Thomas R. Clifford: Bringing Brands to Life! Remarkable Corporate Videos

Employee Engagement Lessons from Fast Company’s “30 Second MBA” Part 1

Thomas R. Clifford — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:04:00 +0000

I’m a big fan of Fast Company’s “30 Second MBA” site.

The minute it launched, I felt it offered a simple yet highly effective way for organizations to integrate social media concepts into their internal communication strategies.

I wanted to know more. So I asked Ellen McGirt, the Senior Writer and Dean of “30 Second MBA,” a few questions about her experiences in launching the site. I was particularly interested in seeing how the “30 Second MBA” framework could be adapted for internal communication purposes. Here’s part one of the interview. And many thanks, Ellen, for sharing your ideas!

1. How did the Fast Company “30 Second MBA” idea come into being?
I pitched the concept about two years ago. I was looking for an unusual way to tell stories using video on the web. The verdict: Cute idea, we’re not ready.

Fast forward about a year and a half, and we had a new web direction, some development momentum and a new editor. I re-pitched the idea and it got some traction. We went ahead and started planning the interface, etc – and we got the news from our publisher that she’d been able to find a sponsor. Score! Suddenly we had some additional cash to build out the first version. Although we were prepared to go rogue and do it with existing resources, the new budget was a welcome addition.

2. Take us behind the scenes a bit. How are the videos created? How do you find your video guests? How many members are on your team? How are your themes for each week discovered? Any other things readers would find interesting?

The beauty of the idea is that it’s a real DIY project. And, although it’s labor intensive, it’s not expensive. I have a ready list of candidates – people who have appeared in the magazine or who are associated with industries or companies we’ve studied. The questions come from interviews I’ve conducted with both business leaders and readers, and range from the deeply philosophical – is technology changing the nature of leadership? – to the mundane – how do you run a meeting? (Contrary to popular opinion, actual interviews are a better way to get information from people, not web polls.)

I extend an invitation to potential participants via e-mail, and then offer an array of questions to choose from, with a deadline and upload instructions. I emphasize that rough is great – Flip cam, hand helds, Skype are all terrific. Tell us stories! These answers should be the type of personal advice you’d give a friend in need. And it’s very very cool to see people in their natural habitats, so I encourage people to shoot from their offices.

I’ve also reached out to many extraordinary people I don’t know, like Alan Mulally of Ford. He loved the concept and signed on before the site was even built! We want the project to be a reflection of the sensibilities of our magazine – about innovation, inspiration and possibility – and inclusive of all perspectives. So the mix of voices is profound -from the C-suites of Ford, Intel, Schwab, Facebook and USAA, to soldiers in Afghanistan/Iraq, artists, educators and social entrepreneurs in a variety of fields. There are some very cool surprises coming up.

This is a team effort of technologists and editors on both the digital side and magazine side – not to mention our magnificent publisher and marketing team. Now more than 20 people think about and work on Thirty Second MBA from a Fast Company perspective. That is absolutely my favorite part of this. It went from a crazy pitch to a full on team effort. Thanks especially to Bob Safian, our editor in chief; Noah Robischon, our web editor; and Christine Osekoski our publisher - for their guts, hard work and spirit.

3. If an organization wanted to adopt the “30 Second MBA” idea internally, what steps or ideas would you suggest to them?

It’s a lot of work but really worth it. Keep the project and the subsequent requests for participation clear and focused – people want to contribute, but they also don’t want to be embarrassed. Be prepared to answer a lot of questions about what you want and how the project will be used. What can they expect? What kind of help or support? What do you want me to say again?

Be sure to frame the project as having a bigger objective. Our stated goal is to grow the leadership capability of our readers by giving them a nugget of wisdom from executives we admire that they can access when they need it. And, I make sure people know that I consider their participation a generous act.

Also, get buy-in from the top of your organization. I mean, I never do, but why make things harder than they need to be? ☺

4. A 2008 survey conducted by the Corporate Leadership Council indicates: “By improving employees’ level of engagement, organizations can see significant improvement in employees’ performance rating and decrease the probability of employee departure by 87%.”

With the phenomenal rise in social media, what ways can an organization use the MBA framework internally to increase employee and customer engagement and retention?

