GETTING TO KNOW YOU to grow . Then we learned about the long tail and realised that we could package and licence what we do to many other businesses just like us and all of a sudden our business found it ’ s business model that works .
Tell us about some of the expectations that you had . Have they been met ? We expected to work with the very best companies all around the world and that has been meet and exceeded . In December I was working in Prague for TESCO and gave a keynote address in Istanbul . We are vey lucky to be able to see so many different types of business .
What types of services do you offer ? We mainly offer communication training , Storytelling for Leaders and Storytelling for Sales , but we also offer strategy consulting to help a company tell the story or their strategy and to embed their success stories .
Do you provide services nationally ? We provide service internationally .
Do you have any plans for overseas expansion ? We are currently expanding our overseas partner network with a focus on the USA and Asia .
What would you say to someone looking for a business consultant and what advice would you give them ? There are three questions I think you need to answer to find a good business consulting : Can they do the work ? Can you work with them ? Do they have a sincere desire to be helpful ?
Have you written a book ? If so , please tell us a bit about what business owners can get out of it . Yes , I ’ ve recently published ( 20 March ) Putting Stories to Work : Mastering Business Storytelling .
The most successful leaders are story-tellers . By mastering business storytelling , they achieve extraordinary business results . As a modern-day leader , they know they should develop this skill , but just don ’ t have the time to do this in an ad-hoc way .
What they need is a practical , reliable method to follow , one that will allow their business to reap the benefits of storytelling as soon as possible . In Putting Stories to Work , I give a clear process for mastering business storytelling . I reject the thinking that storytelling has no place at work , reminding us all that sharing stories is what we all do naturally , every day , and that it ’ s one of the most powerful tools for getting things done . You just need to adapt this natural superpower to boost your business .
My story mastery process of Discover , Remember , Share and Refresh is based on over two decades ’ work with highachieving global companies . In Putting Stories to Work , each step is spelled out in detail , backed up by research , and , needless to say , illustrated by plenty of great stories . Learn how to find and share stories to connect with new people . How to explain why change is needed . How to influence opinions and promote success . And much more . Most importantly , learn how to take the latent skill of storytelling and turn it into a potent business habit .
Imagine your colleagues telling the story of how you took the most diverse and opinionated group of experts and had them all working towards the same goal . Or the one about how you persuaded the executive team to change their minds and got a great result for the business . Or the one where everyone got inspired and turned things around . Imagine that your people all know exactly what the company strategy is and how they ’ re making a difference to the organisation . As the successful film executive Peter Guber put it : ‘ Storytelling is not show . business . It ’ s good business ’.
July 2016 ModernBusiness 49