Down with Fluff: Executive Storytelling in the AI Era - with Anuneha Mewawalla

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Dan Nestle: Welcome or welcome back to the trending

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Communicator. I'm your host, Dan Nestle. Have you

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ever wondered why some CEOs always seem to say

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the right things? Expressing nuanced views with

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confidence and clarity, even under pressure or in

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the middle of a crisis, while others struggle to

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string sentences together and are probably better

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kept out of the public eye? Look, maybe you know

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all this already, but one of the most important

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and impactful roles communicators play is to make

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sure that leaders are prepared and ready to be

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the authoritative voices of an organization. We

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keep them informed, we brief and we coach them,

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we write or we refine messaging, while at the

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same time we work to help them build trust with

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audiences and stakeholders every day, on social

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channels, in the media, at events, pretty much

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anywhere you see them, and so on. Of course,

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leaders are people. Some are great in front of a

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room, some are great writers and deep thinkers,

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and some just aren't. But if they're leading an

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organization, one thing they all need to be good

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at is telling a story, conveying ideas in ways

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that make sense, talking about their

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organizations in relatable ways, talking about

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them in. In their own stories, using their own

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experiences to build relationships and to build

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trust. We've talked about storytelling before on

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the show, but executive storytelling is kind of

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at a whole other level. And my guest today is one

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of the leading practitioners in the field. A

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trusted thought partner to the C suites of high

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growth and Fortune 500 companies. Her background

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as a TV news anchor and comms leader gives her

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exceptional insight into the art and science of

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storytelling. After starting out as a journalist,

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she made her way into corporate comms, leading

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communications functions at the Page Society,

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Accenture and F5. Before founding Lexato

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Consulting, she's been helping her clients with

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executive brand strategy, leadership,

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communications, change and transformation

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communications and more. And now with the advent

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of AI, she's been at the forefront of AI adoption

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and enablement in the PR profession and in the

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spirit of transparency, is partnering with your

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humble narrator on a variety of AI training and

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enablement projects. I'm excited to get into the

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world of executive storytelling, how it's

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evolving and of course, what effect AI will have

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on all of this with my good friend, Ananeha

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Mevawala. Ananeha, it's good to see you.

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Anuneha Mewawalla: Thanks for having me, Dan. I'm delighted to be

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here.

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Dan Nestle: I have to say it's been a wonderful pleasure to

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get to know you over the last year. But also, you

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are a trending communicator. It's why I've been

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working with you, it's why, you know, we get

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along so well. But also it's really why I wanted

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to have you on the show. Because, you know,

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storytelling is one of those things that we pop

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around. It's a term we throw around a lot. And,

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you know, there's a lot of different takes on it.

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And oftentimes when business leaders hear

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storytelling, you know, they don't. They don't

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hear value, they hear fluff. But we're here to

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tell you that that's not exactly right. And it

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has its own discipline and it has a lot of

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science behind it. And certain. It is a preferred

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method of maybe the only method of effective

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communication when we're talking about, you know,

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more complex subjects, for sure. So, you know,

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let's get into it a little bit. But before we

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start there, I just, you know, give us a few

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minutes if you, you know, if you want to walk us

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through the, you know, how did Ananeja get to

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where you are today? And why did you get so

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interested in storytelling? I kind of want to

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know.

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Anuneha Mewawalla: I think my love affair with storytelling dates

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back to my time in the newsroom as a news

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reporter and as a television news anchor, bearing

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that responsibility to represent different sides

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of the story, to bring those stories, those

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stories that matter, to really be the one to

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sniff out, you know, stories in the most

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unlikely, unexpected places. And sometimes it's

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about finding the needle in the haystack. Stories

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worth telling, stories worth sharing, stories

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that inform, that are powerful, that can evoke

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emotion, that can inspire, that can change lives,

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that can cause change in our world, in our

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society. And I think that is where my passion for

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storytelling comes from. And I think that it

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translated really quite elegantly from journalism

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to strategic communications, to helping companies

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of all sizes, be it startups, high growth

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companies, or Fortune 500, because I think that's

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what separates companies today is how can you cut

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through the noise, how can you differentiate

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yourself in a very crowded marketplace with

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stories that are not just a listing of facts and

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data, stories that speak to both the heart and

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the mind? And so I think that brings me to

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something that's so fundamental that I think we

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must address at the get go of our podcast and our

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time together is what is storytelling?

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Dan Nestle: You're getting way ahead of me. Getting.

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Anuneha Mewawalla: Well, not way ahead.

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Dan Nestle: You're getting right ahead of me. But you're

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absolutely. I was just going to say that I'm so

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glad that you pointed out that a string of facts

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and information itself unstructured or even just

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as a list is not a story, A story is not the

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facts of which it is composed or the points of

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which it is composed. A story is the composition.

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So, yes, please tell us what storytelling is in

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your mind. Like, what's your view on

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storytelling? And let's lay it out for our

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listeners.

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Anuneha Mewawalla: As I see it, at its core, storytelling is the art

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of creating meaningful connection or meaningful

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connections through the power of narrative. And

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it's not about a simple recounting of facts or

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just sharing information. It is about tapping

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into the universal human desire, but purpose for

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emotion, for shared experience, for connection.

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And when you think about the communications

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toolkit, executive storytelling is absolutely

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foundational. It is not just one other tactic,

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one other channel. It is the strategic backbone

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that shapes how leaders communicate their vision,

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their values, their impact, and it's also how

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they are perceived. Now, executive storytelling

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is, and this is maybe one point of distinction

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from just storytelling per se is it's about

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inviting stakeholders into the leader's

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worldview. It's about disseminating. It's not

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just about disseminating the company line. I

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think that's really, really key to understand.

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And the best executive storytellers that I have

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worked with understand that their personal

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narratives are intrinsically linked to their

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organization's broader brand and reputation. And

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so it's about getting behind the person behind

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the title. It's about revealing the humanity

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behind the title. What are the motivations, what

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are the struggles, the why that inspires people

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to follow and to come along on that leader's

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journey. If you think about the most influential

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leaders, you know, what makes their communication

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stand out, nine times out of 10, it's their

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ability to weave a compelling narrative that taps

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into our shared hopes, our fears, our

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aspirations. Incredible storytellers, incredible

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executive storytellers. They do not just inform

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us, they inspire us. That's one thing I want you

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to take away. And the power of executive

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storytelling, it's not just one additional tool

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in the communications PR toolkit. It is the glue

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that binds strategy to execution, vision to

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reality. And when done right, it can be that

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difference between creating superficial awareness

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or driving deep, lasting engagement with a

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variety of stakeholders.

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Dan Nestle: So you've said so much there that I'm just, you

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know, I'm nodding my head like, well, of course

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it's such an ideal. It's a wave of magic wand.

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And we have a leader who can lead. You know, we

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have somebody who can, who can inspire others to

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follow or to kind of, you know, at least take a

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leap of faith or you know, accept the strategy

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that's being put forward, you know, be motivated

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to accomplish certain goals and tasks. I think

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we've all been there, we've all been in

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situations where you've had somebody that's

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inspired you, you've had a leader that's inspired

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you. And I suppose if we can, if we go back to

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those episodes in our life and in our

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professional life, I suspect very strongly that

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you're going to find these storytelling moments

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where they've woven in their own experience or

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set it up such that they're not just talking

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about, here are the things you need to do and

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here's why you have to do them. They're talking

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about, look, we have a greater mission here and a

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greater purpose here. Here's the situation. And

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that's, that's something that we should all kind

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of understand. But that's not all. You know,

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there are, there are forces arrayed around us.

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That's why we need to do this. So there's a,

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there's a story, there's a, there's a flow. And

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almost like it's a, it's almost like the tasks

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and the goals or the medicine and the story is

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the sugar coated capsule that goes around it that

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allows us to swallow. In some ways. I don't want

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to like, demean the story itself into something

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that's extra or fluffy, but one thing you said

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that really, really stood out is this idea of

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inviting. You know, you said that effective

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storytelling, executive storytelling, that the

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whole goal of this is to invite stakeholders in.

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And I have to admit that I haven't heard it put

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that way until just now. And whenever that

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happens to me, I furiously start scribbling. When

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you think about that, inviting stakeholders to be

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on the journey with you. When we say

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stakeholders, we're talking about all of our

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audiences. We're talking about the people who buy

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products, who donate to your organization, who

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advocate for you, and also your employees, your

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coworkers, everybody. These are all different

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stakeholder groups inviting them in. Can you

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think of any examples from when you've worked

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with executives where there's somebody who has

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done a terrible job of being invitational, so to

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speak, versus an example of a very good inviter

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or a trust builder that brings people in?

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Anuneha Mewawalla: Absolutely. I'm going to answer that question in

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two ways for the benefit of our listeners. I'll

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also kind of try to be a little bit like, what

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can we take away? How can we apply some of this

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to our own experiences and challenges and

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opportunities? And then I'll also Share an

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example. I think that what it comes down to is

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authenticity. I think it's the willingness to be

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personal. Because when you're personal, when you

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are willing to share a little bit more about that

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person, the values, the leadership values, the

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mindsets, the philosophies behind whoever your,

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whatever your title is, the likelihood that you

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come across as real and relatable is that much

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higher. And I think that's all very just

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inextricably linked to that idea of inviting

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people in. And so I've seen this on so many

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occasions, it's hard for me to decide which

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examples to share. But on one occasion, working

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with the, you know, one of the C suite executives

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at a major tech company, you know, him being

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willing to share with the organization as part of

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all hands meetings, what are their top five

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leadership values. But really each of them was

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associated with a story. Either a story that was

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a struggle, a failure, or something that

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propelled them forward. But that was just, it was

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just remarkable what response that had and how it

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evoked a variety of reactions from employees in

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that they suddenly saw their leader in a

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different light. Here's someone who is just like

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us, who struggled, who succeeded, but he is

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willing to bring us in and be candid about it.

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And that was just such a tremendous driver of

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credibility, that transparency, that

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authenticity, but also of trust. They suddenly

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saw their leader in a way that they had never

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seen them before. I have so many other examples,

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but with another multibillion dollar tech company

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that I worked with, the CEO was on a

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transformation journey with a number of

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challenges that came along with it. Globally

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distributed workforce, multiple acquisitions in a

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short period of time, which led to an

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amalgamation of cultures and a whole lot more

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transformation ahead in terms of the strategic

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vision. Looking out, how are we to bring

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employees along on this journey? And that's

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something that I had the good fortune and the

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opportunity to work with him on. And I think

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that, you know, what we ended up doing was very,

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very authentic in that we made the CEO part of

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the storytelling, a very central figure in the

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storytelling, talking in ways that were very

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personal and connected about the future strategy

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of the company, the priorities, the execution

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priorities of the company, the culture and the

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values of the company. Really sharing from a

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personal place, sharing employee stories, sharing

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the CEO's personal background and stories and why

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things and why this future scenario meant so much

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and why it could be such a game changer for the

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company in terms of competitive advantage it

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brought to us. And how he infused employees into

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all of the storytelling in a very Big way. And

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the results were just phenomenal in that we had

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over 70% of the company sort of participating in

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this CEO led very authentic storytelling, which

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was really driven by transformation storytelling.