I am so lucky. As part of my job I get to have exceptional conversations with people who are making business happen – the Mark Zuckerbergs, the Paul Otellinis, etc. They invariably say something incredibly interesting about how they do what they do, how they’ve solved a leadership problem, or how their thoughts about work have evolved.

Almost never is that the subject of the interview or relevant to my piece. But MAN, I wish I had web cam in my brain to capture that moment. The 30 Second MBA was born from that wish, and a desire to share my world with my readers. (Without me in it, by the way. I don’t want to watch any more fake talk shows on the web!)

So what would that mean for your organization? What wisdom or inspiration is going unrecorded? When you hit your head and say – man, I wish my colleagues/customers/friends could hear this – you’re on your way to an idea.

I would also tap the routinely overlooked HR department for insight. They tend to know more than you think. It’s also helpful to think in modules. The 30 Second MBA works because it is both structured and diverse. We get five very different people to answer the same question, so the contrast is automatically interesting. Would it matter to you that the guy in the mailroom is also a hospice volunteer? That the VP of finance produces community theater? The very notion of introducing a company to itself is a valuable one. But to use it to teach what they know is really cool. And makes an excellent recruiting tool.

So maybe ya’ll are on a budget or not so good with a web cam. Even a simple Facebook network with a complete list of employees and their talents, skills, strengths and interests can help people in big organizations connect with others who can help them when they need them. It’s also a cultural thing – it must be unacceptable NOT to share your expertise with your colleagues whether you know them or not. That part comes from the top.

Stay tuned for part two.

Originally posted on my Fast Company column.

Ellen McGirt’s Bio:
When she's not chasing former Vice Presidents or leaping social networks in a single bound, Ellen McGirt occasionally shows up at her job as Senior Writer at Fast Company magazine. She covers a range of business topics, but never stops looking for the writer’s holy grail: The business ideas - and people - who are changing the world.

McGirt joined Fast Company in February 2007 from Fortune, where she was a senior writer. She was also a columnist and editor-at-large for Money, where she covered a wide variety of health care, consumer, personal finance and investing topics. McGirt has served as a guest correspondent for CNN's American Morning, and has appeared frequently on Good Morning America, CBS Early Today, NBC Nightly News, CNBC, CNN, and American Public Media.

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5 Big Ideas: What Honda’s Mini-Documentaries Can Teach Non-Filmmakers

Thomas R. Clifford — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 02:05:00 +0000

Here are five ideas from Honda’s new corporate documentary, “Racing Against Time,” to help you take your videos from talking heads to interesting and believable stories. (RSS readers click thru to see the video.)

Have you checked out Honda’s “Dream the Impossible” mini-documentary series? The video series features several big ideas in a series of mini-documentaries. And yes, they’re beautifully produced.

But here’s the thing.
If you deconstruct Honda’s new documentary, “Racing Against Time,” you’ll find five big ideas you can use to make your own videos just as engaging and compelling as Honda’s. And the best part? You can integrate them into your own videos for next to nothing.

So what exactly are these five big ideas?

5 Big Ideas: What Honda’s Mini-Documentaries Can Teach Non-Filmmakers

1. Capture passionate storytellers
It pretty much goes without saying: you need people on-camera who can share their passion, drive and determination for your product or service. Video is unforgiving in what it captures. Feature people who love what they do and can express their emotional passion without hesitation.

2. Music matters
Try this experiment. Play the Honda video. Turn your monitor away so you can’t see it. Now just listen to the soundtrack. You’ll notice a few things about the soundtrack. The music:
• Changes several times throughout the video
• Varies when ideas vary
• Stops abruptly to enunciate a point
• Creates suspense and drama
• Connects with the ticking of the stopwatch

Avoid the temptation to just pick a single piece of music and use it throughout your video. If having a video custom scored isn’t possible, consider changing the stock music frequently to reflect the ideas in the video.

3. Use testimonials for extra credibility and believability
Honda tapped into skateboarding legend Tony Hawk, "Star Trek" and “Transformers” screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman and IndyCar driver Tony Kanaan for added dimension. Adding comments from outside a company gives a video depth, breadth and insight not typically found in business videos. They can help a video feel less provincial while giving it a “universal” feel and element to your story– letting more people to relate to your message.

