July 10, 2008 marks the day I published the first post on Ishmael’s Corner (below).
Dusting off the post, I assumed my first attempt would come across as pompous or worse. Actually, it’s OK. Not great. Not a Pulitzer Price winner. But it does a decent job in explaining the blog’s aspirations.
Keep in mind back in 2008 blogging was the rage, particularly in the PR industry where most consultancies concluded a blog would bring them instant street cred. I knew the world didn’t need yet another blog touting the virtues of pitching a story that has relevance to the journalist’s readership.
Hence, I would write about storytelling through a business prism.
Fast forwarding to today, I’m guessing 60% or so of my posts fall under the storytelling umbrella. Who could have predicted back in 2008 that the communications profession was about to enter its version of the Industrial Revolution.
The plethora (now we’re getting closer to “pompous”) of topics and issues for potential posts hurts my brain.
I suppose that’s one reason I continue to blog. As an introverted soul, I also enjoy a platform in which I can express myself with written words. And the fact that my content doesn’t have to undergo that meat grinder known as the client review process is a plus.
OK, here are the 207 words I penned as post No. 1, complete with its not-so-clever headline and the original visual, a cover of the book “Moby Dick.”
About This Blog
Businesspeople tend to associate storytelling with fiction.
Yet, the same elements that make a book such as “Moby Dick” a compelling read — good versus evil, care for the characters, humor, etc. — have a place in the business world. Whether it’s a potential customer evaluating your product or a journalist probing your latest news, communicating information in a more entertaining fashion increases your likeability quotient.
And customers, journalists, job candidates and even gadflies gravitate toward companies they like.
Unfortunately, this concept around storytelling is counterintuitive to many business executives, particularly those coming from engineering orientations where science rules the day. I’m not suggesting you need to lose an appendage to a large mammal before anyone will notice you but the ability to build some drama in business communications is a means to capture attention.
That’s the idea behind this blog: To look at the art of storytelling through a business prism.
No doubt, most blog postings will draw from the media world — defining media as any from journalists to an individual with a virtual soapbox since the words are right there in the public domain to scrutinize. But this blog will strive to tackle the bigger challenge of communicating to the outside world in a more entertaining fashion.