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And we had close to like almost 90% saying they

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were more committed and inspired about the

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future, which was just remarkable and inspiring

291
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on so many levels that when you get it right,

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when you get executive storytelling right, when

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they are, in fact, inviting stakeholders to join

294
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them in a journey to understand the why behind

295
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their sort of persuading you and, you know,

296
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getting you to understand why. There is, you

297
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know, there's. There's a. There's a joint

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purpose. There's a mutual purpose at stake here.

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Amazing things can happen. And I think we've all

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kind of probably been exposed to a lot of really

301
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great research around employee engagement. So

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employee engagement is linked to higher

303
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performance, better customer success, lower

304
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turnover, absenteeism. And so I know I'm probably

305
00:16:53,469 --> 00:16:55,909
like, you know, this could be its own topic, and

306
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it's such a rich one, too, but I think that

307
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executives can play such a profound and

308
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influential role when it comes to engaging

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employees. And once employees are engaged, that

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can lead to such a phenomenal result in terms of

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company performance.

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00:17:21,035 --> 00:17:24,219
Dan Nestle: Oh, yeah. Our friend Ethan McCarty, who's been on

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00:17:24,227 --> 00:17:28,651
the show twice, often talks about the multiplier

314
00:17:28,723 --> 00:17:32,691
effect of engaged employees on company

315
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productivity. And I think I'm quoting him, or at

316
00:17:35,587 --> 00:17:37,443
least I'm paraphrasing him properly on that one,

317
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or at least attributing it properly. You know, at

318
00:17:41,097 --> 00:17:42,873
least he's the guy I heard it from, let's put it

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that way. And there's no doubt that executive

320
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presence and executive, like the leadership

321
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qualities of the executive, the leadership

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qualities as conveyed to the employees is, I

323
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wouldn't say has an effect on that. I would say

324
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it's a precursor or a prerequisite for that.

325
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Like, it has to happen for the employee community

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to really be engaged. Otherwise, the. I guess it

327
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does depend on how you define engagement, but for

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it to be positively engaged, obviously, if

329
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there's an issue with the CEO or with one of the

330
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leaders who is the face of the company to the

331
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employees, and they're failing at their

332
00:18:30,097 --> 00:18:34,937
storytelling, that causes disengagement or it

333
00:18:34,961 --> 00:18:38,143
causes the wrong kind of engagement. And, you

334
00:18:38,159 --> 00:18:41,435
know, it's. It's. It's a. It's a very critical

335
00:18:41,975 --> 00:18:46,919
skill and a. An important path to walk, I think

336
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rightly on. It's. It's. So in other words, it's

337
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kind of dangerous and risky. If you have somebody

338
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who can't be relatable and authentic and tell

339
00:18:59,263 --> 00:19:02,735
their stories at the helm and you know, you run

340
00:19:02,775 --> 00:19:07,761
these risks or these actual cases of, you know,

341
00:19:07,793 --> 00:19:10,137
oh yeah, I really, I really liked the company,

342
00:19:10,201 --> 00:19:13,521
but I just never really understood the vision or

343
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I, you know, I wanted to do a good job, but I

344
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couldn't. You know, like my, you know, I got the

345
00:19:18,361 --> 00:19:21,937
goals from my, from my manager, but I couldn't

346
00:19:21,961 --> 00:19:24,525
figure out how they fit in to the organization.

347
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And you know, a good leader has to be empowered

348
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with the stories to make that relatable. And

349
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that's kind of where what really stood out to me

350
00:19:37,939 --> 00:19:42,723
here is this Authenticity, of course, but being

351
00:19:42,819 --> 00:19:48,575
realistic and being relatable is paramount now.

352
00:19:49,155 --> 00:19:51,491
It also brought to mind another question of mine

353
00:19:51,523 --> 00:19:54,083
and I was wondering how you're dealing with this,

354
00:19:54,099 --> 00:19:57,757
with your clients. You know, I mean, at the time

355
00:19:57,781 --> 00:20:01,025
of this recording, in fact, you know, we will be,

356
00:20:01,325 --> 00:20:03,437
this, this episode will be going live still when

357
00:20:03,461 --> 00:20:05,573
all this is fresh in people's minds. Right. We've

358
00:20:05,589 --> 00:20:07,477
just had a big election here in, in, in the

359
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United States and you know, we're not going to

360
00:20:12,429 --> 00:20:15,325
talk about that. It's fine. But what it does

361
00:20:15,365 --> 00:20:18,533
bring to mind is there are so many issues and so

362
00:20:18,549 --> 00:20:24,801
many social issues, so many, you know, causes, et

363
00:20:24,833 --> 00:20:30,217
cetera, in a fairly divided population. You know,

364
00:20:30,241 --> 00:20:33,161
your employee population oftentimes reflects the

365
00:20:33,193 --> 00:20:38,537
general population. And you know, and over the

366
00:20:38,561 --> 00:20:42,145
last several years, we've seen changes in the way

367
00:20:42,185 --> 00:20:45,097
that a lot of CEOs and a lot of leaders in

368
00:20:45,121 --> 00:20:48,723
general tell their stories and the stories they

369
00:20:48,739 --> 00:20:51,339
tell, in fact. So when you're talking about, I

370
00:20:51,347 --> 00:20:52,923
promise I'm going somewhere. When you talk about

371
00:20:52,979 --> 00:20:58,547
authenticity and you talk about relatability, I

372
00:20:58,571 --> 00:21:01,067
get the sense that there was an over indexing on

373
00:21:01,091 --> 00:21:06,555
that for a little while where you had CEOs or

374
00:21:06,595 --> 00:21:11,395
leaders being what they. Well, I guess they were

375
00:21:11,435 --> 00:21:13,815
being inauthentic in a way because they're being.

376
00:21:14,585 --> 00:21:20,185
They're really trying their best to recognize the

377
00:21:20,225 --> 00:21:24,925
many different thoughts and opinions and traumas

378
00:21:25,465 --> 00:21:27,817
and joys of their employee audience. Trying to

379
00:21:27,841 --> 00:21:31,657
wrap it all into one story and one message, when

380
00:21:31,681 --> 00:21:35,409
in fact that's impossible. Right? The old adage

381
00:21:35,457 --> 00:21:40,307
that you can't please everybody, everyone. Maybe

382
00:21:40,331 --> 00:21:43,667
that's only part of the adage, but I think it

383
00:21:43,691 --> 00:21:45,611
holds true. It's impossible to please every

384
00:21:45,643 --> 00:21:48,907
single person. And I think if the storytelling is

385
00:21:48,931 --> 00:21:52,819
aimed at pleasing one part rather than the other

386
00:21:52,867 --> 00:21:56,099
part, you're going to run into issues. So my

387
00:21:56,147 --> 00:21:59,035
point is this. How do you stay authentic and

388
00:21:59,075 --> 00:22:04,155
relevant and in light of all These different

389
00:22:04,195 --> 00:22:08,649
social issues still maintain, still build trust

390
00:22:08,697 --> 00:22:14,089
and still build credibility and authority and

391
00:22:14,217 --> 00:22:18,625
belief in your vision, you know, when your

392
00:22:18,665 --> 00:22:21,565
employees might be thinking about other things.

393
00:22:22,825 --> 00:22:27,889
Anuneha Mewawalla: It's a great question. I'll answer that in a few

394
00:22:27,937 --> 00:22:30,761
different ways. I think it's critical for us to

395
00:22:30,793 --> 00:22:34,905
ground ourselves in the context in which we are

396
00:22:34,945 --> 00:22:41,361
operating. Post pandemic, I think companies and

397
00:22:41,393 --> 00:22:47,073
employees have a new sort of contract that binds

398
00:22:47,089 --> 00:22:49,953
us, if you will, in that employees, their

399
00:22:50,009 --> 00:22:54,241
expectations of companies have evolved so vastly,

400
00:22:54,313 --> 00:23:00,669
so radically in that employees are hungry for

401
00:23:00,757 --> 00:23:03,437
what are the values, what are the purpose, what

402
00:23:03,461 --> 00:23:07,445
is the purpose of the company? The need to know

403
00:23:07,485 --> 00:23:10,013
that, but also the need for that to be somewhat

404
00:23:10,069 --> 00:23:14,109
aligned, for companies to be vocal, for leaders

405
00:23:14,197 --> 00:23:18,405
to be vocal about where they stand on a variety

406
00:23:18,485 --> 00:23:24,213
of social issues that we may be faced with. So I

407
00:23:24,229 --> 00:23:27,037
think that's important for us to recognize that

408
00:23:27,101 --> 00:23:29,485
that has evolved, that has changed, that that is

409
00:23:29,525 --> 00:23:31,589
a reality that we are going to be faced with

410
00:23:31,637 --> 00:23:37,553
const as we, as we sort of evaluate our

411
00:23:37,609 --> 00:23:41,313
communication strategy internally and vis a vis a

412
00:23:41,329 --> 00:23:47,265
variety of stakeholders. Secondly, I think it's

413
00:23:47,425 --> 00:23:50,393
become increasingly very, very complex for

414
00:23:50,489 --> 00:23:55,665
communicators to assess the path forward. Every

415
00:23:55,705 --> 00:23:58,351
time something comes up in terms of what is our

416
00:23:58,383 --> 00:24:01,719
response going to be? Do we respond? Do we not

417
00:24:01,767 --> 00:24:04,471
respond? How do we respond? And I think that the

418
00:24:04,503 --> 00:24:07,927
way to think about it is really to ground

419
00:24:07,991 --> 00:24:12,647
yourself in the company's values. What is the

420
00:24:12,671 --> 00:24:15,719
North Star when it comes to the company's values?

421
00:24:15,847 --> 00:24:18,095
And I think that's fundamentally where it all

422
00:24:18,135 --> 00:24:24,237
comes from in terms of assessing how you respond,

423
00:24:24,431 --> 00:24:27,697
do you respond? And I think the other thing that

424
00:24:27,721 --> 00:24:32,953
I would say is really, really important is it's

425
00:24:33,009 --> 00:24:37,769
not just about words, it's about actions and

426
00:24:37,817 --> 00:24:43,449
behaviors. So you have to be able to back up and

427
00:24:43,497 --> 00:24:47,433
substantiate and support the words, whether, you

428
00:24:47,449 --> 00:24:49,865
know, if it's words that are coming from at the

429
00:24:49,905 --> 00:24:54,763
executive level with what is the company doing to

430
00:24:54,819 --> 00:24:57,415
actually stand for those causes or issues?