4. Put a “dragon” in your story
Adding an obstacle or problem to your video not only makes it more believable but creates tension. Even a small amount of tension makes it hard for viewers to leave your story.

What is the “dragon” in Honda’s “Racing Against Time”? Deadlines. Losing time. Working under pressure. Racing against time. All variations of the same theme. Imagine how less effective Honda’s video would be without the dragon of deadlines and competition. What dragon is in your video? What obstacle are you battling?

5. Eye contact matters
In my “ three stage evolution of video conversations” post, I shared how direct eye contact is becoming critically important in social videos.

Social media is driving conversations one-to-one. Social video will follow the same format. But how? Through direct eye contact. Conversations on-camera are shifting from people talking off-camera with an interviewer to talking directly into the camera. One-to-one. Me-to-you. Eye-to-eye. You can achieve this effect simply by attaching an affordable mirror device to the front of the camera.

Incorporating a few of these ideas into your future projects can easily turn a talking head into a captivating and believable story.

Want to see more examples from Honda?
You can catch more mini-documentaries from Honda on their YouTube channel or their “Dream the Impossible” website.

---Tom

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Tom's SpeedLink #12

Thomas R. Clifford — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:52:00 +0000

Time to share some pretty cool links...

1. New book: "Believe Me: Why Your Vision, Brand, and Leadership Need a Bigger Story."
Michael Margolis, my friend and remarkable business storyteller, just released his first book yesterday entitled, "Believe Me: Why Your Vision, Brand, and Leadership Need a Bigger Story." It's a "storytelling manifesto for change-makers and innovators." Yes, I ordered my copy and can't wait to dive in to it!

2. Honda Launches New Docu-Series On Twitter
Honda's corporate mini-documentaries are some of my favorite programs. I'll have a full article on this new video release on Thursday.

3. Swim Lane Diagram: Dive Into Complex Decision-Making
Paul Williams, branding and marketing genius, gives another neat diagram to help us figure out when we need help ranking and filtering ideas. This diagram was inspired after his Two-by-Two Diagram was such a big hit.

4. Showdown At The Web Corral: Convincing Your Boss to Fix a Hideous Website
I love how author Dan Heath of "Made to Stick" fame answered this delicate question from a reader. I bet you can use this method for other ideas, too.

5. Crude: The Real Price of Oil
Filmmaker Joe Berlinger ( Brother's Keeper, Paradise Lost, Honda mini-documentaries) brings us an amazing new documentary.

---Tom

9 Super Simple Ways to Rock Your Company Video

Thomas R. Clifford — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 02:18:00 +0000

It’s the small things that can make a big difference.

Anyone can implement these ideas.

And the cool part? They’re free or next to free.

See if you can sneak a few of these tricks into your next project. It will help your video story feel more believable and interesting. And rockin'.

1. Talk first. Your best storytellers are hiding right under your nose– your employees. Figure our what your video is about. Pull up a chair and get talking. Ask lots of different questions. Employees rarely get this kind of chance to be heard and recognized. You’ll be amazed at what you hear and capture.

2. Script second. Now that you’ve talked to your storytellers, you can put a script together. The secret behind to pulling this off successfully is simple– get your interviews transcribed to paper. Cut and paste your favorite quotes into a compelling story.

3. Put a dragon in your video. Add some conflict. It doesn’t have to include cars tumbling and light sabers clashing. If you solve problems for your clients, there must be a problem somewhere, right? Some challenge that needs to be overcome? Slip in a little drama. You’ll come across being more believable.

4. Capture more than you think you need. Instead of just asking a few questions during your on-camera interviews, ask several more. Go off track. Listen carefully. You’ll capture ideas for short videos or audio podcasts to be posted at a later time.

5. Keep it simple. Use stock photos from your company’s archives. If you don’t have time or resources to film additional footage outside of the interviews, compliment your interviews with still photography. You can create some interesting attention-getting results by incorporating stills into your video.

