The secret to storytelling without being condescending

I had a choice: stay in my comfort zone and talk at people about prototyping. Or try something I've never done before: tell an engaging story that has the chance to stick in people's minds. 

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Episode 17: Once Upon a Time in Manchester (Part 3)

A storyteller, struggling to teach innovation. And an innovator, struggling to find his story ...  Then, one day, a message: “Hey Steve. I’ve got a proposition for you. Free to chat?” Tactics: TRUE Stories, Pitch Perfect.

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Episode 16: Niamh’s Pride and Fall

The penny finally dropped in Nan’s back garden. Niamh and her Dad stood there, watching Tony the estate agent hacking brambles and weeds with a spade. Slowly he reveals a low concrete slab, covered in moss and cracked with age. ...

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Episode 15: It's a Kind of Magic

Niamh has been with MiCasa for three months now. A dream job for any developer, starting with an almost blank page and focussing on what the customer really needs.  Tactics: It's a Kind of Magic, How to Why.

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Episode 14: Time to jump ship?

Niamh is in charge of the development team at UpYourStreet, a long-established property sales platform. Except she’s not - not in charge, that is. She’s waiting for Derek. Tactics: Story Hooks, The Dragon and the City

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Episode 13: The Strange Death of Zanussi Cumberbatch

Zanussi died unexpectedly, unloved and un-mourned by the millions of people who’d never read his work. Overnight, Google had changed its search algorithms. They’d seen through the likes of Zanussi Cumberbatch, with his pathetic attempts to game the system. With...

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Episode 12: The Secret Life of Zanussi Cumberbatch

Orson always wanted to be a writer. He had a photo of Hemingway on the desk in his student bedroom.  Two years out of uni, Orson got a job that paid him to write: as a content writer for a web...

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Episode 11: Cut to the Chase

“Let me ask you this,” she says, pausing the presentation. “How many of us in this room right now know what we’re having for dinner tonight?” Tactics: Data Detectives, Cut to the Chase.

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Episode 10: “What’s wrong with a bit of Trolley Judging?”

Rachel is in the zone.  Deep in databases and reports, click through rates and eyeball tracking, consumer trends and competitor analysis. She looks up from her laptop, it’s 3.40pm. Where has Sunday gone? Tactics: Shock of the Old, Universal Stories.

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Episode 9: "Do we know that?..."

If Rachel had a catchphrase, it would be “Do we know that?” Followed by a pause, into which she mentally inserts “Or are you just making a massive assumption?” Colleagues joke it’ll be carved on her tombstone: “Here lies Rachel Downes…...

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Episode 8: Once upon a time in Manchester (Part 2)

He's checking his phone. He’s actually checking his phone! While I’m presenting. Shit, shit, shit. Tactics: Rolls Royce Moment, That's Funny.  

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Episode 7: The Sage

This has all worked out well, very well. Ravi didn’t actually tell Emma she’s acting like his rebellious little sister, within the “family” of the company. But that was the story in his head. Rebellion is inevitable, he told her....

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