431
00:24:58,595 --> 00:25:02,795
Because otherwise employees are going to just see

432
00:25:02,835 --> 00:25:07,291
right through. And so I think that every

433
00:25:07,363 --> 00:25:10,659
company's situation is different, every issue

434
00:25:10,707 --> 00:25:13,883
that comes at us is different. But I think that's

435
00:25:13,939 --> 00:25:16,963
sort of a rubric to consider in terms of how do

436
00:25:16,979 --> 00:25:19,987
you apply, how do you evaluate for your

437
00:25:20,051 --> 00:25:23,235
particular situation, your particular set of

438
00:25:23,275 --> 00:25:24,375
company values?

439
00:25:24,795 --> 00:25:26,987
Dan Nestle: Yeah, the CEO is in a tough spot, right? I mean,

440
00:25:27,011 --> 00:25:32,051
the CEO has to be the face and the voice of the

441
00:25:32,083 --> 00:25:37,211
company and really exemplify the company's values

442
00:25:37,323 --> 00:25:43,313
or define them in many cases. And being authentic

443
00:25:43,499 --> 00:25:46,653
doesn't mean that you have to Tell every single

444
00:25:46,709 --> 00:25:51,109
personal story all the time. It doesn't mean that

445
00:25:51,157 --> 00:25:55,101
you have to share everything, but it does mean

446
00:25:55,133 --> 00:25:57,597
that what you do tell has to be real. And what

447
00:25:57,621 --> 00:26:01,877
you do talk about has to align with the company's

448
00:26:01,901 --> 00:26:04,869
vision, your vision, the company's values and

449
00:26:04,957 --> 00:26:09,025
your organization's values and goals and culture.

450
00:26:09,405 --> 00:26:14,573
And, you know, I think I've certainly seen, you

451
00:26:14,589 --> 00:26:17,917
know, more recently a, you know, more of a kind

452
00:26:17,941 --> 00:26:21,229
of worry or concern on the. On the. On the part

453
00:26:21,277 --> 00:26:25,221
of leaders and executives about going too far in

454
00:26:25,253 --> 00:26:28,693
one direction or leaning or, you know, do I need

455
00:26:28,709 --> 00:26:32,197
to talk about this? Or, you know, how do I tell

456
00:26:32,221 --> 00:26:35,991
the story without, you know, without essentially

457
00:26:36,023 --> 00:26:40,047
pissing off half the people? And I think if you

458
00:26:40,071 --> 00:26:41,487
have to ask that question, then you're probably

459
00:26:41,511 --> 00:26:43,127
just telling the wrong story. You know, I mean,

460
00:26:43,151 --> 00:26:46,831
it's. There shouldn't be any issue about talking

461
00:26:46,863 --> 00:26:48,647
about your company and talking about the great

462
00:26:48,671 --> 00:26:50,471
things you're doing and talking about your values

463
00:26:50,503 --> 00:26:53,503
and your vision, you know, taking it to whatever

464
00:26:53,559 --> 00:26:55,655
next step you want to, or you're connecting it to

465
00:26:55,695 --> 00:26:57,415
outside events or you're connecting it to things

466
00:26:57,455 --> 00:26:59,863
is that's where. That's where you need to have

467
00:26:59,879 --> 00:27:04,513
some. Some introspection and some contextual

468
00:27:04,689 --> 00:27:06,793
understanding, I think. So you know what to talk

469
00:27:06,809 --> 00:27:09,457
about. But the core of your message can be framed

470
00:27:09,481 --> 00:27:14,825
in a story, right? That is relatable regardless

471
00:27:14,865 --> 00:27:19,561
of what the externalities are, if you're doing it

472
00:27:19,593 --> 00:27:22,817
right. I think so. I didn't mean to go really

473
00:27:22,841 --> 00:27:26,361
down too far down that road, but I think it's

474
00:27:26,393 --> 00:27:29,707
important to understand that this is where the

475
00:27:29,731 --> 00:27:31,935
art comes in a little bit, and it's also where.

476
00:27:32,795 --> 00:27:37,787
Or an understanding of the world around us is

477
00:27:37,811 --> 00:27:41,547
important as we construct stories and as we kind

478
00:27:41,571 --> 00:27:49,595
of coach and prepare our leaders to convey their

479
00:27:49,635 --> 00:27:57,173
visions. So it kind of makes me think about. Kind

480
00:27:57,189 --> 00:28:00,381
of makes me think about where, you know, where

481
00:28:00,413 --> 00:28:02,973
they should be focusing. If it's, you know, if

482
00:28:02,989 --> 00:28:06,837
it's not all about the. If you're. If you're not

483
00:28:06,861 --> 00:28:08,685
constructing your stories based on all these

484
00:28:08,805 --> 00:28:11,037
things around you? Like, where is it that they

485
00:28:11,061 --> 00:28:13,301
should be focusing? Mission, vision, values,

486
00:28:13,373 --> 00:28:18,517
whatever you want to call it. And, you know,

487
00:28:18,701 --> 00:28:20,765
maybe it's not always about the content. Maybe

488
00:28:20,805 --> 00:28:23,295
sometimes it's just about your leadership skill.

489
00:28:23,415 --> 00:28:26,527
Right? So I guess what I. Where I wanted to go

490
00:28:26,551 --> 00:28:28,855
with that is how does that leadership presence

491
00:28:28,935 --> 00:28:30,759
trump some of that stuff? Like, how does

492
00:28:30,807 --> 00:28:33,431
leadership presence, you know, fit into this

493
00:28:33,463 --> 00:28:37,959
larger picture? And some. Some leaders simply

494
00:28:38,007 --> 00:28:39,943
don't have a lot of presence, but they can tell a

495
00:28:39,959 --> 00:28:43,275
good story. You know, where, where's the balance?

496
00:28:44,255 --> 00:28:47,527
You know, and now that I'm on, I keep adding more

497
00:28:47,551 --> 00:28:50,023
to the question on neha. I'm very sorry, but how

498
00:28:50,039 --> 00:28:52,207
does that leadership presence fit in? But, you

499
00:28:52,231 --> 00:28:54,629
know, let's kind of steer it towards something a

500
00:28:54,637 --> 00:28:57,117
little more practical here. Right. Where do we

501
00:28:57,141 --> 00:29:00,101
see leadership presence? We see it on LinkedIn

502
00:29:00,133 --> 00:29:03,789
all the time, for example. Right. And LinkedIn

503
00:29:03,837 --> 00:29:05,869
members get a little persnickety about some of

504
00:29:05,877 --> 00:29:08,501
the things that people say. Right. So how does

505
00:29:08,533 --> 00:29:11,901
that presence fit into this larger picture? And

506
00:29:12,093 --> 00:29:14,265
maybe we can kind of start to drive it toward

507
00:29:14,645 --> 00:29:17,093
what does it look like on LinkedIn, for example?

508
00:29:17,269 --> 00:29:20,905
Anuneha Mewawalla: Yeah, I'm going to pull back the lens here and

509
00:29:23,375 --> 00:29:27,143
make it a little bit more macro level about

510
00:29:27,239 --> 00:29:34,423
leadership presence broadly. Right. So if you

511
00:29:34,479 --> 00:29:38,927
think about leadership presence on LinkedIn, that

512
00:29:38,991 --> 00:29:42,455
has today become a critical component of overall

513
00:29:42,535 --> 00:29:46,755
executive visibility and in many ways is driving

514
00:29:47,085 --> 00:29:50,565
business value in ways expected and unexpected.

515
00:29:50,645 --> 00:29:52,949
So let's take a minute and just ground ourselves

516
00:29:52,997 --> 00:29:57,341
in some numbers. LinkedIn today has over 900

517
00:29:57,453 --> 00:30:00,789
million members in over 200 countries worldwide.

518
00:30:00,917 --> 00:30:02,917
It is the largest professional networking

519
00:30:02,981 --> 00:30:05,925
platform. It's growing by nearly 60 million new

520
00:30:05,965 --> 00:30:10,957
members. Those were the numbers in 2022. And

521
00:30:10,981 --> 00:30:14,751
LinkedIn members are 50% more likely to buy from

522
00:30:14,783 --> 00:30:17,515
a company when the CEO is active on the platform.

523
00:30:18,375 --> 00:30:22,431
Profiles with like C Suite in the title in the

524
00:30:22,463 --> 00:30:25,327
heading get 8 times more profile views. On

525
00:30:25,391 --> 00:30:31,351
average, content posted by C Suite executives

526
00:30:31,383 --> 00:30:36,663
sees twice or two times higher engagement rates

527
00:30:36,719 --> 00:30:41,131
compared to content from other employees. 79% of

528
00:30:41,163 --> 00:30:43,755
buyers say top leadership influences their

529
00:30:43,795 --> 00:30:48,467
purchase decisions. And 79% of the global

530
00:30:48,531 --> 00:30:51,427
workforce is now on LinkedIn, making it a

531
00:30:51,451 --> 00:30:54,035
critical talent pool. So I think those numbers

532
00:30:54,075 --> 00:30:55,955
are telling us something. There's, there's a,

533
00:30:55,995 --> 00:31:00,355
there's a story in here which is that a strong

534
00:31:00,475 --> 00:31:04,717
executive presence on LinkedIn is fundamentally

535
00:31:04,781 --> 00:31:08,157
important in today's day and age. And I think

536
00:31:08,181 --> 00:31:10,981
what the numbers are also telling us is that in

537
00:31:11,013 --> 00:31:16,189
our digital first world today, a leader's brand

538
00:31:16,277 --> 00:31:19,909
on LinkedIn, a leader's personal brand on

539
00:31:19,957 --> 00:31:25,029
LinkedIn has become just, you know, inextricably

540
00:31:25,117 --> 00:31:29,733
linked to their company's broader visibility and

541
00:31:29,829 --> 00:31:38,599
the company's broader brand. I think that that's

542
00:31:38,647 --> 00:31:44,407
pointing to a need for communicators to be

543
00:31:44,471 --> 00:31:49,359
actively proactively strategizing about their

544
00:31:49,407 --> 00:31:53,167
Leader's presence on LinkedIn, about managing

545
00:31:53,231 --> 00:31:57,135
that, about curating really thought provoking

546
00:31:57,255 --> 00:32:02,035
content engagement, really managing that sort of

547
00:32:02,075 --> 00:32:05,051
social content strategy. It's not something that

548
00:32:05,083 --> 00:32:08,995
we can. It's a huge missed opportunities for

549
00:32:09,035 --> 00:32:11,179
executives and for companies who are not

550
00:32:11,227 --> 00:32:14,107
Thoughtful and strategic about the opportunity

551
00:32:14,171 --> 00:32:14,775
here.

552
00:32:16,155 --> 00:32:18,335
Dan Nestle: Well, two questions for you. First of all,

553
00:32:18,995 --> 00:32:21,227
where's all that data come from and where can we

554
00:32:21,251 --> 00:32:27,267
find it? Was that. Is that available on LinkedIn

555
00:32:27,291 --> 00:32:30,203
or where does that specifically?