6. Keep it short. In general, 2-3 minutes seems to be the ideal time for online videos. Some studies indicate viewers drop off significantly after a minute. Of course, every project is different. If you think you need more time for your video, consider breaking up the one video into several shorter videos.

7. Show your passion. Video is the perfect medium to transmit emotions. We can see it. We can hear it. We can share it. We can even feel it. If you’re not passionate about your story, your viewers will know it in seconds.

8. Talk to the audience. Remember– your video is not about you: it’s about your audience. Every question and answer should be framed with your particular viewer in mind.

9. Add simple graphics. White text on black. Or black text on a white screen. Use title cards to break up the pace of your story. These title graphics can help create rhythm. Use title cards to ask questions, create themes, and reinforce ideas.

Of course, this list is far from complete.

Got a tip? Rocked your videos with interesting ideas? Drop a note and share it here.

---Tom

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7 Fascinating Filmmakers to Follow on Twitter

Thomas R. Clifford — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 13:00:00 +0000

Think today’s filmmakers are stuck behind the camera? Or the edit room?

Think again.

Many filmmakers are harnessing the power of the web to tell another side of the story– their story.

Readers enjoyed my earlier post, “7 Interesting Storytellers to Follow on Twitter,” so let’s continue this series with some interesting filmmakers.

Keeping in the spirit of Twitter, the following “tweets” are 140 characters or less.

7 Fascinating Filmmakers to Follow on Twitter

1. Errol Morris @errolmorris
The Oscar-winning director of ‘Fog of War” often tweets zen-like koans. Witty and always thought-provoking.

2. Michael Moore @MMFlint
Yes- the Academy-Award winning filmmaker is on Twitter. Currently promoting his new documentary, “Capitalism: A Love Story.”

3. David Lynch @David_Lynch
Mixes “transcendental” tweets with updates about his new storytelling project, @InterviewProj. Pioneering personal stories for the web.

4. Bluedot Productions @bluedot_
Game changers. Really. These “quantum activist” filmmakers are creating “quantum leaps” in documentary films.

5. PBS Point of View @povdocs
Beyond promoting POV documentaries, watch for tweets on interviews and educational resources.

6. Frank Kelly @frankwkelly
The filmmaker behind the “140 Project.” 140 filmmakers from 140 countries captured 140 seconds of unedited footage. Truly fascinating.

7. Peter Marshall @bcfilmmaker
Veteran filmmaker/workshop teacher/social media proponent. Tweets often & covers the intersection of traditional filmmaking with new media.

BONUS #1: The Documentary Blog @DocumentaryBlog
A great place to keep up with the latest documentary news. Thoughtful, in-depth reviews.

BONUS #2: National Film Board of Canada @thenfb
Awesome resource for all things documentary. Tweets a wide variety of topics. Highly interactive and engaging.

Want to discover more filmmakers and conversations?
Follow the #documentary trend on Twitter.

---Tom

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Tom's SpeedLink #11

Thomas R. Clifford — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:26:00 +0000

Got a short but great mix for you this time. Enjoy!

1. Ira Glass interview
My favorite storyteller, Ira Glass (This American Life and NPR host), gave a a neat interview back in January.

2. New Product Launches (5 second MBA)
A timely (and funny) graphic summarizing product launches from 1980's to the 2000's.

3. Is it time for companies to hire a Social Media Administrator?
David Meerman Scott has a thought-provoking post on an emerging trend in companies.

4. The 140 Project: Filmmakers Capture 140 Seconds of Home
Twitter + filmmaking = The 140 Project. 140 filmmakers in 140 locations filmming 140 seconds of unedited footage all starting at the same time! Gotta love that idea. =)

---Tom

Three Keys to Good Storytelling

Thomas R. Clifford — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 10:06:00 +0000

I'm delighted to bring you a guest post from Bluedot Productions, the filmmakers behind the amazing documentary, "The Quantum Activist." We met a while ago on Twitter and I invited them to write a guest article.

Bluedot's bio: "Holding down the Left Coast in the rain forests of Oregon, BlueDot Productions offers its collective talent & wisdom to projects that both empower as well as celebrate living." This post is by Ted Golder, Storyteller, at BlueDot Productions- Creative Media for Life. Ted's three tips will help your videos soar– not bore! Thanks, Ted, for writing this guest post.

