Q.west for good: Change leadership stories with Denise Withers

Scientists need to be able to tell the story of their work if they want to get grants, engage collaborators, shift policy or generate new knowledge. Unfortunately, that’s not something they learn to do in school. And that’s a problem for all of us, because the world needs to know about the incredible research being done, if we want to solve some of our most complex issues.

Dr. Phil De Luna understands this need and has embedded storytelling across his work to help him generate consensus and maximize his impact. As a world-leading clean energy expert, he’s one of Forbes Top 30 under 30, a Carbon XPrize Finalist, carbontech co-founder and manager of a $57 million dollar project at the National Research Council of Canada. In this episode, he shares the story strategies and tactics behind his success.

A “Filipino kid” who grew up watching the decline of the auto industry in Windsor, Ontario, Phil learned how to connect with others through story early in life, consuming Harry Potter novels and finding his voice in drama club. As he launched his materials science career in university, he began to weave creative and self-reflective practices into his research to define both his brand and his purpose. Investing time to develop and understand his own story – to get clear on who he is and what he wants to achieve – has paid off in his ability to earn recognition and opportunities. That includes publishing in the esteemed journals Science and Nature, serving as a member of the OECD Advanced Materials Steering Committee and winning the Governor General’s Gold medal. 

As we explore his story practice, Phil shares practical tips to help scientists who might be uncomfortable with stories find ways to experiment with them to increase their impact. He also emphasizes that science storytelling isn’t about convincing or selling. Rather, it focuses on being able to make sense of or distill the problem being addressed in the research, so that scientists can share it to engage diverse audiences. 

This episode is a favourite – packed with useful insights and a-ha moments from Phil – highly recommended for experts who want to expand their influence to have a listen.

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Great leaders are masters of empathy. They know how to design compelling stories that blend the right facts with the right emotional experience to inspire action. And, they can do that across diverse audiences, ranging from boards and investors - to employees and citizens. But how do you know what story to tell to whom? That’s what I explore with Lasse Gustavsson in this episode.

Currently the President and CEO of Ocean Wise - a global ocean conservation non-profit - Lasse has led massive change initiatives across cultures and continents. He’s conducted scientific expeditions, served as the executive director of conservation at World Wildlife Fund International, and commissioned the most comprehensive study of fisheries across the European Union. Today, his portfolio includes the Vancouver Aquarium, which is legendary for its conservation storytelling and audience engagement.

Early in his career, Lasse learned that the key to shifting beliefs and behaviours is to figure out what people need, then help them get it in a way that supports your purpose - which is the essence of human-centred design. During our conversation, he shares several examples of how he’s used this strategy to create stories that tackle challenges from pollution to climate change. And he reminds us that one of the key elements of engagement is helping people have fun - something to keep in mind when working on darker issues of the day.

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How do you stand-out in a consulting market crowded with global experts and world-class solutions? With a story. But not just any story. One that demonstrates that you understand your clients' unique challenges and aspirations, and have a vision of a shared journey to create success on their terms.

That's what Maryn Wallace and her colleagues of Deloitte – one of the world's top consulting firms – are doing for clients across Canada, with surprising results. Not only are they building trust and relationships with their customers, but they're also shifting their own work culture to become more collaborative, creative and client-centric.

In this episode, Maryn shares her discovery of story design at the THNK School of Creative Leadership, and walks us through her process to bring it into her customer development work at Deloitte. Along the way, she describes the story template she uses (introduced to her by Deloitte Partner Stephen Brown), and highlights the transformational impact this seemingly simple shift in workflow has had on both customer outcomes, and the performance of teams across the organization. 

Maryn also shares her advice for those who want to bring story design into their own workplaces – and wraps up the episode with a tease for her next big story project.

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In this episode, we continue our conversation with Emmy-nominated storyteller Tracy Bacenas.  After leaving Hollywood and her job at Survivor, Tracy returns to Canada’s capital to raise a family and begins to focus her story work on creating content for kids.

One of her first challenges is a fascinating, high-end animation project that sets out to use story to teach the scientific concept of biomagnification to kids. Despite having world-class visuals and intriguing science, the producers were struggling to make the piece work. As Tracy shares her approach to the project, we discuss the role of story in bringing complex ideas like scientific theories to life – and discover the value of investing in creating a good Hollywood story that makes the audience care about the outcome.

She also takes us into her creative process for her current project – another animation series designed to engage young voters in the electoral process, by creating stories about how their votes produce impact across levels. Through this discussion, we dive into the potential of using story to engage people across demographics in change – as well as a bit of the latest neuroscience into how stories sync up our thoughts and feelings.

Finally, we bring the story process full circle, as Tracy shares what she’s learned about the toughest challenge of all – writing a killer pitch story. Tune in to learn about the unique process she’s developed for creating winning pitches that’s based on her 30 years of pitching news, Hollywood, ad agencies, governments and business.

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Tracy Bacenas is an Emmy-nominated editor, director, writer, artist and supermom who infuses story throughout her work and her life. In this episode, we follow the first half of her career, as she shares tips and insights from the work that has made her one of the world’s top storytellers.

We start out with the tale of one of her first assignments as a young TV journalist sent to cover a KKK rally in her home state of Georgia. Things don’t go so well, and she learns some valuable lessons about perspective, bias and when to keep your head down.