556
00:32:30,219 --> 00:32:32,195
Anuneha Mewawalla: It's a number of different sources. A lot of it

557
00:32:32,235 --> 00:32:36,019
is LinkedIn themselves, but it's all very widely

558
00:32:36,067 --> 00:32:39,067
available. And I think it's just always really

559
00:32:39,091 --> 00:32:40,443
helpful. Right. Because we're talking about

560
00:32:40,499 --> 00:32:42,275
executive storytelling and executives love

561
00:32:42,315 --> 00:32:45,099
numbers. So it helps to kind of immediately drive

562
00:32:45,147 --> 00:32:49,539
home the need and the importance of paying

563
00:32:49,587 --> 00:32:52,403
attention to your executive presence on LinkedIn.

564
00:32:52,499 --> 00:32:55,773
But, you know, it also is kind of steering me to

565
00:32:55,909 --> 00:32:58,677
another topic that I'm curious to kind of ask you

566
00:32:58,701 --> 00:33:02,865
a little bit about, if we may take a few minutes.

567
00:33:05,845 --> 00:33:06,781
Dan Nestle: Go on.

568
00:33:06,973 --> 00:33:09,533
Anuneha Mewawalla: Yeah, I was just thinking about, you know, we've

569
00:33:09,549 --> 00:33:13,785
been talking about how to maintain trust. And,

570
00:33:14,325 --> 00:33:18,101
you know, we're also talking about a world where

571
00:33:18,173 --> 00:33:23,529
AI is just presenting incredible opportunities

572
00:33:23,697 --> 00:33:27,193
and incredible upside for communications. I think

573
00:33:27,209 --> 00:33:30,257
we're both very bullish on it. And of course, I

574
00:33:30,281 --> 00:33:32,777
think that the flip side, which, you know, we

575
00:33:32,801 --> 00:33:35,553
always like to see, we like to be balanced, we

576
00:33:35,569 --> 00:33:38,609
like to be informed in kind of seeing every

577
00:33:38,657 --> 00:33:42,265
opportunity and for what it. For what it brings.

578
00:33:42,385 --> 00:33:44,761
And so, you know, I'd love to also hear a little

579
00:33:44,793 --> 00:33:49,611
bit of your perspective on, from an AI driven

580
00:33:49,723 --> 00:33:52,651
perspective, AI driven world, AI driven

581
00:33:52,803 --> 00:33:58,011
communications era that we are stepping into or

582
00:33:58,083 --> 00:34:00,875
actually in some ways already kind of straddling.

583
00:34:01,035 --> 00:34:05,763
How do we maintain trust in this era where

584
00:34:05,859 --> 00:34:08,563
there's so much synthetic content that's being

585
00:34:08,699 --> 00:34:13,252
created, we're dealing with, you know, deep fakes

586
00:34:13,308 --> 00:34:16,428
and whatnot. And I think that's somewhat, you

587
00:34:16,436 --> 00:34:18,788
know, that is pretty relevant in the context of

588
00:34:18,796 --> 00:34:22,700
what we're talking about. So I'm curious if you

589
00:34:22,732 --> 00:34:23,864
have some thoughts there.

590
00:34:24,764 --> 00:34:27,836
Dan Nestle: Well, I don't mind flipping the script a little

591
00:34:27,860 --> 00:34:30,436
bit and you can interview me too, here. That's

592
00:34:30,460 --> 00:34:34,028
fine. Well, I mean, but it's an interesting point

593
00:34:34,076 --> 00:34:35,980
because it was something that was on my mind

594
00:34:36,052 --> 00:34:39,413
about executive storytelling in general. And you

595
00:34:39,429 --> 00:34:42,261
brought up a couple things that I think we can

596
00:34:42,293 --> 00:34:44,461
continue to kind of weave into this conversation.

597
00:34:44,653 --> 00:34:47,461
One of them being the personal. The leadership,

598
00:34:47,533 --> 00:34:49,781
sorry, the executive brand, meaning the personal

599
00:34:49,853 --> 00:34:54,585
brand of the executive as the company brand. And

600
00:34:54,965 --> 00:35:02,117
the idea that being active on LinkedIn, for

601
00:35:02,141 --> 00:35:10,111
example, is sort of like, it's almost a critical

602
00:35:10,183 --> 00:35:13,575
success factor for any executive who's out there.

603
00:35:13,615 --> 00:35:18,551
So, you know, I was going to ask you just about

604
00:35:18,743 --> 00:35:23,863
the, you know, the kinds of storytelling that

605
00:35:23,919 --> 00:35:29,399
executives should practice or that their

606
00:35:29,447 --> 00:35:32,707
communicators should practice on LinkedIn

607
00:35:32,811 --> 00:35:35,035
specifically, but let's, let's back into that

608
00:35:35,075 --> 00:35:37,443
because I think trust has something to do with

609
00:35:37,459 --> 00:35:40,163
this. I think, I think the idea of, since you

610
00:35:40,179 --> 00:35:43,283
asked me, the idea of how do we build trust is

611
00:35:43,379 --> 00:35:45,395
part of this. You know, the way that you

612
00:35:45,435 --> 00:35:50,011
communicate on LinkedIn, obviously, you know, is

613
00:35:50,203 --> 00:35:54,723
if there's 900 million, you know, members, not

614
00:35:54,739 --> 00:35:56,387
all of them are your audience, but it's still a

615
00:35:56,411 --> 00:35:59,635
massive audience and you do have core audiences

616
00:35:59,675 --> 00:36:01,627
there. So the way that you're represented on

617
00:36:01,651 --> 00:36:04,575
LinkedIn is, is either a trust builder or trust

618
00:36:04,615 --> 00:36:07,751
killer. You know, it's, you can walk the middle,

619
00:36:07,823 --> 00:36:09,527
the middle road and not have any impression on

620
00:36:09,551 --> 00:36:11,375
anybody whatsoever, but what good does that do

621
00:36:11,415 --> 00:36:20,775
anyone? So the kind of content that you produce,

622
00:36:20,855 --> 00:36:26,231
the kinds of things you say have to be, and you,

623
00:36:26,263 --> 00:36:29,337
meaning the executive in this case, have to be

624
00:36:29,361 --> 00:36:33,153
their words, like it's gotta be theirs. It

625
00:36:33,169 --> 00:36:39,745
doesn't work when, you know, a comms person is

626
00:36:39,785 --> 00:36:42,825
writing on your behalf. It doesn't work when you

627
00:36:42,865 --> 00:36:46,457
are, you know, getting social media posts written

628
00:36:46,481 --> 00:36:49,401
by an agency for you. I mean, it ultimately has

629
00:36:49,433 --> 00:36:52,593
to be in your voice. You know, that's not to say

630
00:36:52,609 --> 00:36:55,201
that a very, very skilled communicator can't get

631
00:36:55,233 --> 00:36:58,753
there, but in the end, the CEO or the leader

632
00:36:58,809 --> 00:37:02,377
who's, who's putting stuff out there on, on

633
00:37:02,441 --> 00:37:04,873
anything, but certainly on LinkedIn really has to

634
00:37:04,889 --> 00:37:07,465
have a final look at it and make sure that it is

635
00:37:07,505 --> 00:37:10,153
in there. It's something that they would say,

636
00:37:10,289 --> 00:37:13,641
right? So it goes to that authenticity and it

637
00:37:13,673 --> 00:37:19,897
goes to almost a, a validation that, oh, this is

638
00:37:19,921 --> 00:37:22,907
the person who, who says they are. Right, who

639
00:37:22,931 --> 00:37:27,043
they say they are. So this is part of this, you

640
00:37:27,059 --> 00:37:31,827
know, AI deepfakes, you know, you don't know if

641
00:37:31,851 --> 00:37:35,123
the content is real or not. Well, chances are

642
00:37:35,139 --> 00:37:38,803
you'll never really know as a casual observer or

643
00:37:38,819 --> 00:37:43,331
as a consumer of content, but one way that you

644
00:37:43,363 --> 00:37:46,503
can sort of prevent against that is to make sure

645
00:37:46,659 --> 00:37:50,007
that you can tell, you know, the authentic voice

646
00:37:50,071 --> 00:37:52,439
or like when somebody's being a real person, you

647
00:37:52,447 --> 00:37:57,935
know, investing the content with stories that

648
00:37:58,015 --> 00:38:00,439
make it real. So this is all, this is all. I

649
00:38:00,447 --> 00:38:03,087
think executive storytelling is so critical to

650
00:38:03,111 --> 00:38:05,247
this because when the executive has the right,

651
00:38:05,311 --> 00:38:07,151
has, has their own experiences and their own

652
00:38:07,183 --> 00:38:11,383
stories to pull in, it's far less likely for that

653
00:38:11,439 --> 00:38:15,853
content to be manufactured by some random bot or,

654
00:38:15,949 --> 00:38:22,317
you know, or a deep fake. So in many ways it

655
00:38:22,341 --> 00:38:26,517
makes more sense for the leader, the CEO, to get

656
00:38:26,581 --> 00:38:30,653
even more personal with their stories, with the

657
00:38:30,669 --> 00:38:33,005
way that they provide context on LinkedIn,

658
00:38:33,085 --> 00:38:37,781
especially than they ever have before, with the

659
00:38:37,813 --> 00:38:42,813
caveat that personal on LinkedIn is not the same

660
00:38:42,829 --> 00:38:45,557
thing as personal on Facebook or Instagram or

661
00:38:45,581 --> 00:38:49,277
someplace else. Personal meaning it's your point

662
00:38:49,301 --> 00:38:52,925
of view. You do bring in your own experiences.

