How’s your storytelling? In this podcast, Harvard professor & author Jerry Zaltman shares his expertise on what makes for great storytelling, the power of metaphors, and how, in addition to reading, writing and talking (yes!) can also be powerful modes of discovery.

SHOWNOTES – Storytelling

Contents

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Key Learnings

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References & Links

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Andrea’s Commentary

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Interview Transcript

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Conclusion

Key Learnings

* Sharing stories, opinions and facts through writing &/or talking (!) are valid modes of discovery. We all know that we can learn when we read. Jerry shared that he has used writing as a way to learn about a topic. He acknowledges that talking may also serve as an effective way to learn.

* The best storytelling means letting the readers fill in the gaps. Jerry says that the best storytellers (be they writers or musicians or advertisers) are ones that allow a co-participating, a co-authorship or a co-creation with the reader or the audience. This is how storytelling becomes personally meaningful.

* Consider the HOW as opposed to the WHAT. So much of our attention in daily life goes to WHAT we think and by comparison we give relatively little attention to HOW we think. We should challenge ourselves to be conscious of HOW we think.

References & Links

Professor Gerald Zaltman 

* Email – [email protected]

* HBS website – https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/profile.aspx?facId=6579

* Olson Zaltman website – http://olsonzaltman.com/

* AMA Lifetime Achievement Award – https://www.ama.org/awards-consumer-behavior-sig/

* Z-files blog – http://olsonzaltman.com/zfiles

* “How Customers Think” book – https://amzn.to/2CbdB1n

* “Marketing Metaphoria” book – https://amzn.to/2SIJ7cA 

“Unlocked: Keys to Improve Your Thinking” Book & Donation Program

* Book: “Unlocked” – https://amzn.to/2JVnCpk

* Book-matching donation program details – https://www.geraldzaltman.com/makeadifference

* Email Jerry regarding the book-matching donation program –[email protected]

Stories and Storytelling

* Metaphors –  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphor

* Memes – https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/what-is-a-meme-examples/

* Japanese film “Rashomon” (1950) – https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042876/

Talk About Talk

* Newsletter Sign-up: https://talkabouttalk.com/#newsletter-signup

* Website: https://talkabouttalk.com

* Andrea: [email protected]

Transcript & Commentary

We have all heard that great communicators are also great at storytelling, right? I thought it would be a good idea to learn a little about storytelling.  The stories we read, the stories we hear, the ones we tell.  And then there are the stories that are implicit or hidden in our day-to-day activitie...