After spending the next decade honing her craft making films and videos for art and corporate clients, she heads to art school to explore different genres and media for her story work. This culminates in the production of an incredibly avant-garde art project, in which she combines video episodes of future stories and online dating as a way to design her life. Decades ahead of her time, this work nicely foreshadowing today’s emerging practices of using speculative and design fiction as a way to develop and test new ideas for innovators and entrepreneurs.

Inevitably, her career takes her to Hollywood, where she becomes a top editor for Survivor. As we talk about the high stakes challenges of working at this level, Tracy takes us behind the scenes into the edit suite to reveal the secrets of crafting compelling stories.

Wrapping up, we realize that we have so much to talk about that we decide to continue our conversation in another episode. So be sure to catch Tracy Bacenas – Part Two!

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Paola Ardiles Gamboa is an educator and public health champion who teaches health promotion and social innovation at Simon Fraser University in Canada. She’s also Chilean-Canadian and an advocate for human rights in Chile. Much of her work focuses on the social determinants of mental health, and story is one of her most powerful tools for change.

Recently, she shared a very personal story of her immigration to Canada and the resulting mental health challenges her family faced. Her goal was to draw attention to challenges and inequities in our systems, specifically the social determinants of health. As we discuss the surprising impact of this seemingly simple act, we explore the power of story to help us find, create and strengthen community.

This leads to an exploration of her use of stories in the health change lab she co-leads for university students in Surrey, British Columbia. By listening to and analyzing their own stories alongside stories from the community, students are able to develop deep empathy and understanding for the people they’re about to serve, which enables them to co-create better solutions to health challenges.

Finally, Paola tells us about the work she’s doing to share specific stories from the frontlines of the uprising in Chile, as a way to raise awareness and encourage global action. By seeking out personal connections and focusing on making the stories relevant to listeners thousands of kilometres away, she and her colleagues have been able to inspire both grassroots and political action to address the human rights injustices in her home country.

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Mary Brandon of Aspect Consulting is one of North America's top career and work-life coaches and consultants, with 30+ years of experience working across public, social and private sectors for clients from LinkedIn to the U S government. She's also a community leader who's deeply engaged in empowering women to discover how to work and live in more authentic, organic, and feminine ways. To do all of this, she uses story a lot – and that’s what we talk about in this episode. 

As a coach, Mary combines a lifetime of personal experience with story-driven development methodologies and deep research into how the mind works to help people realize their goals. In this podcast, she shares an amazing example of how she enables clients to discover and become their heroic selves, a process that leads them to big and small changes that bring joy, peace and prosperity. Though her practice is an evolution of exposure to many different experts and theories, she identifies the work of Barbara Sher, who wrote I Could Do Anything if Only I Knew What it Was and Joseph Campbell as being particularly influential.

Mary also takes us through a powerful coming-of-age ritual she developed for her son, to share the stories of his life with him as a foundation for adulthood. Almost a decade later, she discovers the true impact of that process on him, and tells us how it transformed his life. 

Between coaching assignments, Mary’s also making a documentary and writing a book to share her methodologies. We’ll be sure to check back in with her when these become available.

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Katie Lin is a multimedia journalist, campaigner and storyteller, who’s contributed to social justice and environmental contribution projects around the globe for organizations that include Greenpeace and SeaLegacy. In the last decade, she’s worked across digital and traditional media channels, producing stories that engage audiences and drive change at local, national, and international levels.

Though Katie has led incredibly high-level campaigns to tackle issues like petroleum development, mining and endangered species, she tells us that some of her favourite stories have a much smaller footprint, and come from the heart. This leads into a discussion about the importance of using our voice to tell the truth, through telling everyday stories. As those privileged to have the access, training, equipment and platform to be heard, it’s critical for journalists to use story to give people a voice, help them be seen and remind them that they belong – they matter.

While Katie shares stories of her work in Tibet, the Amazon and SeaLegacy, we explore the concept of citizen journalism as the next big movement – the most powerful way to make change. Through her work, Katie shows us that only by enabling people everywhere to use their inner storyteller to make the world into a place they love, can we create a future that works for all.

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As the facilitation practice lead at digital transformation company, Domain7, Kevan Gilbert’s job is to help clients design the future. But how do you create something when you don’t know anything about it? That’s where story comes in, as an essential tool to help people imagine, experience, experiment and ultimately fall in love with a specific future. And that’s what we talk about in this episode

Kevan’s work centres around the idea of co-creation or collective genius, as a way to mobilize all the knowledge, expertise and experience we need to solve today’s complex problems. One of the challenges of this work is finding a way to help people let go of their old practices, old roles, old beliefs and step into a new way of being that fosters collaboration, innovation and creativity.

To do that, he shares an example of a type of role play technique he used recently that enabled senior executives from the public sector to try on new approaches to collaboration, in a risk-free way. Drawing on the work of Barry Oshry, he helps them step out of their old story and into a new one. Only then can they begin to move past significant barriers in their work, and start to develop the creative culture they’ll need to reach their shared goals.

Finally, we talk about Kevan’s experience with a huge corporate transformation underway in his home town. He shares his experience with big box retailer Staples, and the way they bring to life their future story to become a community-driven work hub.

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