Tag Archives: communication

Social networks: From campfires to Facebook

By Steve | Published: September 11, 2011

It’s alchemy: A group of people is greater than the sum of its parts. A hunting party keeps the tribe fed. A bucket brigade douses the barn fire. Thirteen colonies become mightier when they unite. An assembly line mass produces autos. A tech firm creates dazzling innovation. A Twitter community brings a despot down. What’s [...]

Posted in Book reviews, Health movement, Life | Also tagged Book reviews, books, change, culture, diversity, health care, marketing, organization, Organizational communication, PR, racism, research, social media, social networks, transparency | Leave a comment

Imagine all the people: Living life in health

By Steve | Published: October 16, 2010

Four conferences over two weeks … there’s so much swirling in my head that I could write a post for each of eight different topics. But tonight I landed on a central theme after watching the video of Regina Holliday describe the painting she created during the Health 2.0 conference in San Francisco. She captures [...]

Posted in Health movement, Marketing and PR, Visual storytelling | Also tagged change, culture, health care, marketing, PR, public opinion, research, storytellimg, video, visual | Leave a comment

A book for resolve: Change or Die

By Steve | Published: January 1, 2010

Change or Die by Alan Deutschman was referred to me by a physician who is using its ideas to help her patients make life changes (thanks, Deb). It was an ideal read to usher in a new year, a new decade and a new phase in my career. Many of the change ideas were familiar to [...]

Posted in Book reviews, Leadership, Life, Organizational communication, Organizational culture | Also tagged Book reviews, books, career, change, conversation, culture, emotion, health care, leadership, openness, organization, Organizational communication, public opinion, rhetoric, storytelling, storytelling tips, teams, writing | Leave a comment

Poet brings vision statement to life

By Steve | Published: December 23, 2009

Tears of pride welled up yesterday as I watched a corporate video. A corporate video! Diane Gage-Lofgren, our national VP of communications and PR, had asked a poet/performance artist to bring life to our communication team’s new vision statement. A stroke of genius. I will forever have a visual and resonant image to add soul [...]

Posted in Applied stories, storytelling theory, Visual storytelling | Also tagged authenticity, career, culture, emotion, health care, leadership, openness, organization, Organizational communication, PR, rhetoric, storytelling, storytelling theory, storytelling tips, teams, video, visual | Leave a comment

Filmmaker’s advice for great business storytelling

By Steve | Published: December 18, 2009

Filmmaker Peter Guber (Rainman, Batman, The Color Purple) once used storytelling to win Fidel Castro’s support for filming in Havana Harbor. The official application form had been torpedoed, but El Presidente enthusiastically endorsed the project once he heard Guber tell of the harbor’s historic significance and Castro’s responsibility to the world to share that piece of [...]

Posted in Applied stories, Excellent stories, storytelling theory | Also tagged authenticity, Book reviews, career, conversation, emotion, leadership, openness, organization, Organizational communication, rhetoric, storytellimg, storytelling, storytelling theory, storytelling tips | 1 Comment

Stories trump facts: The mammography lesson

By Steve | Published: November 21, 2009

The facts are clear: You have to give 1,900 women mammograms before you save one life. Along the way are hundreds of false positives, needless worry and unnecessary procedures. The stories are more compelling: We all know someone whose breast cancer was caught early. That one life is real to us. The hundreds of false-positives [...]

Posted in Applied stories, storytelling theory | Also tagged health care, Organizational communication, public opinion, rhetoric, storytelling, storytelling theory | Leave a comment

Put the “public” back in PR

By Steve | Published: November 15, 2009

Review: Putting the Public Back in Public Relations by Brian Solis and Deirdre Breakenridge Key idea: Public Relations today means attending to relationships. Good PR starts with listening to the desires, needs and pain points of our customers and potential customers. It also starts with an excellent understanding of what our organization can offer to [...]

Posted in Book reviews, Marketing and PR | Also tagged Book reviews, books, organization, PR, resources | Leave a comment

My responsibility as a white guy

By Steve | Published: October 14, 2009

A sharp Metro State College student asked me about my earlier post on racism during my guest lecture yesterday. He seemed to get the gist of my story, but I could tell he was confused. I think I was too cute in that post, and I liked my answer I gave him better: As a [...]

Posted in Opinion | Also tagged culture, dialogue, diversity, emotion, language, my stories, openness, President Obama, racism, racist | Leave a comment

Why the flame is eternal

By Steve | Published: August 31, 2009

The Chicago Tribune’s John Kass writes that with the death of Teddy Kennedy, perhaps we can now put the Kennedy / Camelot myth to rest. Sorry, Mr. Kass. Myths don’t work that way. Did Jacqueline Kennedy and a fawning press create the myth? Kass makes a pretty good case for that. But no matter how [...]

Posted in Excellent stories, Opinion, storytelling theory | Also tagged leadership, myth, storytelling, storytelling theory | Leave a comment

Great ideas for improving meetings

By Steve | Published: March 24, 2009

Lencioni, P. (2004). Death by Meeting. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. When you stop to think of the resources an organization invests in meetings, you realize what a tremendous return is needed to justify them. Unfortunately, very little attention is paid to the conduct of a meeting and this valuable tool is largely wasted. Lencioni’s fictional leadership [...]

Posted in Book reviews, Leadership, Organizational communication | Also tagged leadership | Leave a comment