The 12 ways to tell a story…

OK, there are some outliers, but here’s a fantastic summary. The short exploration of each (news based) story format is eye opening.  For anyone wanting to tell stories internally or externally,  this could prove useful for inspiration and application.

And have you ever wondered what happens to the brain when digesting stories? Well:

“…exposure to narrative storytelling can have a widespread effect on triggering better self-awareness and empathy for others”

A happy ending! There we go.

3 ways to power up your office

How can you improve productivity in your office?

Well, firstly, why not try smaller teams – they drive change more effectively through clearer boundaries and information flows.

And secondly, you don’t have to be right all of the time. Even though, obviously, you are :- ) If the ol’ ego can handle it, then a little less “us”, and a bit more “them” could reap big rewards.

Thirdly: how can you improve creativity? Well, our Fran (on the left, here) went to the Dots conference, where she heard Bruce Daisley advocating the removal of unnecessary stress in order get more bright sparks sparking.

2 reasons why ‘Choice’ is everything

We love this from Rory Sutherland on being able to choose, and its effect and value on  raising the threshold of crappiness. For all the rocks we throw, the base level set by a few omnipotent retailers means everyone else has to be at least as good, if not better:

“You can get better coffee in a truckstop now than at Claridge’s in 1990.”

It’s a frame-setting perspective that all brands/services, irrelevant of size, could do well to reflect on.

And Richard Shotton and Amy Rushton follow this up with some great anecdotes about choice and price anchoring,

“…the greatest trick marketers can ever pull is convincing the world that choice doesn’t exist.”

Though I disagree with them about the most quoted line from the film The Usual Suspects.

Surely it’s “…and like that, he’s gone” ?

No?

I digress.

The 1 and only t’internet

These articles (both in the Guardian) made me sit up.

This one on the user data stored by Tinder made the still-dating-millennials in our office look firstly puzzled… then at each other… then at their phones as if they’d been betrayed by them. Et tu Galaxy?

And for those who can’t stop swiping, perhaps they should also have a little read of this. It’s about the inventors not using their own inventions. Silicon tech execs switching off. Rejecting the addiction and the “continuous partial attention”.

I must admit I’m quite keen to experience a “bright ding of pseudo pleasure” . But honestly, the chances of me ever having a profile on Facebook, let alone garnering a like is, well, very unlikely. I’ll stick to the discussion forums on cheese, thank you.

Gorgonzollaly yours,