grow up on champak
Chanda Mama Amar chitra Kata and uh
there is a hierarchy that we all follow
don't we uh uh if you've grown up in
India at a particular point of time most
of us follow that hierarchy uh you move
on from these stories to famous 5 and
Secret 7 and then from famous 5 and
Secret 7 you move on to Hardy Boys and
Nancy
Drew Nancy
Drew let's clap for my friend you know
there are few men
who there are very few men who have the
courage to admit in a large Gathering
that they've read some Nancy
Drews I read some Wilson Boon as well
[Music]
let's clap for my friend
[Applause]
here and I thoroughly enjoyed reading
the the few that I did and then I moved
on uh to westerns Louis LaMore the
cowboy Classics and by grade 7th you
know uh I remember in grade 7th you know
I was in Kendra Vidal and uh in Kendra
Vidal we had recommended reading as part
of recommended reading now the trick
with recommended reading is that it's
not part of curriculum it's not part of
syllabus nobody's going to ask you
questions in exams based on that so as
we say in Hindi there is a
phrase which basically means read it if
you like uh but I was reading ramayana
and this was not amarra Kata ramayana
this was proper ramay this was thick
ramay in difficult
Hindi and in grade 8th recommended
reading was the Mahabharata and I was
reading the Mahabharata which had my mom
freaking out and terribly worried about
me normal kids don't do that so out of
deep concern and out of anxiety for me
she enrolled me into speech therapy into
elocution into debate competitions into
poetry recitation into the drama club
like comprehensive damage control
strategy I am really grateful to her for
that I am very grateful to her for that
because all of these things together
helped me a lot and out of all of these
things I fell in love with with theater
and I wanted to do nothing but
theater I wrote my first play and it was
a copy I must
admit uh but I wrote my first play when
I was in grade nth I directed it I
directed my friends and I participated
in it as well uh and if some of you I
can see the Expressions wow that seems
like an early start if there's anything
that describes that play uh pathetic
might be an
understatement and there are many people
who are walking this planet still
scarred by that experience but you know
how good teachers are my teachers were
fantastic they said am mean what you're
doing is wonderful do
more they had no idea that I would take
up their advice seriously and they would
have to suffer a lot after that but I I
continued doing more and I did much more
in uh in high school I did much more
theater in college than most kids do and
that's what I really wanted to do but
you know how it is growing up in middle
class India you don't choose
extracurricular activities at least
that's how it was when I was growing up
uh and it still is the same we don't
choose extracurricular activities as
profession choices we choose what our
percentages allow us to do and there's a
strict hierarchy there uh so to cut a
long story short I did did a course in
Business Administration worked in sales
and then I got lucky to get into one of
the best advertising schools in India at
that point of time and instit in Amad
and we had wonderful campus placement so
one of the world's best advertising
agencies at that point of time and even
now at this point of time ugal and mea
came to campus picked me up and I moved
to bumbai advertising Mecca and I
started earning my own salary now that I
was making money within a week of moving
to Mumbai I joined a theater
group and these two tracks that I had a
day track and I had an evening track
day track advertising evening track
theater kind of defined my journey over
the next 18 years of my life so I moved
from advertising to marketing I was head
of marketing for Louis Philip uh and
then I moved from marketing to
Consulting specifically brand strategy
Consulting go to market strategies uh
India entry strategy how do you increase
your market share how do you command a
premium for your brand brand
strategy now if these were my day tracks
my evening tracks were theater poetry as
a student of Cinema and as a
photographer and if there was any one
threat that you know if there was a
single threat that sort of you know
combined or sort of you know that was
common between both of these tracks of
my life it was the fact that I was
dealing with stories and narrative in
both of
them and working with stories in both of
these I realized that you know we don't
leverage stories in our work as much as
we can and we don't leverage stories in
education as much as we can and with a
desire to address that I plunged uh into
the world of Storytelling as a story
coach as a story consultant and what
we're going to do today is we're going
to look at business storytelling
specifically what are the principles of
business storytelling how can we tell
better stories about our products if
there are a couple of Frameworks that we
could use and how to build our bank of
stories that's what we're going to do so
let's go straight uh uh into this you
know what I'm going to do is I'm going
to share a video with you now it may
seem at first glance that this video has
nothing to do with business but we will
look at it with a business lens and we
will see this from a business lens now
this guy that you see here uh he has a
business issue he puts out an elevator
pitch a business message and that
doesn't work and then he gets some help
and Magic happens we'll look at that and
see what are the principles we can
derive from that and I'll walk you
through business toy principles that we
can derive from this film so let's take
a look at this
[Music]
film
[Music]
[Music]
what did you do to my
sign I wrote the
same but in different
words thanks
[Music]
now I'm not an expert on morality on
ethics of begging so we are going to
look at this in a very objective sense
you know this guy is in business he has
an elevator pitch that pitch doesn't
seem to resonate well with the audiences
they are just passing him by and then
the lady comes and changes the message
and Magic happens what are the
