The Art of Business Storytelling | Ameen Haque | Talks at Google

Summary

El 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

00:00

😀 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.

05:02

🎓 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.

10:04

📚 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.

15:06

🤝 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.

20:06

📈 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.

25:08

🌟 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.

30:10

👵 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.

35:11

📚 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.

40:13

💡 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.

45:13

📧 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.

Keywords

💡Narrativa de negocios

La narrativa de negocios es una técnica que utiliza historias para comunicar de manera efectiva la esencia de una empresa, su producto o su misión. En el video, se destaca cómo a través de historias emocionales y convincentes, las empresas pueden establecer una conexión más profunda con su audiencia, lo cual es fundamental para el éxito en el mercado.

💡Conflicto

El conflicto es un elemento clave en cualquier historia y, por ende, en la narrativa de negocios. Se define como la problemática o desafío que enfrenta un personaje o una empresa, y que debe ser resuelto para avanzar en la trama. En el contexto del video, el conflicto es el núcleo alrededor del cual se construye la historia de un producto o una marca, y es esencial para captar la atención y el interés del público.

💡Contraste

El contraste se refiere a la oposición o diferencia entre dos elementos, que puede ser utilizada para resaltar características específicas y hacer que una historia sea más impactante. En la narrativa de negocios, el contraste se emplea para comparar el estado actual con el potencial estado deseado una vez que se implemente la solución propuesta por una empresa, subrayando así la transformación que su producto o servicio puede lograr.

💡

💡Empatía

La empatía implica la capacidad de comprender y compartir las emociones de otra persona. En el video, se discute cómo la empatía puede ser más efectiva que la simpatía al contar historias de negocios, al permitir que el público se relacione y se sienta parte de la solución o el cambio propuesto por una empresa.

💡Vocabolario

El vocabulario no solo se refiere a las palabras que utilizamos para comunicarnos, sino también a la capacidad de expresar ideas de manera clara y convincente. En el contexto del video, se enfatiza la importancia de un rico vocabulario tanto en términos verbales como visuales para contar historias de negocios de manera efectiva y poder comunicar de forma más impactante y creíble.

💡Estrategia de narración

Una estrategia de narración bien estructurada permite a las empresas contar historias de una manera que resuene con su audiencia y que propicie una respuesta emocional. El video ofrece ejemplos y técnicas para crear una narrativa que engage y persuade, destacando la importancia de la estructura, la elección de palabras y la conexión emocional.

💡Llamada a la acción (CTA)

La Llamada a la Acción es un elemento común en la narrativa de negocios que busca motivar a los oyentes a tomar una determinada acción. Sin embargo, el video sugiere que la CTA debe ser utilizada con prudencia, evitando instrucciones obvias que puedan limitar las opciones de los clientes o no reflejen la complejidad de la historia contada.

💡Estrategias de desarrollo de negocios

El video comparte una reflexión personal sobre cómo el protagonista aprendió a generar negocios al inicio de su empresa. Destaca la importancia de no solo esperar que los clientes lleguen, sino también proactivamente buscarlos, lo que implica una comprensión de las estrategias efectivas de marketing y relaciones públicas.

💡Lecciones de la vida

Las lecciones de la vida son historias personales que proporcionan enseñanzas valiosas y que son fuente de inspiración en la narrativa de negocios. El video sugiere que reflexionar sobre los momentos de éxito y fracaso en nuestra vida puede proporcionar historias poderosas que ayudarán a conectar con la audiencia y a transmitir mensajes de forma más profunda.

💡Estrategias de liderazgo

El liderazgo en el video no se limita a la visión o la dirección estratégica, sino que también incluye el desarrollo de talento y la construcción de equipos. Las historias pueden ser un herramienta poderosa para el liderazgo, como se muestra en el ejemplo de una evaluación de desempeño en la que se utiliza una narrativa para transmitir una lección de humildad y la importancia del trabajo arduo.

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