Anecdotally Speaking

In this week’s episode of Anecdotally Speaking, Shawn shares the late Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen’s McDonalds milkshake story, which illustrates the value of knowing your customer and market.

Shawn first heard Christensen tell this story in a YouTube video. You can watch the original milkshake story, by clicking this link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Stc0beAxavY

Next week we are running a free webinar, Learn how to tell a success story that will help you sell, which will be hosted by Mike Adams, our Head of Story-Powered Sales and the author of Seven Stories Every Salesperson Must Tell,. If you are interested in attending, click on the below link to register.

https://ww3.anecdote.com/success-stories-public-webinar/

In this week’s episode of Anecdotally Speaking, Mark demonstrates how to present research and data using a story structure, and how it can be highly engaging and memorable.

He shares the story of renowned psychology professor and mindfulness theorist, Ellen Langer, and her research experiment into human behaviour. The story provides an insight into how small changes in language can result in a completely different outcome.

We are hosting a free webinar in two weeks, Learn how to tell a success story that will help you sell, which will be hosted by Anecdote Principal and author of Seven Stories Every Salesperson Must Tell, Mike Adams. If you are interested in attending, click on the link below to register.

https://ww3.anecdote.com/success-stories-public-webinar/

On this week’s episode of Anecdotally Speaking, Shawn recounts a story he read in Bob Iger’s book, The Ride of a Lifetime. The ex-CEO of Disney, Bob Iger’s book discusses the advancements he made but also reveals his business storytelling talents. The guys don’t often give high scores as they’re both tough critics, but this story impresses.

We recently developed an online course called 7 Tips to Be a Better Business Storyteller, which is the perfect introduction or refresher of some key concepts in business storytelling. If you are interested in joining the course, click the link below.

https://www.anecdote.com/7-tips-to-be-a-better-business-storyteller/

In this episode of Anecdotally Speaking, Mark shares the story of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, and how they make a conscious decision each performance to bring their absolute best and ensure each fan has a memorable experience.

As a short and punchy story, it is perfect for sharing with your customer-facing employees. If you do share it, let us know in the comments how it goes!

You may have noticed that we have redesigned our podcast cover art! We hope you love it as much as we do. A big thank you to our amazing Graphic Designer, Kerenza Smith, who designed it!

To sign up for our Anecdotally Sunday story trigger emails, click on the below link. Each Sunday, we’ll send you a question or image designed to prompt a story that you can add to your story repertoire.

https://www.anecdote.com/anecdotally-sunday/

In this week’s episode of Anecdotally Speaking, Shawn shares the story of pioneer video game manufacturer, Atari, and how complacency resulted in the death of the company. Both Shawn and Mark are overwhelmed with nostalgia when this story is discussed, as it connects personally with each of the guys’ childhoods.

This story reveals how putting all your eggs in one basket can be harmful to the longevity of a company. This is a great story to share to a large group of employees or colleagues, as it is quite long and detailed.

Let us know if you use this story and how it went! We would love to hear.

On this week’s episode of Anecdotally Speaking, Mark shares the story of 15-year old Jyoti Kumari, whose inspiring story has been shared in the media globally.

Shawn discusses how this story reminds him of Gary Klein’s three pathways to insight, and more specifically the notion of creative desperation, and how when you are in desperate need of a solution you are forced to be creative.

If you have a story you think would be perfect for Anecdotally Speaking, email us at [email protected]. We would love to hear from you!

This week on Anecdotally Speaking, Shawn and Mark discuss how small changes can have large outcomes. Shawn shares a story he read in James Clear’s book, Atomic Habits.

The story is one that everyone should add to their story bank because everyone can relate and connect to it. Shawn and Mark reflect that, by using references to major worldwide events such as the Olympics and the Tour de France, we are able to tell this story in a variety of situations. No matter where you are from or your knowledge of sport, you most likely will have heard of the Olympics.

Due to popular demand, we have decided to run another public virtual Storytelling for Leaders program. Anecdotally Speaking’s Mark Schenk will facilitate the program, which kicks off in mid-July. If you want to come along and share your stories, head to anecdote.com/events.

In this week’s episode of Anecdotally Speaking, Shawn and Mark are thrilled to be joined by Jaya Machet, Founder and Executive Coach at Coaching Tiger. Based in Singapore, Jaya is a newly accredited Anecdote Storytelling for Leaders Partner.

Instead of providing a story for your story bank, in this episode, we hear a connection story from Jaya’s. It is important to have your own connection stories in your story bank, so, this week, Shawn, Mark, and Jaya urge everyone to add their own! We will be back to our regular format next week!

In this week’s episode of Anecdotally Speaking, Mark and Shawn discuss how an analogy can be an effective story structure to use to show contrast and to connect with your team or prospect.

Numerous resources were discussed in this episode, and are listed below:

- Shawn’s online course, 7 Tips to Be a Better Business Storyteller—https://anecdote.thinkific.com/courses/7-tips-to-be-a-better-business-storyteller

- Sir Ken Robinson’s Ted Talk, Gillian the dancer—https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dewkj80G4as&t=1s

Head to our website anecdote.com for more resources

In this week’s episode of Anecdotally Speaking, Shawn shares a story he read in Switch, another book written by the Heath Brothers, who always use stories as practical examples.

The story is quite relevant given the current climate and the challenges companies are currently facing. You can use this story as a poignant reminder of what is most important in difficult times.

At the end of June, we’re delivering two virtual Story-Powered Sales workshops, hosted by Mike Adams, author of Seven Stories Every Salesperson Should Tell. If you are interested in registering, head to anecdote.com/events for more information. We would love to see you there!