principles that we can derive from this
in terms of Storytelling the first one
is that stories speak to people's
emotions and we know this that there are
two sides to the brain The Logical side
of the brain uh the rational side of the
brain and the feelings and the emotional
side of the brain and there are
decisions decision scientists who've
been studying a very important question
that all Business Leaders want to
understand this is the
question how do people decide when faced
with choices when faced with
Alternatives how do we make a choice and
what swings the decision in favor of a
versus B if there are two candidates for
you know there are two two likely
candidates for the CEO position how does
the board
decide uh given both the candidates look
equal you know from IV school from IV
School uh 20 years in business 20 years
in business has worked in three
geographies has worked in three
geographies has worked in three
departments has worked in three
departments has a wonderful track record
like to like now how does the board
choose between a candidate versus B how
do we choose between Colgate and
pepsodent and how do we choose between
wender a versus vender B how do people
decide and and decision science has
revealed to us that in almost all kinds
of decisions the emotional side of the
brain is predominant and stories speak
to
emotions and I'll talk about facts and
I'll talk about numbers and I'll talk
about data and how storytellers leverage
that because you know it's in this world
uh uh where we have more and more data
it actually makes the roles of stories
even more important because when we are
inundated with data when we are
inundated with information from all
sides it's even more important that we
focus on narrative because narrative
helps us make sense of that data so
speak to people's emotions and when you
speak to people's emotions it gathers
and it results in a higher
response Roi is higher when you speak to
people's emotions the second one is
build common ground and uh uh it's
interesting that the first word that
this guy used on that poster was
I that's not a great place to start your
stories but if you look around lot of
corporate stories lot of organization
stories lot of sales stories start from
I lot of product pictures start from I
this is my product this is my idea this
is what I have done but I is not a great
place to start because you know I
presumes that you know my what I am
interested in is something that you are
interested in as well but she doesn't
make that assumption and she starts by
building common ground and and that
Common Ground here is it's a beautiful
day you can see that and when you see
that you're not in agreement yes it's a
beautiful day that magical what she is
doing here is getting her audience to
nod in agreement and when your audience
starts nodding in agreement you are in a
better place to sell them
something so get your audience nodding
in agreement by building common ground
next principle and all storytellers use
this either intuitively or consciously
is build
contrast contrast is one of the most
powerful devices in story storytelling
uh uh day and night rich and poor good
versus bad hero versus
villain it's in the world of contrast
that stories live and stories evoke that
world of contrast now when we work with
new
products what we we have fertile ground
for contrast because new products
operate in the realm of what is versus
what can be now that's a powerful
contrast between what is and what can be
so don't limit yourself to the contrast
of the problem and the solution which is
the typical trap that a lot of stories
fall into see beyond and see what you
can do uh in terms of contrast in terms
of exploring what is possible today
versus what can be possible in terms of
what can be done today versus what can
be done in some ways when we are
building new products you are building a
new world when you're building new
products you're building a new kind of
world paint a picture of that world
because what you want to do is not just
at a literal level get people to use
that product what you want to do is you
are selling citizenship to a new world
to a new planet and you want people to
raise hands and say we want to be
citizens of that world so paint a
picture of that world and describe that
world at contrast with today's
world use that contrast and she uses
that beautifully
here she uses it beautifully in an
emotional sense she uses it beautifully
when she says and she uses it in a
positive sense this guy was operating
from a place called sympathy but she's
not operating from sympathy she's
operating from empathy that's a powerful
position to operate from right that guy
is saying look at me you know I am in a
sorry State please help me but what
she's saying is she's there's a powerful
flip happening here she's not saying how
bad look at me how bad I am you know my
my condition is really bad you need to
help me instead she is saying you have
not paused in life to think about this
but take a moment to think about this
you have eyes you can see that's a
powerful flip you can see see she makes
you feel better and that's the switch
that I'm talking about from sympathy to
empathy and and then then she
establishes the fact that there is a big
divide between what you can see but I
can't and that contrast is you know it's
implied in the earlier
pitch but here it's explicit so you need
to draw and build on that contrast and
that's what she does it's a very
powerful tool of Storytelling see when
you are building new products and
telling the story of those new products
how you can leverage
contrast and I say this that a beautiful
definition of Storytelling for me
particularly business storytelling but
in but for all kinds of Storytelling
really is truth well told now I'm not a
big fan of definitions I never was a big
fan of definitions in school but I like
this because there are two parts to
stories first all stories must come from
truth because if they are coming from a
place called falsehood then those
stories are going to have a very short
shelf life we've seen that with enough