Stories, stories, stories.

In the end it is all we have, in truth, it is what we crave.

The venue or genre is not important; whether we are writing a book, making a movie, talking to a friend or making a corporate video – we are telling stories.

After reading blogs and talking to people in the corporate video industry, I am under the impression that most are aware of the need to bring storytelling to their video in order to keep it from becoming boring.

Then why, I ask, are so many corporate videos boring?
The answer is that storytelling is a craft, and the reality is that there is good storytelling and bad storytelling.

Here are a few crucial points to focus on to make your video soar rather than snore:

1. Tension

We want the audience to have moments where they say or think something like, “How the heck is he going to pull that off?” or “That’s interesting, but I don’t see the connection” or “If that’s true, she better explain how so”. The narrative of your story must incite the audience to really want an answer. You wouldn’t be in business if you were not offering an answer to some question. Don’t give them an answer until you have generated a field of tension surrounding the question.

2. Unpredictability

Don’t be predictable. Great filmmakers are always one step ahead of the audience. In Werner Herzog’s Rescue Dawn there were many moments when I wasn’t immediately sure what I was looking at due to the camera angle, lighting or just an ambiguous subject. Is that an oddly shaped boulder or a deformed monster or a corpse? Oh I see it’s a boulder. If the narration is about a hammer – show a nail. Keep them guessing as to what is coming next. This technique should not be arbitrary or chaotic; there should be a method to the madness. The unpredictability should be full of suggestion, foreshadowing and recall. Not gimmicky shots and tricks, rather the video should be strategically designed to tell a story in a way that is not predictably sequential. We don’t want to confuse the audience; we want them to be slightly unsure of what’s coming next.

3. Personality

The narrator, whether third person or an interviewee does not have to be eloquent or overly graceful, but they should be charming and endearing if not charismatic. Someone to whom we naturally would want to listen. It can be the slickest production in the land, but if the storyteller (narrator) does not have some type of magnetism which draws us to them, the whole thing will lay flat. (The salesperson sells herself before she can sell her product).

With a friend, I recently watched a documentary which presented the esoteric philosophy of a famous physicist.

The film was aimed at the educated lay. My friend, completely unfamiliar with anything even remotely related to the subject matter didn’t understand the physicist’s message. But he liked the film, even recommended it to his friends. I had to ask, “What did you like?” He liked the physicist. The film had a flow and was well put together he said, but above all he liked the physicist and was willing to sit through two hours of something he didn’t understand because he found the narrator/star of the film captivating. So, make sure your narrator/interviewee is someone to whom we want to listen.

If you can implement these three keys to good storytelling:

tension
unpredictability
personality

...along with a technically sound production, your video will soar– not bore!

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Improving Performance: Integrating Stephen Covey’s Ideas in Video

Thomas R. Clifford — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 12:29:00 +0000

“Most of your team members want to make a valued contribution– to find purpose in their work.” Stephen R. Covey.

I’m in the middle of reading Stephen Covey’s new book, “Predictable Results in Unpredictable Times.” Being a Covey fan for nearly 20 years, I can tell you this book is another winner. While it’s only 94 pages, the book is jam-packed with simple yet powerful ideas. It’s co-written by Bob Whitman, FranklinCovey’s CEO.

“How can I get more people to do the things we already know how to do?”
Great question, isn’t it? Covey’s question grabbed me because this is where business videos excel. Let me explain it through the eyes of Covey.

It’s a simple fact of life
Some people and teams within organizations work extremely well; say about 20% (to the right of the middle). Some under-perform; another 20% (those on the left side). The rest fall in the middle- roughly 60%. That 60% could easily move to the right, towards excellence– if only they knew how.

Covey suggests that one of the most effective ways a leader can improve the performance of people and teams is to “move the middle” “righter and tighter,” towards higher performance. Can you imagine the outcomes if just 5% or 10% of your teams started moving to the right towards higher performance?

But how do you move “the middle” to the right?
Covey suggests two steps :
1. Identify islands of excellence
2. Ask the team how to improve performance

1. Identify islands of excellence
Every organization has top performers and top teams. Identify them. Visit and talk to them. Find out what they are doing that sets them apart. Ask these top performers to share their success stories. Finally, invite these people to mentor “the middle.”

