Just two days ago, Sunday, April 19, the Chicago Cubs should have been in D.C. playing their 20th game of the 2020 season against the 2019 World Series Champs—The Washington Nationals. But, alas, the pandemic has put baseball, and all of sports, on hold. So what do we root for now? Well...last summer, I was sitting in the stands at Washington Nationals baseball park on the evening of July 23 hoping for one thing. I was in D.C. on business, and my sister, a D.C. transplant and fifteen-year … [Read more...] about The Do’s of Storytelling During COVID-19
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I Had One Thing On My Mind…
Almost a month ago today, on the evening of Thursday, March 12, I had ONE thing on my mind. I hadn’t been home too long from my evening speaking gig, and I’m lying on the couch watching Kelly Clarkson and John Legend on The Voice, when at 9:30 P.M. my husband walks through the front door and announces: “The grocery store is completely out of…TOILET PAPER.” I do a mental checklist of how many rolls of TP we have on hand. Like 4 or 5. For some reason, we had forgotten to buy toilet paper … [Read more...] about I Had One Thing On My Mind…
The Most Important Story You Will Ever Tell
I often tell people that I have the best job in the world because stories have the ability to inspire and change people’s lives. That’s the power of storytelling. But there can be a dark side to storytelling, too. Those stories we tell ourselves that keep us from being who we really want to be or doing what we truly want to do. Case in point. I was five days out from doing my new talk for the first time, and I was having a moment of doubt—my stomach knotting up a bit. Would what I have to … [Read more...] about The Most Important Story You Will Ever Tell
Charismatic Speakers VS Storytellers
I knew I shouldn’t have done it. The minute I walk through the sliding doors of the Baltimore airport I hand over my suitcase to a well-dressed gentleman in a button-down shirt and grey slacks, who says in his beautiful South African accent, “Looking for a cab?” Next thing I know I’m gliding in a black town car toward Baltimore where I am to speak about strategic storytelling and best public speaking tips at a leadership conference. Yep. I fall for the the oldest trick in the book, getting … [Read more...] about Charismatic Speakers VS Storytellers
The Trouble With Rules
I hate making word and grammar mistakes. I can still vividly remember when I was 17 visiting my sister at the University of Chicago where she was a graduate student and playing Trivial Pursuit with her friends. They were REALLY smart, needless to say, and I read aloud a card mispronouncing the word “municipal.” I thought it was munincipal, with a second “n,” so that’s how I said it, and, I mean, I can still hear the laughter and all of them correcting me. Her friends, not my sister. Even … [Read more...] about The Trouble With Rules