stories that tried to leverage falsehood
they couldn't go far
so so falson has a very short shelf life
in life but more particularly so in
business stories they have to come from
a place called authenticity stories have
to be authentic stories have to be
truthful they have to be based on fact
they have to be based on data and that
data has to be
truthful but as we saw in this example
truth alone isn't enough that guy was
stating the truth I am blind please help
but it doesn't work it needs to be
stated beautifully that's why truth has
to meet well told and that well told is
articulation that well told is
presentation that well told is
visualization that well told is use of
metaphor is use of
contrast when well told happens to and
and meets truth then it becomes a story
which is why we've seen this in life
it's not what you say alone that matters
but how how we say it that makes all the
difference there are people who said no
to you and your friendship with them has
broken and there are others who said no
to you and you're still friends with
them and the difference is how they said
it there are other I could give you
another example there's a there's a boss
you worked with and during performance
appraisal he gave you honest
feedback and it was critical feedback
and he told you the areas that you were
lacking in and you came out crying and
you hated that guy and you never want to
work with that boss ever
again another performance appraisal
another guy shares the same feedback
with you and points out the
inadequacies but does it in a manner
that when you come out you feel so happy
that you want to work with this guy all
your life it's not what you say but how
you say it that makes all the difference
so so look at both often in storytelling
we look at content but we forget how are
we going to communicate that content the
way that content lands is as important
as the content itself it's not just the
fact or the data alone but how you are
bringing that fact alive that makes all
the difference so explore that in your
stories and last you know a lot of
damage has been done to business
storytelling by something called
CTA call to action and we try to close
all our stories by emphasizing the call
to action but don't State the obvious
when you can see that begging bowl there
where you can see that dubba there
that's the call to action you don't need
to spell it out you don't need to tell
people what needs to be done and you
don't need to say put $5 here because
you could be excluding the possibility
of somebody putting $20 there so don't
don't get too excited by CTA use it very
judiciously you know CTA is not called
to action is has almost become a
mandatory and we use it like a mandatory
put the mandatories which are there
which are required to be put in but
think about what is mandatory and what
is not and don't State the obvious now
we work you know you know there are
firms like KPMG and Deo that are audit
firms right you could think of us and
the work that I do the work that we do
at story walas uh is we audit stories
and we audit presentations and you'll be
surprised to see how much uh of obvious
we come across Us in presentations that
is not required there one of the best
ways you know easiest ways to make
presentations better is to remove the
obvious from presentations it's not by
adding but by removing that sometimes we
make our stories better see what you can
remove from your stories and those
stories will come out far more
beautifully now in a if you look at
Universal story structures and say how
do I leverage this for the product that
I am building I work on a product team
you know we are we are looking at this
particular in Ovation and and and we
believe that this is going to change the
world how do I how do I go out and tell
the story of this product how do I
communicate it internally to
stakeholders how do I get it Buy in how
do I get a budget on this project how do
I buy you know a deadline extension on
this project how do I tell a story of
this product all stories come from a
universal story structure which is
fairly simple there's a character in a
story there is conflict and there is
resolution Central to a story is
conflict when there is no conflict there
is no story so let me State this again
if there is no conflict there is no
Story one of the ways to look at
conflict is to say problem right a
simpler word is problem boy loves girl
girl loves boy and they live happily
ever after nobody's seen that
story nobody's written that book Nobody
seen that movie but boy loves girl girl
loves boy and father say
is no and there's a story there without
a conflict there is no story if the
kavas had given to pandas what was
rightfully theirs we wouldn't have had
the
Mahabharata if if raana had not
kidnapped satha we wouldn't have had the
ramayana if there's no conflict there is
no story now that's a universal story
structure how do we leverage it in
business and how do we sort of you know
how do we take that and bring it into
the world of business for me it's very
simple without a conflict there is no
business because an entrepreneur looks
at conflict as a problem in consumer
lives and he says the flip side of that
is an opportunity for an entrepreneur
for an innovator for a Pioneer and when
you resolve that then there is a story
in play and if you can't resolve it then
it's not a great
story so do you see this Innovation and
story business and story have the same
structure now keeping this at the back
of your mind let's see how you know let
me share with you a simple framework
using which we can tell the stories of
our products any kind of product any
kind of innovation that we are building
and that structure is fairly simple I
talked about contrast earlier and the
way to paint a picture of that world is
to use something like this and fill in
the blanks and say imagine a world where
dash dash dash what kind of a world do
you envision with the kind of product
that you are building what will happen
in that world what would people do that
they don't do today or what can people
do that they are not able to do today
