Anecdotally Speaking

This week, Karen Stanton, the Global Branding and Marketing Director at IFF (International Flavours and Fragrances), joins us from New Jersey. She shares the story of the ‘backwards brain bike’. 

When riding the backwards brain bike, you have to turn the handlebars to the left to go right, and to the right to go left. This sounds simple but is difficult in practice. The story suggests that while we might understand something on a cognitive level, that doesn’t mean our behaviour will change. Behaviour change requires dedicated time and practice.

This week we welcome our first guest speaker for 2019 to Anecdotally Speaking! Jill Roche is the Chief of Corporate Affairs at World Vision Australia. She shares a story which suggests we should look at mistakes as opportunities.

Imagine unthinkingly hitting the ‘reply all’ button on an email and sending a note, intended for your immediate team, to your entire organisation! Jill made this mistake, but she owned it and used it to make a point.

A few years ago, Shawn was doing a project for a software company in the United States. He was invited to attend a sales conference in Orlando, where he heard a sales leader he had been coaching share a story with his sales team. In this episode, Shawn retells that story. 

The story contrasts Michael Phelps’ record breaking swim in the men's 400m Individual Medley Final at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and his swim in the same event at the 2012 London Olympics. It contains a number of valuable business points, including: don’t become complacent, it takes hard work to stay on top.

Happy New Year! We took two weeks off over the holiday period to relax and recharge. Now, we’re back and ready for a big year! 

Here is the first episode of Anecdotally Speaking for 2019! This year, we’re excited to hear more stories from guests all over the world who have completed our training programs. But before we do, we’d like to share a few stories we've discovered and rediscovered over our short break. 

In this episode, Mark shares the story of Dorothy Vaughan, a mathematician who worked as a ‘human computer’ for NASA during the 1960s. When NASA installed their first IBM mainframe computer, Dorothy feared she and her team would soon become redundant, but predicted NASA's need for a programming team. She taught herself the FORTRAN programming language, then taught it to her team, who became NASA’s programming team. The true story features in the 2016 film Hidden Figures, directed by Theodore Melfi.

This week, Shawn shares another story. The story demonstrates how small things can make a big difference. It suggests that if we are looking to solve a problem we should think about the small things we can do, before thinking about the big things other people can do. 

When working as a reporter in Iraq during the Iraq War, Charles Duhigg met a US army major. This major was tasked with resolving the riots which were occurring on almost a daily basis in the plaza outside the Great Mosque of Kufa. He resolved the riots peacefully by thinking small and implementing a small change, instead of thinking big and involving the US armed forces.

Once again, its Shawn’s turn to share a story. The story he has chosen suggests the success of new products relies on finding a balance of new and familiar features. Spotify's 'Discover Weekly' is a personalised music playlist of 30 songs, chosen based on the user's listening patterns. Matthew Ogle designed the playlist so that it would only include songs which the user had never heard before, but it became popular as the result of a bug in the software. The bug allowed some songs the user had heard before to be included. 

The story contains a number of meaningful business points, including: people are more receptive to change where there is familiarity; don’t put people too far out of their comfort zone; and mistakes can lead to new, important insights.

Having a clear purpose can help an organisation make better decisions. Southwest Airlines’ purpose to ‘democratise the skies’ helped the airline add over $1 billion to their bottom line, despite a slump in the profitability of the airline industry. This week, Mark tells us how through the story of the airline’s ‘Bags Fly Free’ campaign. 

The story contains a number of meaningful business points, including: a clear purpose can lead to better decisions; and company values should be taken seriously, particularly as decision making becomes more complicated and its outcomes less predictable.

This week, it is Mark’s turn to share a story. The story he has chosen is one which demonstrates how stories can change minds and influence people. This story changed his mind. It reminded him to be aware of his assumptions and aware of the lessons of history. 

Many of us are not familiar with the universal basic income concept. Just fifty years ago it was nearly reality. The concept proposes a minimum level of income be provided to all people. This ensures that no one falls below the poverty line. A significant body of research has shown that implementation of the concept can have significant benefits. 

Is poverty a lack of character or simply a lack of cash? Mark thought it was the former but changed his mind. With big ideas it is easy to jump to one perspective. We often rethink that perspective when we unravel the idea.

Most of us know the Dyson brand. Their vacuum cleaners, hair dryers and stylers, fans, heaters and humidifiers are all considered top of their product ranges. Most of us, however, don’t know that James Dyson toiled over the design for his bagless vacuum cleaner for some 15 years before earning any real profit or gaining any real success. So, what is the story behind the Dyson brand and the first bagless vacuum cleaner? This week we find out! 

This story is a new favourite of Shawn’s. It is quite timely, considering Dyson have just released the Airwrap, their new hair styling tool. Sure, we know how this story ends, but the twists and turns along the way are engaging and unexpected. This story is a great one for encouraging perseverance and iteration, and for offering insights into the true nature of innovation.

Continuing to share stories from those we’ve met on our travels, in this episode we’re joined by Sir Charles Masefield. Charles shares a story from very early in his career with BAE Systems. Charles worked his way up within the ranks of the company, starting as a test pilot and eventually becoming the president. This story is from his days as a general manager. 

Charles’ story describes the series of events by which, under his leadership, BAE Systems’ worst performing factory became their best. He first placed himself and his team in a casual environment where there would be no hierarchy and where they could partake in an open, honest conversation. He then created a system through which they could share their ideas to improve the factory and be rewarded appropriately. The story contains a number of meaningful business points. Charles says his experience taught him to ‘always ask’ - to ask his team about what is working and what is not working, before telling them what to do. 

Charles was an excellent guest. He requires no prompting to tell a good story and has a story example to prove every point! His story is very detailed and contains those twists and turns which keep us asking ‘what happens next!?’