It is truly remarkable to consider just how much of the world we live in is fiction. Money, nations, law, the economy, companies, schools, the Paris Climate Agreement and so on, are all fiction. They only exist in our collective imaginations, separate from the concrete reality that all other species inhabit. Pigeons do not use money, recognise national boundaries, break laws, care about the...
The foundation of every human need is the need for control. By being able to control the world around us, we are able to satisfy our every need. There are our basic survival needs. When we can get food and water and shelter we can stay alive. When we have a family, we become responsible for the survival needs of multiple people. When we can get what we need to keep them alive, we can relax. There...
The first step on the path to bridging communication gaps is empathy. Empathy is the story of other people’s minds. By empathising, we learn the cause and effect chains that have created another person’s thoughts and feelings. When we understand their thoughts and feelings, we understand the pleasure they wish to approach, and the pain they wish to avoid. It’s like a big fan, sitting in the...
This last decade has travelled in the reverse direction of what many of us predicted. With access to more information than we’ve ever had before, surely we would become more informed. But instead, we have become more ignorant. It was hard to predict what has actually happened. Instead of using this abundance of information to better inform ourselves, we have better isolated ourselves. On our...
Procrastination is an ancient survival strategy. When resources are scarce, all that matters is survival in the now. As our ancestors trekked through forests, when they saw an apple, they wouldn’t stop to think of the number of calories it contained, whether or not they should leave some room for dinner, or what it would do to their blood sugar levels, they’d just eat it because they wouldn’t...
Whenever I run a training session, one of the first things I do is ask people why they have joined this training. I find there are typically two types of answers. One answer is because someone else told them to attend this training. Their boss told them to go. They have a KPI to attend a certain number of training days. This training is a compulsory requirement for the work they’re doing. Another...
When we think of persuasion, we tend to think of saying things in an artistic way. Those who are good with words can easily persuade others. But sometimes, there are far simpler ways of persuading others. In 1519, the famous Spanish Conquistador Hernando Cortés, famous for causing the fall of the Aztec Empire, gave a perfect example of persuading through very simple, yet direct means. The year...
This morning, my son cried. This is a fact. I have witnesses to back me up. There were tears streaming from his eyes and a big frown on his face as he reached out for a comforting hug. But this fact alone, creates a lot of questions, for which you so far have not received any answers. Why did he cry? What happened after he cried? Was this normal for him? These questions arise from your...
I’m the author of this book on storytelling and I’ll confess, even I struggle to make up good stories on the spot. But that’s not a problem because my best stories are stored safely in my memory, have been practiced and refined over and over again and are ready to take out the moment I need them. Not a single one of my best stories have ever been made up on the spot. If you want to be a good...
We all know things. Some things we know very, very well, and other things we know just a bit well, but we all know things. Experts are those who know an awful lot and have a very specific and advanced skill set. A lot of the time when trying to solve problems, we need experts to help us, like IT Engineers, Accountants or Mechanics. And that’s a good idea, because experts are very effective at...