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Yearly Archives: 2011
Stories: how and why
A tweet last week from Dave Snowden alerted me to Anecdote’s Story-Spotting Test. The thing that bothered me about Anecdote’s definition of a story is what it left out. The markers they’ve identified cover the who, where, when and what. They don’t mention the how or the why. Hmmm…. Continue reading
I mulled this over. And began realising that Throughline's practice is deeply interested in the "how" and "why". Maybe it's because our bread-and-butter is finding and crafting stories on B2B topics where "how" and "why" are quite genuinely the most interesting questions to ...MORE >
LCEG Event: Engagement
I recently attended “Employee Engagement” – Art or Science? Fact or Fiction? event held by the London Communicators and Engagement Group. In addition to HR and Comms elements I’d highlight how Strategy and Culture matter for engagement. Continue reading
The panellists had a good discussion and the audience got involved, although the large attendance meant some people didn't get to contribute. No agreement was reached on the headline question - I'd say that the general feeling was that while there's a lot ...MORE >
Driving technology adoption
Cultural readiness is a big part of adopting new technology. There’s only so much influence that thought leaders and vendors themselves can exercise. As this piece shows, direct mentors are often most effective in bringing “newbies” onboard. Continue reading
Neverland is here: Peter Pan
Another favourite from 2010 was The National Theatre of Scotland’s enchanting production of Peter Pan. Continue reading
I had read the unabridged book aloud in the winter. In mid May I saw the play. Two choices continue to delight and haunt me.
First, Tinker Bell was played by lighter paper. Really. It was extraordinary.
Second, a body double was used in the ...MORE >
Uh-oh
Cloudy weather over the digital landscape…. Continue reading
About this time last year, Throughline started working alongside MAYA Chief Executive Mickey McManus on a summit for a mutual client. MAYA's expertise is in innovating digital products and digitally driven experiences.
At the heart of MAYA's story is the problem of information overload. ...MORE >
Networked businesses: the icon isn’t iconic
In the second piece on networked businesses, we look at the classic example of the network business – today’s Hollywood films. Interesting as it is, the Hollywood model doesn’t migrate easily to other industries. Here’s why. Continue reading
From the birth of American cinema to the 1950s when television began vying foraudiences, studios made films. Studios owned land, held contracts with “talent”, and employed union labourers in order to manufacture a steady stream of genre films that could find ready audiences ...MORE >
A Disappearing Number: fine image-making
Top evenings at the theatre in 2010 included the return to London of Complicite’s 2005 production A Disappearing Number, which we saw in September. Continue reading
...because it rendered complex ideas accessible, by mashing up a real story of friendship and collaboration from the 1910s with a fictional story of contemporary love across distance
...because the love stories moved me, as did the moments of loss, so much so that ...MORE >
Collaborating to create value: who is the client?
Now in our fourth year, we’re thinking a lot about how we collaborate to create value for our clients. One of things we’ve discovered is that: network-delivery models create hidden “clients” who can crowd out the needs of the actual, ultimate client. Here’s a story about hidden clients in a networked business situation:
Continue reading
Robert just told me about his work with Jane. Jane is internal communications manager for a company involved in a merger. Her annual budget trebled for the merger period. She had a choice: enlarge her circle of advisors or ask an incumbent agency ...MORE >
Putting metaphor in the frame
University of Leeds Professor Joep Cornelissen’s talk “It’s all in the game: How to successfully frame a strategic change or opportunity” used real-world and television drama examples to the show the interplay between how leaders framed future action and what people understood through the frames. Continue reading
It’s so refreshing to hear someone flag up the importance of metaphor and analogy in business communications. They aren’t simply “literary tools”: metaphor and analogy are tools fundamental to humans’ sense-making.
Joep’s talk and the discussion it sparked reminded me how powerful metaphors and ...MORE >