what do you see in that world describe
that world very simply use contrast use
metaphor bring that world alive in a way
that is inspiring so that people raise
their hand and say I I want to be a
citizen of that world Let me Give an
example from a non-tech
perspective d uh uh you know globally
said that you know there's a big
conflict what do you know so Brands
products Innovations ideas have to
resolve conflicts they said hey there's
a big conflict every morning millions of
women around the world wake up and when
they look at themselves in the mirror
they are not happy with what they see
they see themselves as themselves and
they are not happy with what they see
and that's a big conflict they are not
happy because the world of beauty the
world of fashion the world of Cosmetics
is telling them that you are not
beautiful you are not
beautiful the lady on Vogue she is
beautiful the lady on Cosmopolitan she
is beautiful the lady on femina she is
beautiful the lady on red carpet she is
beautiful the lady in Hollywood she is
beautiful but you aren't and there's a
big distance between where you are and
where they are and she sees that
distance and and say say that's
impossible for me to achieve and when
you see that impossibility and say hey
it's beyond me you feel bad about where
you are because somebody else has taken
ownership of the Beauty story and said
this is what beautiful is now that's a
big conflict how do they resolve it or
how are they trying to resolve it by
taking ownership of the story of beauty
and rewriting that
story so a possible articulation for
them could be imagine a world where
beautiful is the body we are born with
is the way I look right now
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
okay
never
[Applause]
[Music]
well that's one kind of an example right
so you don't need a tech product you
don't need sometimes all you need is
insight into what a big conflict is and
once you identify a conflict that is
large enough for people that people face
then you'll find a solution and and that
solution can be a product can be
communication that solution can be a
service uh uh there are many kinds of
solutions that are possible Right but
then you have to tell the story uh of
that product for people to want to be
citizens of that world and you have to
tell that story again and again and you
have to tell that story and pitch that
story to various stakeholders and
contextualize it to them over a period
of time and you have to refresh that
story as well now that story can work
you know this framework is a beautiful
framework imagine a world where it works
for all kind of products so to give you
a an example from a very different kind
of a world you are familiar with the
game Scrabble
right it's it's a game that helps you
build vocabulary now that's really
simple right you know uh imagine a world
where people had richer vocabularies now
that's a big conflict in life our
vocabularies are
shrinking and and I go back back to the
principles of business
storytelling there's truth and there is
well told to be able to articulate
something well remember it's not just
what you say but how you say it we need
richer vocabularies that's the tool that
storytellers work with look around you
leaders Business Leaders have richer
vocabularies than
followers political leaders have richer
vocabularies than followers spiritual
leaders have richer vocabulary than
followers there's a straight correlation
a simple correlation if you want to be a
good Storyteller build your vocabulary
build your verbal vocabulary language
vocabulary visual vocabulary oral
vocabulary build but build your
vocabulary right now imagine a world
where people had richer vocabularies you
know vocabularies are shrinking today if
you ask a kid hey how was that birthday
party that you went to
awesome hey you went and saw that film
Jungle Book how was that awesome
hey you had a sleepover how is that
awesome you to McDonald's had french
fries and a burger how is that
awesome one day you'll one day you'll
fall in love one day you'll hold
somebody's hand you will see the sun go
down you will see thousands of shades of
orange you will kiss someone you will
make love to someone what will you come
back and say
awesome you
used you use that word for French fries
so you see when vocabulary
shrink we have we have lesser available
we have lesser power to communicate our
ideas in a way that touch the
heart and we can't communicate so in
order to become better communicators we
need to build you want to be a
Storyteller build your vocabulary and
build your visual there are all kinds of
vocabularies verbal is one but you know
explore what vocabulary you can be
strong at and build that because if you
can't then how will you express new
ideas in interesting ways or existing
ideas in newer ways but that's what
storytellers do now when that guy had
put up a board all he was saying was I
am blind please help he was using two
magic words please and help but we've
seen so much of that that it's not
working so when messaging becomes
leverages words that everybody isili
with that messaging becomes blind spot
and people see it but people don't see
it it's like cows in India you see them
but you don't see them right they're
Beggars at the at at the traffic signals
you see them but you don't see them and
it takes a foreigner to come into India
and they say oh my God you got cows on
the
road right so because they see it from a
fresh perspective and you remember when
he asked the lady what did you due to my
sign she didn't make the holding bigger
she didn't put four signs she's not
increasing the media spend on the on the
messaging on the same spend on the same
size of poster she all she did was
change the
messaging it's vocabulary it's how we
say it that makes all the difference so
you know imagine a world where people
had the power of vocabularies so uh this
is from the work that you know uh uh oil
we the agency that I worked with earlier
in advertising did for Scrabble in
India one two hey you two come
here why you late sir I over slept go do
50 push-ups and you why you late so I