2. Ask the team how to improve performance
Start generating success stories from “the middle” instead of focusing on their failures. Get input from the team members on ways they can improve key performance areas. Involving the team on a consistent basis by setting new goals can go a long way to moving them to the right.

What’s all this have to do with video?
Using these two steps, you now have a template to create a series of video success stories to drive “the middle” “righter and tighter.”

Video template: Produce two short videos

1. Video #1 Identify islands of excellence
Let’s say you’ve identified a team that really shines. Spend a few hours capturing on-camera interviews with the team members. Capture their success stories. Capture their emotions. Video reigns supreme when showing emotions so capture the team’s passion and let’s see what makes them so successful.

2. Video #2 Ask the team how to improve performance
Spend another few hours capturing the high performance team mentoring a team in “the middle.” Interview team members from “the middle” so the audience can see and hear how they’re stuck and how intend to move forward. Let’s see how mentoring in action can tap into the greatness of a team and propel them forward.

Now you have a glimpse into answering Covey’s question:
“How can I get more people to do the things we already know how to do?”

---Tom

Thomas Clifford and 40+ Story Practitioners in Storytelling eBook

Thomas R. Clifford — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:10:00 +0000

Last summer, Dr. Kathy Hansen, publisher of A Storied Career blog and leading storytelling proponent, invited me to participate in her "story practitioner project."

I was interviewed (along with 42 other professional story practitioners) in a series of Q&A's related to my storytelling experience and corporate filmmaking. Kathy then posted all the individual interviews on her blog. Now the interviews are finally collected under one roof.

I'm totally thrilled to share with you Kathy's new free ebook:
"Storied Careers: 40+ Story Practitioners Talk About Applied Storytelling."

As Kathy says, think of this 88 page book "an international conversation about many applications of storytelling."

Here's a sampling of the 20 chapters in the book:

Defining Story
Social Media Storytelling
Change Your Story, Change Your Life
Story Techniques and Tools
Storytelling in Marketing, Sales, and Branding
Storytelling and Career

The back of the book has a complete directory of all 43 practitioners, mini-bios, web and blog addresses, email addresses, Twitter IDs and photos.

Go grab this ebook now! It's a delightful read with much depth, breadth and diversity rarely found in any publication.

---Tom

Tom's SpeedLink #10

Thomas R. Clifford — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 13:05:00 +0000

1. Defiant: A Social Media Project
"Defiant: Practical Tips to Thrive in Tough Times" is a free 90 page ebook put together by entrepreneurial leader, Rajesh Setty. The ebook was influenced and powered by social media, written by 50+ contributors and features more than 80 tips to thrive in these times. Beautifully designed; brilliantly executed.

2. Build your employer brand through your employees
A fabulous post by Mario Sundar, Community Evangelist at LinkedIn, reminding us how employees are quickly becoming the storytellers for their company.

From Mario's post: "In today’s networked world, no one would be surprised that companies have come to regard their employees as the key “story tellers” of their brand’s unique value proposition to the outside world."

Exactly! Well said, Mario.

3. Documentary Watch: September Theatrical Releases
Wow- September is looking great for new documentary releases. Among the more anticipated ones is Michael Moore's latest documentary, "Capitalism: A Love Story."

4. Recently Released on DVD
New documentaries recently released on DVD.

5. Honest Truths: Documentary Filmmakers on Ethical Challenges in Their Work
A fascinating report on ethical challenges facing filmmakers today.

---Tom

Storytelling Buzz in the Twitterverse - A Storied Career [del.icio.us]

ThomasClifford — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:27:22 PDT

Great list of current storytelling topics in Twitterland. (Tom: I'm thrilled to be included among this list.)

INTERVIEW PROJECT - NEW EPISODE EVERY THREE DAYS [del.icio.us]

ThomasClifford — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 05:04:06 PDT

David Lynch's first video from his project debuts today.