663
00:38:53,045 --> 00:38:56,893
You're not talking about necessarily taking the

664
00:38:56,909 --> 00:39:00,037
kids. Well, you could talk about taking the kids

665
00:39:00,181 --> 00:39:02,745
to the ball game, but you're not talking about

666
00:39:03,445 --> 00:39:06,725
necessarily spouting out about political views or

667
00:39:06,765 --> 00:39:10,435
talking about, you know, your hobby that nobody

668
00:39:10,475 --> 00:39:13,795
cares about, you know, unless it is absolutely

669
00:39:13,835 --> 00:39:16,899
germane to the story you're talking about. I

670
00:39:16,907 --> 00:39:21,883
think the CEO of LinkedIn recently said that he

671
00:39:21,899 --> 00:39:23,907
was questioning whether or not there should be

672
00:39:23,931 --> 00:39:26,451
more personal content on LinkedIn so that it

673
00:39:26,483 --> 00:39:29,155
resembles more of a Facebook feel. Of course,

674
00:39:29,235 --> 00:39:32,467
LinkedIn members do not like this, but he ended

675
00:39:32,491 --> 00:39:36,387
up saying it should be personal ish. It should be

676
00:39:36,411 --> 00:39:38,795
personal ish. And I kind of like that because

677
00:39:38,835 --> 00:39:41,331
that's, you know, that's what we're talking about

678
00:39:41,363 --> 00:39:44,891
here. A story that is, that is undoubtedly yours

679
00:39:44,923 --> 00:39:49,971
and yours alone. But it's not oversharing. It's

680
00:39:50,003 --> 00:39:54,707
not over revealing, you know, it's not, you know,

681
00:39:54,731 --> 00:39:58,387
it's not telling the world things that you know

682
00:39:58,411 --> 00:40:01,613
are better kept between you and your family or

683
00:40:01,669 --> 00:40:04,485
between you and your friends on Linked, on

684
00:40:04,605 --> 00:40:08,101
Facebook or something like this. You know, I'm

685
00:40:08,133 --> 00:40:09,917
not saying that you should never share a personal

686
00:40:09,981 --> 00:40:12,197
experience because sometimes it really does make

687
00:40:12,221 --> 00:40:14,465
sense to do that. You want to show vulnerability,

688
00:40:15,445 --> 00:40:19,917
but, you know, not all the time and only when it

689
00:40:19,941 --> 00:40:22,653
makes perfect sense to do so. And you have to

690
00:40:22,669 --> 00:40:24,757
read, you got to be able to read. The room is

691
00:40:24,781 --> 00:40:27,631
sort of where that's got to go. All of this to

692
00:40:27,663 --> 00:40:31,239
say that I think the stories themselves and the

693
00:40:31,247 --> 00:40:34,815
power of the stories are really your first line

694
00:40:34,895 --> 00:40:40,319
of kind of bullshit detection and making sure

695
00:40:40,367 --> 00:40:44,239
that what you're looking at is real and not a

696
00:40:44,247 --> 00:40:48,423
deep fake. Technology is getting better. AI is

697
00:40:48,439 --> 00:40:53,585
getting better. And there's no question that you

698
00:40:53,625 --> 00:40:57,121
can use AI in great ways to enhance your

699
00:40:57,193 --> 00:41:01,177
executive profile, to create more content, to

700
00:41:01,201 --> 00:41:03,033
increase your volume, to increase your frequency,

701
00:41:03,129 --> 00:41:06,953
to get things done faster. But that doesn't mean

702
00:41:06,969 --> 00:41:08,977
you should trust everything to the AI. It means

703
00:41:09,001 --> 00:41:11,601
you should just use it as a boost or as a tool,

704
00:41:11,633 --> 00:41:14,645
as an enhancer to get you going.

705
00:41:15,465 --> 00:41:20,831
Anuneha Mewawalla: Such a great segue too. Dan, to a very related

706
00:41:20,943 --> 00:41:28,367
topic on the topic of AI is how does AI intersect

707
00:41:28,431 --> 00:41:37,815
with executive storytelling that can it enhance

708
00:41:37,975 --> 00:41:46,183
or enable better executive storytelling? And I

709
00:41:46,199 --> 00:41:50,155
think you made some really pertinent, profound

710
00:41:51,015 --> 00:41:55,863
points for us to reflect on. And as I look at it

711
00:41:56,039 --> 00:41:58,915
from this new Vantage point. What I would say is

712
00:41:59,775 --> 00:42:05,271
in working with C suite leaders, I'm seeing that

713
00:42:05,303 --> 00:42:10,167
AI can deliver benefits in four key areas. When

714
00:42:10,191 --> 00:42:17,661
it comes to executive storytelling, I think it's

715
00:42:17,733 --> 00:42:23,509
certainly not replacing executive storytelling as

716
00:42:23,517 --> 00:42:26,189
we know it. It's amplifying it in these four

717
00:42:26,237 --> 00:42:28,853
ways. And I think, number one, it's enhanced

718
00:42:28,909 --> 00:42:34,077
personalization, because AI has the capability to

719
00:42:34,101 --> 00:42:37,125
help us understand audience segments more deeply,

720
00:42:37,285 --> 00:42:40,029
allowing executives and leaders to be able to

721
00:42:40,077 --> 00:42:43,415
tailor their narratives while staying authentic.

722
00:42:45,515 --> 00:42:48,083
I think the number two would be in terms of

723
00:42:48,139 --> 00:42:50,499
adaptation, which could be pretty real time,

724
00:42:50,547 --> 00:42:56,211
could be pretty dynamic, in that AI can now help

725
00:42:56,243 --> 00:43:01,147
us analyze audience engagement and sentiment, and

726
00:43:01,171 --> 00:43:05,043
so it can allow for more dynamic storytelling. I

727
00:43:05,059 --> 00:43:07,867
think the third point I'd like to make is

728
00:43:07,891 --> 00:43:11,929
probably around content optimization, because AI

729
00:43:11,977 --> 00:43:16,089
can help in various stages of the content

730
00:43:16,177 --> 00:43:20,361
creation and refinement process, drafting of

731
00:43:20,433 --> 00:43:23,817
content, be it speeches or blogs or social or

732
00:43:23,961 --> 00:43:29,265
what have you. But it's also speeding up that

733
00:43:29,345 --> 00:43:33,953
process of improving consistency and accuracy. It

734
00:43:33,969 --> 00:43:38,821
can help execs refine messaging, refine their

735
00:43:38,853 --> 00:43:42,181
voice, align more with organizational goals, and

736
00:43:42,373 --> 00:43:45,661
ensure that, you know, all of their content and

737
00:43:45,693 --> 00:43:48,717
their various communication, different forms are

738
00:43:48,741 --> 00:43:51,941
staying, are reinforcing the same messages, the

739
00:43:51,973 --> 00:43:55,421
same organizational goals or values. I think the

740
00:43:55,453 --> 00:43:59,797
fourth one is around storytelling formats and the

741
00:43:59,821 --> 00:44:04,441
fact that AI is and will continue to make it

742
00:44:04,513 --> 00:44:09,409
easier to integrate a variety of multimedia

743
00:44:09,457 --> 00:44:16,241
elements, you know, but also to repurpose, if you

744
00:44:16,273 --> 00:44:20,025
will, or content, mix the content in different

745
00:44:20,065 --> 00:44:23,809
formats, because as we know, audiences consume

746
00:44:23,857 --> 00:44:26,521
content in different ways. You can't communicate

747
00:44:26,553 --> 00:44:28,417
to everyone in the exact same way. One size does

748
00:44:28,441 --> 00:44:31,591
not fit all. And so that could be huge for

749
00:44:31,623 --> 00:44:34,127
executive storytelling, because look at the

750
00:44:34,151 --> 00:44:35,795
implications for resonance.

751
00:44:37,095 --> 00:44:41,975
Dan Nestle: You know, I am clearly bullish on podcasts,

752
00:44:42,095 --> 00:44:46,687
right? I mean, and if there's ever a medium that

753
00:44:46,711 --> 00:44:49,039
lends itself better to storytelling, I dare you

754
00:44:49,047 --> 00:44:53,551
to find it. Maybe video, I don't know. But having

755
00:44:53,583 --> 00:44:57,063
a conversation, the most natural human thing to

756
00:44:57,079 --> 00:44:59,845
do is sit around and tell stories to one another.

757
00:45:00,305 --> 00:45:03,153
You know, some people bring up the old campfire

758
00:45:03,209 --> 00:45:06,809
analogy or the old campfire metaphor of, you

759
00:45:06,817 --> 00:45:09,009
know, that's where storytelling comes from. The

760
00:45:09,017 --> 00:45:11,953
way we would convey information through, you

761
00:45:11,969 --> 00:45:14,241
know, through stories that are sticky and

762
00:45:14,353 --> 00:45:16,761
memorable. You know, we had an oral tradition for

763
00:45:16,793 --> 00:45:18,809
so long, it had to be in the form of a story or

764
00:45:18,817 --> 00:45:22,913
else it could never be remembered. The campfire

765
00:45:22,969 --> 00:45:25,289
right now is maybe LinkedIn is the campfire.

766
00:45:25,337 --> 00:45:29,087
Maybe maybe a podcast is. But the point is that

767
00:45:29,191 --> 00:45:33,215
since the podcast or audio, and let's say even

768
00:45:33,255 --> 00:45:36,103
video content is a great way for executives to

769
00:45:36,119 --> 00:45:39,207
tell stories. You know, that's where I think

770
00:45:39,351 --> 00:45:43,743
there's a massive, tremendous power of AI to be

771
00:45:43,759 --> 00:45:48,595
able to take the executive's story, the message,

772
00:45:49,135 --> 00:45:52,991
and repurpose it and make it more accessible,

773
00:45:53,063 --> 00:45:56,231
more available to the audiences that matter.

774
00:45:56,383 --> 00:45:57,863
Because not everybody's going to listen to a

775
00:45:57,879 --> 00:45:59,823
podcast. Not everybody's going to watch a video.

776
00:45:59,959 --> 00:46:02,223
The most important people to you might not ever

777
00:46:02,279 --> 00:46:05,047
see it. Your employees may never have a chance to

778
00:46:05,071 --> 00:46:09,071
see it or hear it or view it. You know, so being

779
00:46:09,103 --> 00:46:12,591
able to take pieces of content that you have or

780
00:46:12,623 --> 00:46:16,431
that you've done five years ago even, right, to

781
00:46:16,463 --> 00:46:19,503
take that and make it fresh and make it new, be

782
00:46:19,519 --> 00:46:21,315
able to kind of tailor it for different,

783
00:46:22,145 --> 00:46:23,665
different audiences and different channels, I

784
00:46:23,665 --> 00:46:27,673
think that's one of the extreme powers, benefits,

785
00:46:27,809 --> 00:46:31,209
powers whatever, of working with gen AI. And I

786
00:46:31,217 --> 00:46:33,393
think it's going to really kind of give a massive

787
00:46:33,449 --> 00:46:37,913
boost to good executive storytelling. I would

788
00:46:37,929 --> 00:46:43,393
even add also another thing to your fore here. I

789
00:46:43,409 --> 00:46:48,169
think research is another benefit for executive

790
00:46:48,257 --> 00:46:52,311
storytelling. And in this, in this very

791
00:46:52,463 --> 00:46:58,235
particular context, you know, we. Information,

792
00:46:58,935 --> 00:47:01,071
speaking from, from a position of knowledge, from

793
00:47:01,103 --> 00:47:04,903
a position of having information is foundational

794
00:47:04,999 --> 00:47:08,727
to any. Like any time you speak, anytime you

795
00:47:08,751 --> 00:47:12,535
write, anytime you communicate, and the more

796
00:47:12,575 --> 00:47:14,855
information you have at hand, the better story

797
00:47:14,895 --> 00:47:16,991
you can tell, the better you can weave facts into

798
00:47:17,023 --> 00:47:21,199
your stories. So, you know, I would always

799
00:47:21,247 --> 00:47:24,567
encourage communicators and the executives who

800
00:47:24,591 --> 00:47:32,079
need us to be, you know, using powers of AI to

801
00:47:32,207 --> 00:47:35,875
really dramatically speed up your knowledge

802
00:47:36,455 --> 00:47:41,457
acquisition, you know, by helping you to, to

803
00:47:41,481 --> 00:47:44,121
absorb more reports, helping you to identify

804
00:47:44,193 --> 00:47:48,761
trends, helping you to encapsulate what experts