have clom
Mania what so I have Klean Mania oh okay
okay you take
rest
[Music]
play Scrabble learn more
words build
vocabulary better
Storyteller that's a powerful framework
it can be used for world changing ideas
for big conflicts like the conflict
women face in the world today smaller
conflicts in a humorous tone it can also
be used for technology products
if we were to go back in time and since
we are at Google and say you know if
let's let's use this framework to say
how do we tell the story of Google
search a good metaphor could be that you
know imagine a world where people can
find their needle you're looking for
your needle not anybody's else's needle
but your needle in a hay stack because
that's what the worldwide web is and the
worldwide web is full of search results
but our algorithm makes it easy for you
to find your needle which is based on
relevance which is based on this which
is based on that da da da simple
metaphor right complex algorithm Simple
Story imagine a world where everybody
can find their needle in a hay
stack so see how you can use a framework
like that to tell the story of the
product that you are building that
Google is building today and it's
building different kinds of product and
solving different kinds of conflicts
yesterday it was solving the conflict of
finding the needle in the Hy stack today
it's finding you know newer conflicts to
solve to resolve uh and and newer
stories have to be told about those
conflicts explore that now uh business
storytelling is not just for products
it's not just for uh uh it's it's to be
it and it's to be and can be used in all
kinds of
contexts including leadership and
Leadership is not just about vision and
setting the VIS that's a large part of
it but it's also about building a team
and working along with Team nurturing a
team nurturing Talent so I'm happy to
share with you the story of when I
realize the power of story when I use it
during a performance
appraisal no not my performance
appraisal when I was conducting
performance appraisal and uh I was
sitting in my cabin and I I led a
strategic team uh of about seven people
uh and it was that time of the year when
you look back at the performance when
you set goals uh and you assign a number
after that conversation and one by one
each member of my team were coming and
we were having that conversation now it
was time for the best performer in the
team to come in the best performer in
the
team truly deserved this a very good
raise because you know he had done the
equivalent of filing a
patent a lot of people don't file
patents and converting that into a
business
most of the patents are not converted
into businesses he had done the
equivalent of both in advertising terms
think of it as award winning advertising
that critics love but most award-winning
advertising doesn't sell products but
this products were flying off shelves
like hot cakes right it done the
equivalent of both one of the best
performers not just in my team but in
the entire office and for that year in
the industry as well and it was time for
his performance appraisal and he
swaggers into my room collar is raised
pulls the chair and sinks into it hands
raised behind his head looks into my
eyes a cocky look and when I look at him
it reminds me of a story so I sit him
down and sometimes bosses have to
practice what is called tough love and I
tell him a story now that story is from
the year
1989 when two wonderful cricketers made
their debut for India one of them
retired recently as the the god of
Cricket the other one nobody remembers
when he
retired his name is of course what you
said winot CLE now for those who love
cricket and who know and there are many
in India you would know this that 1989
1990 1991 1992 1993 for 5 years who had
the higher batting
average vnode kle match after match in
all format of the game and in all kinds
of games he was scoring more than
Tendulkar consistently that's how you
get a higher batting average and if you
go back and listen to commentary and
experts and what they used to say you
know this guy cly had a finer batting
technique he had finer shot selection
and a wider range of shots but he had
one
problem attitude and in life we
underestimate hard work and we
overestimate
talent but we underestimate hard work
and I could I could see a story
unfolding here there was Talent here
batting average was high but it came
with something
else and I got reminded of that story so
I shared that story with him and I added
some more bits to it and I said you know
what you know after many years after
this you know after 10 years later there
was a guy who grew up watching tendulka
play and he made his debut for India and
his name is vinda seag and he went on to
do what tendulka always dreamt of but
could never
do not once but twice which is why he
called Sultan of Multan he scored those
triple centuries not in India but in
conditions which are difficult which are
tailored for bowlers and tenda always
dreamt of that but he could never but
you know what and then you know yuj did
something that tenda always wanted to do
but could never achieve right six sixes
but if there was one thing that sets
apart Tendulkar from all the players it
was his hunger for the game it was his
passion for the game and the fact that
that many years later when he he was
considered the god of cricket and he had
nothing to prove even then he would go
to the Nets half an hour before
everybody else he would put in much more
hard work and and and and good stories
like this happen when Talent meets hard
work I told that story to my friend
to my colleague who was working with me
and seven years have passed since then
and in seven years you people who used
to report to you uh you have a different
relationship after with them seven years
later they become your contemporaries
they become friends I have moved on I do
my own thing he does his own thing but I
I happy to report to you that he
continues to be a Tendulkar and there
are many reasons for that first is his
own innate Talent second you got to be
at the right place at the right time but