Zeitgeist Films : Examined Life [del.icio.us]

ThomasClifford — Wed, 27 May 2009 06:27:11 PDT

"Examined Life pulls philosophy out of academic journals and classrooms, and puts it back on the streets... In Examined Life, filmmaker Astra Taylor accompanies some of today’s most influential thinkers on a series of unique excursions through places and spaces that hold particular resonance for them and their ideas."

"Tell Me About Yourself: Storytelling to Get Jobs and Propel Your Career" Releases Today - A Storied Career [del.icio.us]

ThomasClifford — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 07:11:17 PDT

"With layoffs on the rise and the job market flooded with competition, individuals can no longer rely on traditional methods to yield career success. Now, more than ever, they must turn to strategies their competitors have not yet discovered. Such groundbreaking strategies are packed into Katharine Hansen’s release, Tell Me About Yourself. This innovative guidebook unveils how to use the incredible power of storytelling for career advancement." From the publisher.

Web Ink Now: Telling Stories [del.icio.us]

ThomasClifford — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 04:40:00 PST

Imagine you're at a cocktail party. Or you open an email. Or you're reading a comment in an online forum. When someone says: "Let me tell you a story…," you're interested, right? How about when someone says: "Let me tell you about my company's product…," is your reaction the same?

Film Directing & Filmmaking Tips » Top Documentary Films - A Complete Resource of the Best Documentaries! [del.icio.us]

ThomasClifford — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 16:20:31 PST

Awesome find! “Top Documentary Films is a valuable resource to those with an interest in documentary films. It is run by Vlatko, a European webmaster who simply fell in love with documentaries in quest for more knowledge. He then started searching for documentaries and found a whole collection of them and decided to put these all in one web page."

Quantum Physics & Storytelling. "Are We Now in the New Storytelling Economy?" - A Storied Career [del.icio.us]

ThomasClifford — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 09:03:34 PST

Quantum physics meets storytelling! Many of you know my growing passion for integrating quantum physics into new models of thinking. This is an amazing post. Take a moment and read it along with the article by Frank A. Mills.

This American Life on Television: Season 2 [del.icio.us]

ThomasClifford — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 16:28:21 PST

We're excited to announce that This American Life will be doing two live shows this April! Some of our favorite contributors will join host Ira Glass to perform the radio show live onstage—including Dan Savage, David Rakoff, Starlee Kine, Mike Birbiglia and Dave Hill. The show will also have some extra-special visual components. It's going to be tons of fun, and we'd love for you to join us. Tickets for both of these events will go on sale at 10 AM on Monday, February 16th, so make sure to check back here soon. They can go fast.

This American Life - Live! [del.icio.us]

ThomasClifford — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 16:26:05 PST

How Does Twitter Affect Your Creativity? | Lateral Action [del.icio.us]

ThomasClifford — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 09:13:20 PST

1 Giant Leap | What About Me [del.icio.us]

ThomasClifford — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 16:20:12 PST

Awesome documentary revealing how we are all connected through our creativity. Not to be missed.

THIRSTYFISH - Brand Storytelling & Constituent Relations [del.icio.us]

ThomasClifford — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 16:14:20 PST

(Tom: be sure to be Thirsty-Fish on your radar!) THIRSTY-FISH is a boutique consulting firm that enables clients to achieve strategic shifts through the power of a well-crafted story. We can help you to re-position your brand, improve stakeholder perceptions, and deliver on high-stakes initiatives. THIRSTY-FISH works at the intersection of brand storytelling, anthropology, and organizational change.

Film Directing & Filmmaking Tips » Code of Best Practices for Sustainable Filmmaking [del.icio.us]

ThomasClifford — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 10:42:05 PST

Filmmakers historically have played an important role in raising critical issues for society, including environmental threats from climate change and over-exploitation of resources. Increasingly, filmmakers have adopted pro-environmental practices in their own production. This code provides tools for filmmakers to measure whether their practices are as sustainable as they can be throughout the production process. Accompanying online checklists, trackers, and Web resources provide a summary of current approaches that implement that rationale.

More Scientific Evidence of Story's Effectiveness: Story Learning May Enhance Memory Retention Up to Seven-fold - A Storied Career [del.icio.us]

ThomasClifford — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 06:47:00 PST

A great reminder about the power of story.