I am a big fan of The New York Times Dining section. Donut drama. Importing Mom instead of the pasta. Hunting for “treasures” in restaurant laundry. And the list goes on. The NYT Dining journalists know how to shape story lines beyond the – “chef showed restraint, allowing the flavor of the fresh [fill in …more
The language in most job descriptions is deadly dull. It’s as if 99 percent of companies borrow from the HR playbook, “Vanilla Job Descriptions.” Companies may tout people as their valuable asset, but they pay scant attention to the crafting of job descriptions for recruitment. I have a theory on the disconnect. The best writers …more
It’s tough to beat The New Yorker when it comes to storytelling. Starting with Malcolm Gladwell, the writers who grace these pages aren’t just good. They’re gifted. That’s what I was thinking as I tucked into the essay “Can Science Explain Why We Tell Stories” by Adam Gopnik. What could be better than the combination …more
We periodically delve into the murky world of investigative reporting. If you recall — and I suspect you don’t — it was this property that broke the story that The Wall Street Journal failed to dig into the background of Tim Bray who had a history of dissing Apple before joining Google. It is in …more
The latest issue of BusinessWeek offers the feature, “The Adventures of Superfood Man.” The lead takes from one of those life-is-better-than-fiction moments: On a good morning in Paradise Cove, Malibu, the water is so clear you can see halibut lurking in the kelp. Little Dume Point rises from its cliffs to the north, and …more
I love the idea of rabbis holding a workshop with Hollywood writers – picture the intersection of “Desperate Housewives” and Moses – to strengthen their storytelling in front of their congregation. The point is, business storytelling benefits from other vantage points. That’s why I welcome today’s perspective from Nancy Dodd whose credits range from screenplays …more
What is your company (or client) doing that deviates from the status quo? I ask this question after being reminded by a 2009 New Yorker article “Hanging Tough,” that difficult economic times can produce rich fodder for storytelling. Let’s talk cereal. The New Yorker piece points out that when the Great Depression hit, cold cereal had yet to put a dent in …more
I’ve been considering this question since August 22, 2011. That’s when The Financial Times column, “Chief Googler’s ‘amazing’ clichés are dull and void” appeared. Lucy Kellaway took Larry Page to task for his poor communications on the Motorola acquisition. Channeling high school biology, she dissected the following statement from Page phrase by bloody phrase: “Together, …more
The Korean newspaper Electronic Times asked me to write a series of columns that looked at business issues through the lens of Silicon Valley. One column emphasized that a successful product launch starts by doing your homework: Foreign tech companies often don’t take the time to do their homework and figure out how their product …more
