Interview: Christina Baldwin on Self-Reflection as Leadership Tool 05.25.10
Podcast with Christina Baldwin, discussing the topic: self-reflection as a leadership and storytelling practice.
Podcast with Christina Baldwin, discussing the topic: self-reflection as a leadership and storytelling practice.
I’m thrilled to be interviewing my guest Paul Costello, founder of the Center for Narrative Studies and director of New Story Leadership for the Middle East. Paul is one of my earliest mentors in the field. We’ll be discussing a new theology for storytelling in this modern world. Exploring the re-defining boundaries of narrative across time and space, and culture. Paul Costello is currently engaged in the most challenging narrative project of his life.
If you’re a direct marketer or fundraiser, odds are you’re a pretty good storyteller. Except we all know things aren’t measuring up how we’d like them to. What if the cause is more than just a tired economy? Membership rolls are on the decline. Giving patterns are dramatically shifting. And our audience – the donors, members, and customers – are increasingly savvy to spot a sales pitch when they see one.
Change is the new business as usual. When you communicate or frame your change story from a place of anger, fear, or judgment – you’re triggering the reptilian part of the brain in the mind of your audience. We’ve all heard of “fight or flight”, its a basic survival mechanism. Instead of engaging the reptilian brain, connect at the limbic level, the sphere of emotion. Psychologists say there are two basic emotions; fear and love. When your story engages people from a place of love and acceptance, a new kind of relationship is possible.
It’s easy to tell the story of the clients you serve — especially in 2010, if you have a flip video camera, a social media platform and a few juicy questions to ask. Unfortunately, it’s much harder to tell a story with which your donors can identify. Here are a total of 12 questions to help you reinforce the emotional connection and the perceived value of your work.
Deciding who to make the hero is one of the hardest decisions to make. We’re all the hero of our own life story, right? Right. Except if you’re telling a story with an audience or desired outcome in mind, its best to make your audience the hero. Because if you’re audience can see themselves in the story, then you have nothing to sell (and that’s a good thing!). The hero is the central character of any story, and often the narrative is constructed or told through their perspective.
During my recent travels to Boston, I had the pleasure of breaking bread with my fellow story practitioner Doyle Canning, and her partner Justin. Doyle is a co-founder of SmartMEME, a story collective that teach activists around the world how to better frame their stories, and get stories to travel across culture. A couple months ago, Doyle and Patrick Reinsborough [...]
As many of you know, I’m rather passionate about Generational issues across Gens Y, X, and Baby Boomers. Can’t we all just get along? So I’m confounded today by the recent advertising efforts of AARP. Perhaps you’ve seen some of these ads? “They shall inherit the earth” stories featuring young people?!? Don’t get me wrong, the future of our planet [...]