As we all grieve the immense loss of actor James Earl Jones (Star Wars, The Lion King), I wanted to celebrate one his funnier milestones, reading Letterman’s best Top Ten List, reciting commercial jingles with his spectacular, powerful, booming voice. #RIPJamesEarlJones
Showing compassion is not a sign of weakness. It’s a source of strength.
In the early days of COVID, the more CEOs expressed concern for employees, the less company stock prices fell. Each statement of concern was worth 2.5% better returns.
It pays to care about people.
Love to see a FULL house (especially so many students) at tonight’s #pprshbg event. (And I may be slightly self-conscious about this post since the entire event was about social media. 😂) #hashtags
AI-hyperpersonalization has arrived.
@PublicisGroupe chief exec sent a message to each employee, thanking them personally, by name and in their first language, for their hard work. It was all powered by AI and well-received.
Good can come from this.
https://t.co/AzjI1xXcKM
The Phillies have toppled the Braves to advance to the National League Championship Series for the second consecutive season 🍾
➡️ https://t.co/eLE7ZPtBGq
Hurry - the registration deadline for our September meeting is less than one week away! Join us Thursday, Sept. 28 to hear about The Secrets of Behavioral Science for Effective Communication! Register now for the final regular meeting of 2023: https://t.co/24EE8MNeFv
@sarabozich Ohhh computer labs…those were the days. I can still remember the time I typed a 20-page paper up only to have the computer crash and lose it all. I feel like our kids will never know this pain (because AI will just write it all for them in 30 seconds 😭). Cheers to old moms! 🥂
Last night members of our Women's Leadership Network gathered at @TroegsBeer for Vino and Volunteering. They assembled 500 period kits for girls and women in our Contact to Care initiative, which helps increase access to health care. #liveunited#volunteering#leadership
In 4 minutes, Kurt Vonnegut explained stories better than anyone I’ve ever heard.
“The shape of the curve is what matters. Not their origins.”
He plots stories on 2 axes:
X: Time
Y: Good fortune / ill fortune
He goes on to say,
“Somebody gets into trouble, then gets out of it again. People love that story. They never get tired of it.”
Point 1:
Stories have defined patterns.
In Joseph Campbell’s Hero of a Thousand Faces, he makes the case for the Hero’s Journey.
Since then, it’s become the most famous storytelling structure in the world.
Vonnegut argued stories could be divided into 8 shapes.
Each story, he said, fit one of the 8.
Point 2:
Vonnegut says,
“Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them — so the reader may see what they're made of.”
To see who your characters really are, you have to make them suffer.
Only then does your audience have someone worth cheering for.
Point 3:
End on a high note.
Vonnegut says, “It’s not accidental that the line ends up higher than where it began. This is encouraging to readers.”
The way a story makes people feel when they finish is how they remember it.
It’s called recency bias.
Lift people up and they will love you.
***
“There are people. There are stories. The people think they shape the stories, but the reverse is often closer to the truth.”
I wrote this with @RobbieCrab. Follow him for lessons on storytelling + fundraising.
And I talk about creative storytelling. Follow @nathanbaugh27 for more like that.