but he still credits that conversation
as a as a as a life-changing moment and
he says that you know I have now
combined a work ethic with my talent and
that makes all the difference so where
can we apply stories and where you know
in all walks of life when we say
business you know business is not just
about pitching it's not just about
fundraising it's not just about telling
the story of a product you know business
is also nurturing Talent business is
also building a team business is also
setting a vision and we under leverage
stories and storytelling in all walks of
life when we don't use stories like this
and we don't use and we don't tell
stories uh uh where we can so when you
go out uh uh from here and say how do I
build a bank of my own stories you know
that's something that we we should all
aim for right how can I build a bank of
my own stories that I can use for
various situations for various context
there are three sources really that you
can look into uh using which you can
build your bank of stories the first one
is your own life reflect on your own
life on in on your own Journeys and your
life is Rich with
stories so if you could give you a
couple of cues when you look back at
your life because we must and we must
reflect on our lives leaders are
reflective practitioners they reflect on
their lives they reflect on their
Journeys on their strengths on their
weaknesses and they draw lessons from
there so reflect on your lives ask
yourself a question what is the proudest
moment of my
life go back to the
that and see what made that happen and
there is something there look at that
but also ask yourself the question what
is the biggest failure in your life and
we've all failed at something or the
other
spectacularly and what is the lesson we
can derive from there and that's a story
and you would say hey why would I share
that story with anyone but look around
and leaders don't hesitate to share
failure stories in fact leaders share
failure stories
because if you don't share your failure
story in a business if you don't at
Google if you don't learn from our
failure stories those failures will
repeat themselves so I say this that if
failure stories don't go viral failures
go
viral it's better that stories go viral
and we can all learn from the stories so
that failures don't repeat so you know
your own life is a rich source of story
the second is there are stories in your
organization and are stories you know in
this company that that that are there
but we look around and there are enough
stories you know stories of products
that have succeeded like anything
stories of of projects that were
abandoned what can we learn from those
stories they they are better stories
sometimes to to look look at and learn
from stories of projects uh uh that
could not see day of light stories of
projects that didn't go as
planned they were not abandoned they
were launched into the market but didn't
work what can we learn from a customer
what can we learn from a project that
worked beautifully for every project
actually we can break into milestones
and we must have those meetings after
the project is complete to look at those
three or four milestones and say what
are the stories we can learn and then
look at life all around you because life
all around you we are swimming and
breathing stories like I use the story
from
sport it's all around us or a story from
mythology or we can learn from other
people's stories so these are the three
sources of stories reflect on your
journey reflect on your stories and see
which story you can you can tell and
build into your bank of stories uh and I
say this that the best stories come to
you when you listen great storytellers
are not just great orators they are not
just people with great vocabularies you
become a good Storyteller when you
listen because when you listen you will
get your stories on that note I'm happy
to share a story with you that many
years ago when television was a new idea
there was this guy who used to go from
place to place selling TVs and he would
go to this you know to to a place that
had not heard of television and he would
sell the concept called TV to them one
day he reached a village where he saw a
strange site he saw that you know every
evening people gather around the fire in
the evening after they come back from
work and they share stories with each
other he said hey you guys love
listening to stories right and you guys
love sharing stories you guys will love
this box it tells you a lot of stories
everybody loved that idea and every
house in that Village bought a TV it was
his best sale in months so far he was so
happy he'd met his Kota for the for the
for the next three months he went on a
holiday and then he went on to other
places and a few months passed and he
was he was coming back and he was
passing by the same Village and he said
I must visit this Village these people
were so nice they bought so many TVs I
met my sales Target for 3 months so he
stopped by to pay them a visit but he
was met with a strange sight he saw all
the TVs lying stacked one on top of the
other Gathering dust he said let me wait
here and figure out what's happening so
he's he waited in the village in the
evening everybody came back from work
and as usual they gathered around a fire
and started telling stories to each
other and he went at that point of time
and said hey what happened remember me
you bought all those St
where the Gathering
dust and the village Elder spoke and he
said beta you know initially these boxes
they were wonderful they told us a lot
of stories from here and there from
places near and far and stories about
about of places and things that we had
never visited before and it was
wonderful but there's one big problem it
doesn't listen to our
stories
and a lot of communication has become
like that today where people are just
full of their stories and they want to
tell their stories but we have no time
to listen to other people's stories but
great leaders great marketers and
innovators are able to lead market and
innovate because they listen to people's
stories not just Business Leaders but