805
00:47:48,793 --> 00:47:50,689
are saying everywhere. There's a lot of tools out

806
00:47:50,697 --> 00:47:53,041
there that can help with that. So anyway, I think

807
00:47:53,073 --> 00:47:55,529
that this is all a massive boon to executive

808
00:47:55,617 --> 00:47:59,361
storytelling, any storytelling really, but

809
00:47:59,393 --> 00:48:02,057
executive storytelling. One thing you said that I

810
00:48:02,081 --> 00:48:04,313
wanted to ask you about in particular, is about

811
00:48:04,369 --> 00:48:09,655
formats. I love using AI for this purpose. But

812
00:48:10,355 --> 00:48:13,215
let me just throw it at you here, Ananeha, where

813
00:48:13,835 --> 00:48:23,403
we've heard a lot about telling a personal story

814
00:48:23,459 --> 00:48:29,491
or weaving in different parts of authenticity and

815
00:48:29,563 --> 00:48:31,747
values, et cetera. We haven't talked so much

816
00:48:31,771 --> 00:48:36,577
about how you do it. And again, I think you're

817
00:48:36,601 --> 00:48:39,405
totally right saying AI can help with this. But

818
00:48:40,065 --> 00:48:45,561
storytelling does follow relative. It follows a

819
00:48:45,593 --> 00:48:47,465
process. There's a beginning, there's a middle,

820
00:48:47,505 --> 00:48:49,609
there's an end. In every story there's something

821
00:48:49,657 --> 00:48:53,385
like this, and that's what makes it somewhat

822
00:48:53,425 --> 00:48:55,681
memorable. People have closure. People know if

823
00:48:55,713 --> 00:48:57,233
this happened and then this happened and, oh,

824
00:48:57,289 --> 00:49:00,209
this is how it was resolved. But that's a very

825
00:49:00,257 --> 00:49:02,841
basic, you know, kind of way of thinking about

826
00:49:02,873 --> 00:49:07,097
it. We've talked about frameworks on this

827
00:49:07,241 --> 00:49:09,929
podcast, like the ABT framework, which is one of

828
00:49:09,937 --> 00:49:13,473
my favorites. Shout out to Park Howell and Randy

829
00:49:13,489 --> 00:49:16,685
Olsen on that one. The end. But therefore,

830
00:49:17,705 --> 00:49:23,241
framework for storytelling, it can be. Yeah,

831
00:49:23,273 --> 00:49:25,065
there's, there's other ways to kind of talk about

832
00:49:25,105 --> 00:49:28,927
that in different formats. What do you find to be

833
00:49:29,071 --> 00:49:32,975
the effective models, frameworks, et cetera, for

834
00:49:33,055 --> 00:49:36,559
storytelling that you can. That I think will

835
00:49:36,607 --> 00:49:39,439
remain effective into the future with or without

836
00:49:39,487 --> 00:49:42,647
AI. But if you have AI in your pocket, you can

837
00:49:42,671 --> 00:49:44,007
make them even better. Like what are the ones

838
00:49:44,031 --> 00:49:45,555
that you. What are your go tos?

839
00:49:46,535 --> 00:49:50,231
Anuneha Mewawalla: Yeah, what a great question because when it comes

840
00:49:50,263 --> 00:49:53,687
to frameworks, I've seen every framework under

841
00:49:53,711 --> 00:49:56,223
the sun and I'll tell you what I tell my clients.

842
00:49:56,319 --> 00:50:01,527
Which is the best one is the one that fits. It's

843
00:50:01,551 --> 00:50:03,991
kind of like frameworks are like suits, you know.

844
00:50:04,103 --> 00:50:09,079
Yeah, whatever fits, that's the one for you. But

845
00:50:09,127 --> 00:50:10,951
having said that, I will say that there are

846
00:50:10,983 --> 00:50:14,199
certain frameworks that work particularly well in

847
00:50:14,367 --> 00:50:17,839
specific contexts and specific situations. So the

848
00:50:17,887 --> 00:50:22,301
ABT framework I think can be excellent for

849
00:50:22,463 --> 00:50:24,961
quarterly earnings calls or investor

850
00:50:25,033 --> 00:50:27,401
presentations where clarity and progression are

851
00:50:27,433 --> 00:50:32,201
crucial. The Hero's journey works brilliantly for

852
00:50:32,233 --> 00:50:35,569
turnaround stories, for innovation narratives,

853
00:50:35,657 --> 00:50:39,545
for transformation, for leadership transition

854
00:50:39,625 --> 00:50:43,605
narratives. The Problem Agitate Solve framework

855
00:50:43,985 --> 00:50:46,545
can work really well for product launches, for

856
00:50:46,625 --> 00:50:49,529
strategic shifts, or for major initiative

857
00:50:49,577 --> 00:50:52,551
announcements. I think really what I would

858
00:50:52,623 --> 00:50:55,207
underscore is that the key is matching the

859
00:50:55,231 --> 00:50:59,463
framework to both the message and also to the

860
00:50:59,519 --> 00:51:02,915
messengers or messengers natural style.

861
00:51:03,495 --> 00:51:09,999
Dan Nestle: I am 100% in agreement. I love starting with. You

862
00:51:10,007 --> 00:51:11,727
can mix and match them and I love starting with

863
00:51:11,751 --> 00:51:13,863
an ABT a lot just to get my thoughts on paper.

864
00:51:13,919 --> 00:51:19,969
And I think that's the shorter ABT Problem

865
00:51:20,017 --> 00:51:26,241
Agitate Solve. These are really great for, as you

866
00:51:26,273 --> 00:51:29,769
said, for earnings reports, things like this. But

867
00:51:29,817 --> 00:51:35,537
I think it's also great for a compelling copy for

868
00:51:35,561 --> 00:51:39,041
the top of an offer or a webpage or something

869
00:51:39,073 --> 00:51:43,303
like this on the marketing side for sure. But I

870
00:51:43,319 --> 00:51:46,231
love plugging these things into AI and asking

871
00:51:46,263 --> 00:51:48,079
them to rewrite stories in these various

872
00:51:48,127 --> 00:51:52,455
frameworks and figuring out which ones fit best

873
00:51:52,535 --> 00:51:54,543
or which ones feel best for me and then I take

874
00:51:54,559 --> 00:51:58,311
them and rewrite them. But I think you're right,

875
00:51:58,423 --> 00:52:01,679
it's a very. The one that fits is the one that

876
00:52:01,687 --> 00:52:05,687
you should use. I totally agree. In fact,

877
00:52:05,831 --> 00:52:08,287
recently I was exposed to and I should have known

878
00:52:08,311 --> 00:52:11,757
this one a long time ago, but there's a, there's

879
00:52:11,781 --> 00:52:16,317
a, there's A Japanese framework called. I think

880
00:52:16,341 --> 00:52:20,245
it's called. I think that's what it's called.

881
00:52:20,365 --> 00:52:22,253
Basically it's. It's a four instead of, you know,

882
00:52:22,269 --> 00:52:25,237
you. Most of our western style storytelling is in

883
00:52:25,261 --> 00:52:27,349
three parts, you know, beginning, middle, end,

884
00:52:27,397 --> 00:52:31,549
or, you know, problem or situation, problem

885
00:52:31,597 --> 00:52:34,605
solution or problem solution, you know, you know,

886
00:52:34,645 --> 00:52:38,147
talk, problem, agitate, solve or you know, and.

887
00:52:38,171 --> 00:52:41,931
But therefore, whatever. A play in three acts,

888
00:52:41,963 --> 00:52:46,187
right? The Japanese style has four. It starts

889
00:52:46,211 --> 00:52:49,419
with a kind of a setup and then there's a, you

890
00:52:49,427 --> 00:52:50,867
know, and a build up and then there's like a

891
00:52:50,891 --> 00:52:58,091
novel twist and then a kind of fourth act that

892
00:52:58,123 --> 00:53:01,011
brings everything together. And it doesn't always

893
00:53:01,083 --> 00:53:07,531
bring it together in a very pleasing or, or shall

894
00:53:07,563 --> 00:53:11,255
I say resolution oriented way. It's like

895
00:53:11,715 --> 00:53:13,683
sometimes it's just highly dramatic or it leaves

896
00:53:13,699 --> 00:53:16,763
you hanging a little bit, but it's. That four

897
00:53:16,819 --> 00:53:19,507
part does throw you for a loop sometimes. And I'm

898
00:53:19,531 --> 00:53:20,675
trying to figure out how to work that in

899
00:53:20,715 --> 00:53:24,787
sometimes to interesting storytelling activities.

900
00:53:24,851 --> 00:53:27,947
But anyway, that's neither here nor there. I just

901
00:53:27,971 --> 00:53:30,347
think that there's so much out there that we can

902
00:53:30,411 --> 00:53:33,171
explore and play around with AI and experiment

903
00:53:33,203 --> 00:53:39,151
with. But look back to the topic at hand a little

904
00:53:39,183 --> 00:53:47,263
bit more with executive storytelling. We've come

905
00:53:47,279 --> 00:53:48,887
at it from a bunch of different angles and we've

906
00:53:48,911 --> 00:53:53,635
talked about AI and leadership a little bit

907
00:53:54,615 --> 00:53:57,375
recently on the show. There have been a few

908
00:53:57,415 --> 00:53:59,687
guests talking about the future of work, talking

909
00:53:59,711 --> 00:54:04,427
about leadership and influence. And it's become

910
00:54:04,491 --> 00:54:07,147
clear that there are a lot of, or become clearer

911
00:54:07,211 --> 00:54:09,483
actually in a very reassuring way that there are

912
00:54:09,539 --> 00:54:13,851
certain things that not only are probably not

913
00:54:13,883 --> 00:54:19,295
going to change as AI kind of gets more and more,

914
00:54:20,555 --> 00:54:24,283
you know, gets more and more prevalent, they're

915
00:54:24,299 --> 00:54:26,403
going to become more important as AI becomes more

916
00:54:26,419 --> 00:54:30,493
and more prevalent. Leadership skills like, you

917
00:54:30,509 --> 00:54:37,933
know, like empathy, like listening, like, you

918
00:54:37,949 --> 00:54:43,517
know, reading the room, that sort of thing. When

919
00:54:43,541 --> 00:54:46,397
we kind of narrow that down to executive

920
00:54:46,501 --> 00:54:50,349
storytelling, for example, like what do you think

921
00:54:50,397 --> 00:54:54,885
the future of this sort of practice is? And

922
00:54:54,965 --> 00:54:57,647
storytelling like broadly, but certainly on the

923
00:54:57,671 --> 00:55:01,159
executive side, what's going to change and what

924
00:55:01,167 --> 00:55:02,599
do you think isn't going to change? What do you

925
00:55:02,607 --> 00:55:05,635
think we can double down on now and be safe?

