It’s Story Time
“We approach everything asking one question: given my agenda, will this help me, or will this hurt me? If the answer is neither, it’s white noise.” -Lisa Cron
I’m reading a fabulous book called Story or Die by Lisa Cron.
I’m learning a lot about using the power of story to influence decisions in my 1:1 and team coaching work.
I know people love stories. I know humans respond well to, “Let me tell you a story” or “It’s time for a story.”
I know having a beginning, middle, and end helps people follow what someone’s saying.
But I didn’t know much about how the brain wants a story. And how it reacts to stories.
And how it reacts to facts. (They are second-class, compared to story.)
As an executive coach, I’ve long considered myself a co-storyteller. Someone who helps others to tell stories.
If the story comes from me, it’s about getting people to change their behavior as leaders.
I want these leaders to understand these things:
- Their job can help others—or hurt them
- Their actions can help others—or hurt them
- People (their team members) are relying on them
- People want help
- They can choose to change how they operate
- They can impact some things and then have little to zero impact in other ways
I hope that if they “get” these things, they will then want to change their behavior as a leader. Or see the value of changing their behavior.
Lisa Cron writes about the 11,000,0000 bits of data that are thrown at us each second (no typos or misplaced commas in there).
Unfortunately, our brain can be aware of only around 40 precious bits at a time. Yikes.
Don’t you want to make sure what you throw at your leaders and teams is getting through the eleven billion bit-haze?
Start by joining the free Awesome Leader webinar on May 13—that’s next week—when I share thoughts about planning conversation for your high performers. Register here.
Animals Help Leaders Learn (Not Exaggerating)
I don’t use people—photos or cartoons or images—in my training and coaching program.
Curious how the Awesome Leader animals came about and why? Read why animals help managers learn to be awesome.
The turtle, sloth, bull, ostrich, donkey, and bear aren’t just for fun.
They help managers and leaders to consider their behaviors and actions in a tangible, thoughtful, and fun way.
Once you learn more about the Awesome Leader ecosystem, you’ll start to see animals in logos everywhere. They work.
Leadership is Difficult, Confusing, and Needs to Be Pushed
Leadership is tough. I want to make it easier.
Sometimes that means making you feel . . . peeved.
That’s not my goal.
My goal is to help you think more about what you do as a leader.
To get you thinking more and more often about being a leader.
Let me know how to help you and your teams. One thing I can help with fast is bringing online leadership and coaching to your company, give me a call at 415 744 1991 and let’s discuss my 8-week Awesome Manager program. If your leaders have 15 minutes each day, then they can learn to be awesome. You can also schedule a time to talk with me about it.
Lead with ease,
Leila
PS If you want to discuss executive coaching, please email me and head over to BullingTowne.com.