also political leaders that's how we
solve problems and that's how conflicts
are resolved in the world not just by
telling stories but by listening to
other people's stories so see what
stories you can listen to and how they
lead you to your ideas and then once you
build that idea into a product see how
you can go and tell the story of that
product on that note I'll end with the
story and then we'll open up forck
questions if you have
any a long time ago there was an old man
this old man had a long white flowing
beard and he had a nice interesting
jacket with wonderful designs and lots
of pockets and wherever the old man went
people would call out to him Reach Out
him and say hey hey hey old man why
don't you come and spend some time with
us everybody loved the old man they said
hey old man come and spend some time
with us have some tea and cake with us
have some wine and cheese with us
everybody loved the old guy at the same
time in the world there was a lady
wherever she went people shut their
doors and windows nobody liked like the
lady the lady was very upset she goes to
the old man and says why is it that
wherever you go you are welcome but I am
turned away who are
you the old man he just Shrugged his
shoulders he smiled and said I am story
who are you and she said I am
truth so you see nobody likes the truth
but she said oh I'm going to make it
easier for people so she removed her
clothes and she hoped that people would
now welcome her but no likes the naked
truth but the old man had the wisdom to
know that the world needs the
truth so he he spoke to her and he said
lady why don't you come along with me
there's much more Hospitality than I
need for myself there's much more uh uh
wine and cheese that I need for myself
there's much more tea and Cake than I
need for myself I can share with you why
don't you come along with me and that's
exactly what truth did truth jumped into
story's pocket and from that day my
friends it is said that wherever Story
Goes you can find
truth
data data is that truth data is that
fact wrap it in a story and wherever
that story goes you'll find that truth
on that note I close and I hope your
story takes you to interesting places
don't hesitate to share your story
listen share and craft and may your
story story take you to wonderful places
because like glass said wonderful
stories happen to people who tell them
well this is the point where I say I'm
happy to take questions if you have and
happier if you have
none open house yes sir uh you spoke
about share stories of can you just tell
a story about one of your I have lots of
them uh uh but the uh you know
I'll uh and there are many failures uh
that we've all
had uh one of the failures that I had uh
when I started the firm and I had never
been an entrepreneur before and you know
i' had worked in you know as a salaried
employee you know and we have no
entrepreneurial bone Gene uh in the
family my parents were teachers all my
cousins are you know uh either teachers
or doctors or you know employees and
when I started off uh uh I really didn't
know how to build that business and I so
I I started story
walas I decided that I'll work from
office so I had an office space and all
I used to do was go to office and sit
and operate from there but there was no
business was coming in and I realized
that this is not how business works I
was expecting business to come in just
because in my mind I thought a business
has and then I had to figure out a lot
of things on how to we still don't do
business development in the traditional
sense all a business comes in uh uh uh
and and knocks at our door but how to
get them to knock at our door is is a
big lesson that I learned I had no idea
how to do that and there are really two
ways of building business if you look at
all methods of building business you can
put them into two buckets the first
bucket is you go and knock at somebody's
door the second bucket is you get people
to knock at your door and I
failed at this miserably and I learned
that so first year if I if I go and you
know look at the first year business
that we did at story
walas for the first n months our billing
was
zero and I learned it the hard way but
then I learned how to get people to
knock at your door and sometimes failure
is good because you know if you can
reflect on it if you can dwell upon it
and see what made you fail and learn
from it then it's good thank you thanks
wonderful question so in our day-to-day
life rather than General stories which
which are attractive right uh uh our
stories need to be a little bit more
precise to the audience which is
generally from someone who trying to get
an approval most of the time those are
the stories you want to tell so is there
a difference between the principles that
or maybe there's a modification to the
principles listed over here and you're
trying to do targeted storytelling so
anything over there like which missing
yeah I think the principles remain same
the the way you apply them you know
becomes a sharper lens and and one one
thing that you would add to this list of
principles is what I call a wiffi uh the
wiffy is a simple principle wi I FY
what's in it for
you that's a very important principle
because you know somebody's going to get
give you an extension not because
there's something in it for you because
there's something at the end of that
extension period that's going to come
back to me right so the wiffy princip
principle is something that you know
gets added on when we go from these
macro to the micro nuances of everyday
work and you add the wiffi principle
when you ask for an extension I'm not
asking something for myself there's
something which is coming back to you at
the end of this if you don't give it to
me it may not come back to you you know
right now I'm not in a position and when
we walk them through that and get them
to see things from our perspective by
through the transport uh that that we we
are supposed to do as storytellers then
they will get that picture there's a
second one which you didn't ask but you
know we do a lot of work with numbers