926
00:55:06,095 --> 00:55:11,463
Anuneha Mewawalla: I'm going to give you five of the core pieces of

927
00:55:11,519 --> 00:55:16,647
skills, or let's just say if we had to say, what

928
00:55:16,671 --> 00:55:20,303
is the skill set of the storyteller of the

929
00:55:20,319 --> 00:55:23,327
future? What are those five things that are

930
00:55:23,391 --> 00:55:26,491
essential for storytellers of future? So I'm

931
00:55:26,523 --> 00:55:29,907
going to nail it down to, and I'll elaborate on

932
00:55:29,931 --> 00:55:33,971
it in A bit, but empathy and EQ would be number

933
00:55:34,003 --> 00:55:38,387
one. Second would be mastery in working with AI

934
00:55:38,451 --> 00:55:44,335
tools. Three will be multimodal storytelling.

935
00:55:45,995 --> 00:55:51,501
Four would be data driven creativity. Five is

936
00:55:51,533 --> 00:55:55,365
going to be growth mindset. Let me expand on that

937
00:55:55,525 --> 00:56:00,141
a little bit. Empathy and eq. This is the ability

938
00:56:00,253 --> 00:56:04,589
to deeply understand and connect with human

939
00:56:04,637 --> 00:56:10,405
emotions, cultural nuances across global

940
00:56:10,565 --> 00:56:15,989
audiences. It's the fundamental human capacity to

941
00:56:16,037 --> 00:56:18,975
resonate with others experiences which is just.

942
00:56:19,135 --> 00:56:22,743
It remains irreplaceable. I think number two, I

943
00:56:22,759 --> 00:56:26,783
talked about mastery in working with AI and that

944
00:56:26,799 --> 00:56:29,991
is about AI human collaboration. I think in order

945
00:56:30,063 --> 00:56:34,223
for us to be effective, for us to be successful

946
00:56:34,279 --> 00:56:37,671
in how we harness AI, we have to understand what

947
00:56:37,703 --> 00:56:40,503
are AI superpowers and what are human superpowers

948
00:56:40,559 --> 00:56:43,511
and what is that magic, if you will, that exists

949
00:56:43,543 --> 00:56:45,715
in the middle and how are we going to unlock it.

950
00:56:46,845 --> 00:56:51,045
And I think we have to be super aware of that. We

951
00:56:51,085 --> 00:56:54,821
also have to get better and better at

952
00:56:54,933 --> 00:56:58,989
understanding AI capabilities, Understanding AI

953
00:56:59,117 --> 00:57:02,781
capabilities specifically as they pertain to our

954
00:57:02,853 --> 00:57:08,189
function and broadly at a business level. I think

955
00:57:08,237 --> 00:57:11,511
that what I'm referring to here is also it's

956
00:57:11,543 --> 00:57:16,315
knowing when to use AI and when to rely on human

957
00:57:16,655 --> 00:57:20,663
intuition or what humans are best at. The number

958
00:57:20,719 --> 00:57:24,207
three skill set of the storyteller of the future

959
00:57:24,271 --> 00:57:27,647
is about multimodal storytelling. And this is

960
00:57:27,671 --> 00:57:31,915
about the ability to craft cohesive narratives

961
00:57:32,215 --> 00:57:37,191
across media formats. And it's going to keep

962
00:57:37,223 --> 00:57:40,945
evolving. But you know, text, audio, visual, ar,

963
00:57:41,025 --> 00:57:43,449
VR, what have you understanding how each

964
00:57:43,497 --> 00:57:46,641
medium's, how each medium is unique and what

965
00:57:46,673 --> 00:57:52,297
their unique capabilities are. How can they serve

966
00:57:52,361 --> 00:57:54,961
audiences in ways that connect better, that

967
00:57:54,993 --> 00:57:58,473
resonate better, that advance the story's

968
00:57:58,529 --> 00:58:01,165
purpose? I think that's going to be crucial.

969
00:58:01,705 --> 00:58:04,721
Dan Nestle: Yeah. Before you go on, before you go on, that

970
00:58:04,753 --> 00:58:07,283
actually reminds me because something that I've

971
00:58:07,299 --> 00:58:11,483
been doing lately, I think that multimodal point

972
00:58:11,659 --> 00:58:13,851
shouldn't be underestimated. And it's a great

973
00:58:13,883 --> 00:58:18,595
point to bring up because as a communicator or as

974
00:58:18,635 --> 00:58:22,611
anybody who's telling a story now because of AI,

975
00:58:22,643 --> 00:58:27,763
you now have the tools to turn a written story

976
00:58:27,899 --> 00:58:32,315
into an audio file, into a video, but certainly

977
00:58:32,355 --> 00:58:39,007
add images and add more, more types of media or

978
00:58:39,031 --> 00:58:43,047
even tell the story in images. So there's. As a

979
00:58:43,071 --> 00:58:46,231
communicator, this is all in your hands. You

980
00:58:46,263 --> 00:58:50,943
don't have to be a designer, you don't have to be

981
00:58:50,959 --> 00:58:53,791
an audio technician or you don't have to have

982
00:58:53,823 --> 00:58:55,983
these other skills. It's all kind of at your

983
00:58:55,999 --> 00:58:58,887
fingertips, of course, how well it sounds and how

984
00:58:58,911 --> 00:59:01,981
good it gets done. Is a different story. But, but

985
00:59:02,013 --> 00:59:04,373
yeah, I totally agree that it's very important, I

986
00:59:04,389 --> 00:59:11,517
think, to take multimodality as a necessary kind

987
00:59:11,541 --> 00:59:15,037
of part of the brief. Okay, I'm going to tell

988
00:59:15,061 --> 00:59:19,069
this story. How should I tell it as an audio, Can

989
00:59:19,077 --> 00:59:21,613
I tell an audio format? Can I tell it? Can I use

990
00:59:21,669 --> 00:59:24,013
images? Can I do these things? And something to

991
00:59:24,029 --> 00:59:26,069
keep in mind as you go. Very sorry to interrupt.

992
00:59:26,117 --> 00:59:27,471
I just thought that was a pretty, pretty.

993
00:59:27,543 --> 00:59:29,887
Anuneha Mewawalla: Not at all. And I think, you know what, I'll.

994
00:59:30,071 --> 00:59:36,031
Well, I'll. What I'd like to sort of add to the

995
00:59:36,063 --> 00:59:39,983
mix of themes that are emerging is that the goal

996
00:59:40,119 --> 00:59:42,959
isn't just to become AI first. It's. It's to

997
00:59:42,967 --> 00:59:46,999
become intelligence amplified. And the most

998
00:59:47,047 --> 00:59:49,135
successful communications teams will be the ones

999
00:59:49,175 --> 00:59:52,435
that have a, you know, careful balance between

1000
00:59:53,825 --> 00:59:57,721
tech capability and human insight. And they won't

1001
00:59:57,753 --> 01:00:00,753
just be great storytellers, they'll be AI fluent

1002
01:00:00,849 --> 01:00:04,009
strategists who can leverage technology while

1003
01:00:04,137 --> 01:00:06,953
maintaining an authentic human connection. And I

1004
01:00:06,969 --> 01:00:09,569
think that that sort of is something that's

1005
01:00:09,617 --> 01:00:11,913
underpinning a lot of what I'm saying. So it's

1006
01:00:12,009 --> 01:00:15,617
across a lot of these skills that are going to be

1007
01:00:15,641 --> 01:00:19,353
key for the storyteller of the future. And then

1008
01:00:19,369 --> 01:00:23,793
the next point is around data driven creativity.

1009
01:00:23,849 --> 01:00:27,993
And it's again similar, right? Which is combine

1010
01:00:28,049 --> 01:00:30,561
creative instincts with data literacy to

1011
01:00:30,593 --> 01:00:33,017
understand audience engagement, optimize impact,

1012
01:00:33,121 --> 01:00:36,737
identify emerging narrative patterns without

1013
01:00:36,881 --> 01:00:40,657
losing the soul of the story. Right? I think

1014
01:00:40,721 --> 01:00:44,205
that's where we come in. We have incredible

1015
01:00:44,755 --> 01:00:49,523
capabilities at our fingertips. Now it's just how

1016
01:00:49,539 --> 01:00:52,571
are we harnessing it and how are we blending

1017
01:00:52,763 --> 01:00:55,827
human superpowers into it? And then the final

1018
01:00:55,931 --> 01:00:59,923
skill is around growth mindset. It's the capacity

1019
01:00:59,979 --> 01:01:03,899
to keep evolving with, with new technologies. I

1020
01:01:03,907 --> 01:01:08,803
mean, AI is advancing at an exponential pace. You

1021
01:01:08,819 --> 01:01:13,965
know, everything we know is being tested because

1022
01:01:14,005 --> 01:01:16,717
there's new things that are emerging, new tools

1023
01:01:16,781 --> 01:01:23,149
and new strategies. And so the mindset to

1024
01:01:23,197 --> 01:01:25,773
continue to evolve with it, I think is going to

1025
01:01:25,789 --> 01:01:30,725
be key, to be curious, to be critical thinkers,

1026
01:01:30,885 --> 01:01:35,545
to have that capacity, cultivate that capacity to

1027
01:01:36,055 --> 01:01:39,423
learn new tech, new platforms, while at the same

1028
01:01:39,439 --> 01:01:42,583
time ensuring that our stories align with our

1029
01:01:42,639 --> 01:01:45,247
company's objectives or our executives objectives

1030
01:01:45,311 --> 01:01:52,287
or stakeholders objectives. And whether it's

1031
01:01:52,391 --> 01:01:54,919
business, cultural, social impact goals, whatever

1032
01:01:54,967 --> 01:01:58,335
you have. So I think those are five, I'll just

1033
01:01:58,375 --> 01:02:02,803
quickly recount it's empathy and eq, it's

1034
01:02:02,899 --> 01:02:07,747
mastering working with AI. It's multimodal

1035
01:02:07,811 --> 01:02:11,499
storytelling, data driven creativity and growth

1036
01:02:11,547 --> 01:02:15,779
mindset. Those are the five essential skills of

1037
01:02:15,827 --> 01:02:17,575
the storyteller of the future.

1038
01:02:17,995 --> 01:02:21,531
Dan Nestle: I can't argue with any of it. I think it's all

1039
01:02:21,683 --> 01:02:25,587
absolutely critically important. There's a

1040
01:02:25,611 --> 01:02:27,243
foundational skill you got to have first. I think

1041
01:02:27,259 --> 01:02:28,977
it's called writing. I think you have to be able

1042
01:02:29,001 --> 01:02:34,801
to write, assuming you know how to write. That

1043
01:02:34,833 --> 01:02:37,881
said, even then, though, you don't have to be a

1044
01:02:37,913 --> 01:02:39,953
fantastic writer necessarily to be a fantastic

1045
01:02:40,009 --> 01:02:46,297
storyteller. Storytelling is, again, as you've

1046
01:02:46,321 --> 01:02:49,057
been talking about during our conversation here,

1047
01:02:49,081 --> 01:02:52,465
and certainly as we've, I hope, come to

1048
01:02:52,505 --> 01:02:54,763
understand, it's. It's about making those

1049
01:02:54,819 --> 01:02:58,875
connections and building trust. And overall, it's

1050
01:02:58,915 --> 01:03:04,635
that authenticity that invites belief,

1051
01:03:04,755 --> 01:03:10,147
participation, trust, reputation, whatever it

1052
01:03:10,171 --> 01:03:13,055
invites. It invites you to be part of the story.

