The 1:1:1 August 2021

Storytelling & Creativity

1: Idea / Fusing creativity with storytelling

Peter Drucker, the famed business management consultant, noted that every business has two—and only two—basic functions: marketing and innovation.

Marketing, in its simplest terms, is the value-filled stories brands tell to their customers that make the invitation toward a purchase.

Innovation, in non-business terms, is creativity turned toward creating or adding customer value.

So, to attract new customers a business must be great at both creativity and storytelling. Here are some insights and tools to get better at both.

An idea from actor & comedian, John Cleese:

“This is the extraordinary thing about creativity: If just you keep your mind resting against the subject in a friendly but persistent way, sooner or later you will get a reward from your unconscious.”
— John Cleese

Mr. Cleese notes that “Creativity is not a talent. It’s a way of operating.” Just as all skills within cultures are underscored through the values, the organization operationalizes, these skills are also taught through training, reward, and encouragement.

Organizations have a ripe opportunity to help team members transition back into the office with a strong sense of psychological safety in this delicate transition juncture. And, they also have the opportunity to reclaim and insert some of the benefits we realized from remote working and living.

1: Inspiration

“Because this business of becoming conscious, of being a writer (and storyteller), is ultimately about asking yourself, How alive am I willing to be?”
— Anne Lamott

1: Tool/ Storytelling — The World’s Most Advanced Technology.

In a recent conversation on the Good Life Project podcast hosted by Jonathan Fields with the poet and author of “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous,” Ocean Vuong, Ocean shared: “Entire nations are built on the myths of storytelling. … Because at the end of the day, our entire species depends on how we transform observation, transport phenomenon and infuse it and transform it using words to land one way or another. All the weaponry… it could be the most advanced arsenal, but you can never deploy it without a story.”

Ocean continues, “And it’s no accident that the majority of the presidents, and the people who lead this country, the people who lead CEO positions in businesses come from a liberal arts background … they’re ultimately storytelling. It takes the story to harness the resources, either for good or for disruption, but it begins with the story.”

Here’s a toolkit > Masterclass:

The website Masterclass offers courses on creativity and storytelling which are taught by masters and authors that range from:

If you have insights on this, feel free to share them with me here.

If you want a more trusting team, a culture of belonging or a magnetic brand that attracts more of the right customers, I can help. If you'd like to explore if working together makes sense, drop me a line.

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