and data and and and when you apply
these principles how do you apply them
to numbers and data uh uh that's that's
perhaps another talk uh for about 15
minutes uh or 20 minutes there are three
or four specific principles that help us
bring numbers and data to
life there's somebody from Google who's
done wonderful work uh uh Google uh uh
in other Market where where she's
written a book as well she's no longer
with Google uh but she's written a book
on how to tell stories using numbers and
data and that's a good reference point
to get started but the principles are
fairly
simple uh the name will come back to me
in a
bit so you talked about increasing
vocabulary and not just the words but
also visual visual vocabulary can you
elaborate on it and how do you use it in
well pict speak louder than thousand
words we've all heard that before
uh uh but you know we uh when I speak of
pictures I don't just mean pictures in
the sense that we used to we used to
think of them of course they're very
powerful I can tell you a story about
how ratan Tata uh when he briefed the
team for Nano which is one of the
biggest disruptions that happened in the
automotive world uh before Google and
Tesla came along uh uh that Journey was
triggered with a presentation that use
one slide and one photo in that slide
and that photo was something that he saw
he saw a family of four on a scooter
ham and all he did was he came back he
sketched that on a piece of paper and
he's he's you know he says I'm not great
at sketching but he sketched that and he
and he drew a roof on top of that
scooter and he gave it to his secretary
and he said can you scan that and they
scanned that image and put that into the
presentation Nano wasn't called the Nano
Nano wasn't born it wasn't even
conceived of he put that photograph on
the slide and called the top management
deck CFO head of of manufacturing head
of marketing uh head of design and with
that one slide he explained the target
audience for whom they were building a
product he explained the conflict you
know these are people who are exposed to
elements people who are exposed to rains
people who are exposed to Beggars at uh
and all kinds of things at uh uh traffic
lights right so he explained the
conflict but through that slide he also
said what is the what what is the target
audience and when you say the target
audience he also explains through that
side what is the price
constraint we are not making a car for
car upgraders we are making a car for
for upgraders who are going to buy a car
for the first time scooter upgraders to
car and that has a price Target and that
price Target through that he explained
the materials problem because they you
know to to achieve that you know there
will have to be some innovation in terms
of materials and Metallurgy and how you
fuse glass with metal and all of that uh
so he spoke to the head of design head
of manufacturing head of Finance head of
marketing all of that through one slide
now that's a powerful example but but I
don't mean visuals only in that sense
that's one part of your visual
vocabulary the second part of visual
vocabulary is data visualization how do
you bring your data alive for any two
sets of data on X and Y axis today there
are 20 visualizations that are possible
you can bring it alive in a graph a
versus graph B typically we don't
explore those 20 visualizations to say
which one is the best to communicate the
Wii
which one is the simplest we don't put
up four slides four four different
charts and say which one communicates
this the bo we don't do
that typically we just go ahead with
what comes to us intuitively and and and
and developing that vocabulary takes
some time but you know it's just a
function of doing something again and
again and you get better at
it so that's that's on visual vocabulary
uh uh and there was another question
from there that's the last question
we'll take and then we'll stop uh uh uh
yes soan I wanted to ask this question
uh who do you think is a story teller
who has influenced you a
lot well uh my mother uh you know when I
was growing up uh we had a lot of
stories uh about partition uh we had a
lot of stories I was brought up by a
single parent uh about loss uh of things
in family uh so I heard a lot of stories
she was a teacher so I had a lot of
stories about about how we should look
at life uh and she was a teacher in the
purest sense no tutions uh uh uh she
believed in that the best education is
that you can give during the class not
afterwards and if you're not doing that
then you're not doing a good job as a
teacher so you know all you know all the
good things that we learned from
teachers you know she was my uh she was
my first teacher the mothers are
typically your first teachers uh at home
I a lot of stories from her uh in terms
of business storytelling there's this
wonderful guy who I worked with for 10
years uh his name is Santos Desai uh
he's written a wonderful book he writes
a column in times of India every Monday
uh city city bang bank that's the guy
uh I think he's a fantastic Storyteller
I've had a wonderful working
relationship with him it's very rare
that you work with somebody for 10 years
I've learned a lot uh by seeing him at
work Naran morti is a wonderful
Storyteller and tell you why
to me great stories are truth well
told and when I say truth well told you
have to live that truth embody that
truth in your life when he told his
people fly
economy that's not messaging you have to
live that truth to yourself you have to
fly economy that story has to be evident
in your life right so he lived his story
and he lived life by the story that he
told when you can live your life by the
stories that you tell you a fantastic
Storyteller thank you for having me over
uh eventually you know time runs out for
everything including life uh but that
doesn't mean that you know questions
have to end here that's my email ID i'
would love to hear from you if you have
more questions uh uh send them in and I
usually respond to mail within 48
Hours have a nice evening ahead thank
you
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