1053
01:03:14,595 --> 01:03:17,043
There's a talent to that, but it's also

1054
01:03:17,099 --> 01:03:19,895
learnable. And it's also something that can be,

1055
01:03:20,615 --> 01:03:22,263
you know, that the word, where the words and

1056
01:03:22,279 --> 01:03:25,223
where those images and everything that we use to

1057
01:03:25,239 --> 01:03:28,719
tell the story, you know, kind of enforce that or

1058
01:03:28,847 --> 01:03:31,127
enhance that or kind of get that out in the

1059
01:03:31,151 --> 01:03:36,127
front. So, you know, putting it all together and

1060
01:03:36,311 --> 01:03:40,487
you're creating something that's inviting and

1061
01:03:40,511 --> 01:03:45,705
hopefully the executive that we are telling

1062
01:03:45,745 --> 01:03:50,045
stories on behalf of or that is telling stories,

1063
01:03:50,345 --> 01:03:53,633
him or herself, you know, building up their

1064
01:03:53,689 --> 01:03:55,585
personal brand, which we didn't really get to

1065
01:03:55,625 --> 01:03:57,169
because I really. I really wanted to. But get

1066
01:03:57,217 --> 01:04:00,321
building up that personal brand, which does

1067
01:04:00,513 --> 01:04:07,833
accrue almost 100% to the corporate brand. They

1068
01:04:07,889 --> 01:04:13,243
also, I think, should not be comfortable

1069
01:04:13,339 --> 01:04:18,803
outsourcing their storytelling 100% to anybody

1070
01:04:18,859 --> 01:04:22,675
else. They have to have skin in the game. They

1071
01:04:22,715 --> 01:04:25,179
have to be involved with this storytelling

1072
01:04:25,307 --> 01:04:27,699
because it has to be them. It has to be

1073
01:04:27,867 --> 01:04:30,735
authentic. And to your earlier point about

1074
01:04:31,715 --> 01:04:37,051
deepfakes and trust, that's fundamental to trust

1075
01:04:37,083 --> 01:04:38,867
in system, is for the actual person to be

1076
01:04:38,891 --> 01:04:43,137
involved in what's going on. So these skills that

1077
01:04:43,161 --> 01:04:47,005
you've mentioned, empathy, mastery of tools,

1078
01:04:47,545 --> 01:04:51,777
multimodal storytelling, et cetera, without a

1079
01:04:51,801 --> 01:04:56,297
doubt, the executives themselves really have to

1080
01:04:56,321 --> 01:04:59,417
be part of that process. They certainly need to

1081
01:04:59,441 --> 01:05:02,993
know. They certainly have to be empathic and have

1082
01:05:03,009 --> 01:05:08,745
a high EQ and the growth mindset that sandwich

1083
01:05:09,285 --> 01:05:13,877
the more tactical points of AI tool storytelling

1084
01:05:14,021 --> 01:05:19,813
and being data driven. But it is just. I think

1085
01:05:19,829 --> 01:05:22,325
it's such an evolving landscape. But if you have

1086
01:05:22,365 --> 01:05:25,733
these five things in your pocket, I think you'll

1087
01:05:25,749 --> 01:05:27,493
be. Sounds to me like you'll be fine or I think

1088
01:05:27,509 --> 01:05:29,505
you'll be fine. I agree with you on all of that.

1089
01:05:30,965 --> 01:05:33,145
I can't believe we've been speaking for so long.

1090
01:05:33,775 --> 01:05:37,319
Let's. Let's kind of wind this down and just Give

1091
01:05:37,327 --> 01:05:40,783
you the last word here, Anuneha, about. I mean,

1092
01:05:40,879 --> 01:05:43,919
first of all, I'll give you two choices. First of

1093
01:05:43,927 --> 01:05:45,551
all, is there anything that we didn't talk about

1094
01:05:45,583 --> 01:05:47,519
that you wanted to have a couple of words, you

1095
01:05:47,527 --> 01:05:50,079
know, you want to inform the audiences of or, you

1096
01:05:50,087 --> 01:05:53,887
know, drop some wisdom or, and, or maybe it's the

1097
01:05:53,911 --> 01:05:55,903
same thing. You know, is there something that

1098
01:05:55,919 --> 01:05:58,559
you're concerned about or optimistic about when

1099
01:05:58,567 --> 01:06:00,151
it comes to the future that you want to share

1100
01:06:00,183 --> 01:06:02,073
with us today as a.

1101
01:06:02,089 --> 01:06:08,729
Anuneha Mewawalla: Trending communicator, AI is going to turbocharge

1102
01:06:08,857 --> 01:06:12,217
our field. It's going to reimagine communications

1103
01:06:12,281 --> 01:06:16,505
as we know it, just as it is already reimagining

1104
01:06:16,585 --> 01:06:21,085
business and society. And so I would just implore

1105
01:06:21,425 --> 01:06:26,457
all my friends and colleagues in the field to not

1106
01:06:26,481 --> 01:06:30,107
lose a minute and really capitalizing on its

1107
01:06:30,171 --> 01:06:36,255
value, on educating yourselves and your teams on

1108
01:06:37,555 --> 01:06:41,723
the capabilities, the use cases. Open your minds

1109
01:06:41,779 --> 01:06:44,635
up to the fact that there could be so many more

1110
01:06:44,675 --> 01:06:47,715
ways that we could be leveraging this to make our

1111
01:06:47,755 --> 01:06:53,179
lives better, produce more, be more creative, but

1112
01:06:53,227 --> 01:06:57,321
really transform the communications function to

1113
01:06:57,353 --> 01:07:01,161
an intelligent, highly strategic, highly

1114
01:07:01,273 --> 01:07:04,257
proactive function. So I think that's what I

1115
01:07:04,281 --> 01:07:08,817
would leave everyone with is just, you know, to

1116
01:07:08,921 --> 01:07:13,365
encourage you and urge you to build an AI mindset

1117
01:07:13,905 --> 01:07:17,361
and, you know, take the opportunity, every

1118
01:07:17,433 --> 01:07:22,837
opportunity you can, to bring AI into the mix and

1119
01:07:22,861 --> 01:07:26,301
to think about how it can uplift and elevate what

1120
01:07:26,333 --> 01:07:28,465
you do in work and in life.

1121
01:07:30,485 --> 01:07:31,957
Dan Nestle: I don't think I could have said it any better

1122
01:07:31,981 --> 01:07:34,973
than that and certainly won't try. I think

1123
01:07:35,149 --> 01:07:37,397
everyone out there now understands after

1124
01:07:37,461 --> 01:07:42,813
listening to you for a little while, why I am so

1125
01:07:42,989 --> 01:07:47,565
thrilled to be. To have the privilege to be

1126
01:07:47,645 --> 01:07:49,861
working with you on a few projects. I mean, how

1127
01:07:49,893 --> 01:07:52,293
exciting is it? Look everybody out there. I get

1128
01:07:52,309 --> 01:07:56,333
to talk to Anaha all the time, so I'm always

1129
01:07:56,389 --> 01:07:59,661
benefiting from the wisdom and certainly the

1130
01:07:59,693 --> 01:08:07,141
perspective. And boy, your approach is so. It's

1131
01:08:07,173 --> 01:08:12,319
so calm, straightforward, eloquent, but well

1132
01:08:12,367 --> 01:08:15,223
informed. And I think that everybody out there

1133
01:08:15,279 --> 01:08:17,503
today. I love the takeaways we're going to have

1134
01:08:17,519 --> 01:08:20,635
from this episode and I can't wait to publish it.

1135
01:08:22,335 --> 01:08:24,279
Anybody out there wants to know more about

1136
01:08:24,407 --> 01:08:29,103
Anuneha, check out her LinkedIn profile. I think

1137
01:08:29,119 --> 01:08:32,599
there's only one person with the entirety of

1138
01:08:32,607 --> 01:08:37,983
Anuneha, Me Wala in LinkedIn and her name will be

1139
01:08:37,999 --> 01:08:39,991
spelled properly in the episode notes and on the

1140
01:08:40,023 --> 01:08:44,177
show graphic. Look. Look her up on LinkedIn.

1141
01:08:44,241 --> 01:08:46,425
Check out her company, which is

1142
01:08:46,505 --> 01:08:50,175
lexadoconsulting.com that's L E x 80

1143
01:08:50,344 --> 01:08:52,905
consulting.com you can find her there. You know,

1144
01:08:52,945 --> 01:08:54,441
search for her on the web. You'll find some

1145
01:08:54,473 --> 01:08:57,985
articles she's written, some good stuff that that

1146
01:08:58,065 --> 01:09:01,065
gives you some good insights into her thought

1147
01:09:01,105 --> 01:09:06,721
leadership in AI especially. And I can't think of

1148
01:09:06,753 --> 01:09:10,321
anybody else who I'd rather have working with me

1149
01:09:10,353 --> 01:09:14,444
on things like executive storytelling and

1150
01:09:14,484 --> 01:09:17,812
communications than Ananeha. So Ananeha, thank

1151
01:09:17,828 --> 01:09:20,516
you so much for being on the show.

1152
01:09:20,700 --> 01:09:23,444
Anuneha Mewawalla: Such a pleasure. Dan, thank you so much again for

1153
01:09:23,484 --> 01:09:27,428
having me. It is always delightful and super fun

1154
01:09:27,516 --> 01:09:30,864
to chat with you on the future of communications.

1155
01:09:31,644 --> 01:09:40,231
Dan Nestle: You got it. Thanks for taking the time to listen

1156
01:09:40,263 --> 01:09:42,943
in on today's conversation. If you enjoyed it,

1157
01:09:43,079 --> 01:09:45,239
please be sure to subscribe through the podcast

1158
01:09:45,287 --> 01:09:47,711
player of your choice. Share with your friends

1159
01:09:47,783 --> 01:09:51,575
and colleagues and leave me a review. Five stars

1160
01:09:51,695 --> 01:09:54,543
would be preferred, but it's up to you. Do you

1161
01:09:54,559 --> 01:09:56,543
have ideas for future guests or you want to be on

1162
01:09:56,559 --> 01:10:00,319
the show? Let me know@danerendingcommunicator.com

1163
01:10:00,487 --> 01:10:02,609
thanks again for listening to the trending

1164
01:10:02,657 --> 01:10:02,985
Communicator.