CXO's Guide to Effective Storytelling in Business
CXOTalk
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Introduction
Josh Bernoff: Storytelling is essential for everyone in business. He spent 14 years as a startup executive and then 20 years as an analyst at Forester. His book, Groundswell, sold 150,000 copies; he now writes his own books.
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Episode notes
#storytelling #communication #writing #empathy
In Episode #794 of CXOTalk, we explore storytelling in business with Josh Bernoff, a seasoned ghostwriter, industry analyst, and business strategist. Josh explains how stories can drive business success, and how empathy can transform intellectual ideas into emotionally resonant narratives.
This episode presents the challenges technology leaders face in storytelling, the significance of a robust product story, and the universal appeal of visual storytelling. Josh explains how to manage executive bias in data storytelling, crafting stories with data, addressing salespeople's resistance to storytelling, and the foundational role of empathy in effective storytelling.
Topics in this episode include:
► The power of stories in business communications
► Impact of stories on business success
► Empathy translates intellectual ideas into stories with emotional impact
► The challenge of storytelling for technology leaders, like CIOs and CTOs
► The power of a strong product story
► How to tell a memorable story
► The power of visual storytelling is universal across cultures
► How to handle executive bias in data storytelling
► How to tell a story with data
► How to address pushbacks from salespeople on storytelling
► How to tell sales stories
► Role of empathy in storytelling for sales
► How to write an effective story for business
► Effective stories require details to become real
► How to write an effective customer case study in business
► How to manage marketing departments that do poor storytelling
► Create interesting storytelling, without rehashing old, tired stories
► How to create a narrative story arc in business writing
► What CIOs should know about effective storytelling for information technology
► What are the best AI tools for B2B writing
► Empathy is the foundation of effect storytelling
Subscribe to be notified of LIVE CXOTalk shows: www.cxotalk.com/subscribe
Read the complete transcript: https://www.cxotalk.com/episode/cxos-guide-to-effective-storytelling-in-business
Josh Bernoff has been a professional writer since 1982. He has coauthored three books on business strategy, including Groundswell, which was a bestseller. And he is passionate about clear, brief, fascinating communication.
For 20 years at Forrester Research, he wrote and edited reports on the future of technology. He learned to do kickass analysis of business strategy, then taught others to do so. In his last five years there, as Senior Vice President, Idea Development, he identified, developed, and promoted Forrester’s most powerful and influential ideas. He gave hundreds of speeches around the world, got quoted in every news source you can name, and gave strategy advice to countless clients from the world’s largest companies and tech vendors. Josh Bernoff also created Technographics, the segmentation that launched Forrester’s highly successful consumer survey business.
At Forrester he edited two books by other analysts: Outside In: The Power of Putting Customers at the Center of Your Business (New Harvest/HMH, 2012) by Harley Manning and Kerry Bodine and Digital Disruption: Unleashing the Next Wave of Innovation (Amazon Publishing, 2013) by James McQuivey.
Before Forrester Josh Bernoff spent 14 years in technology startups writing everything from product definitions to online tutorials to press releases. He studied mathematics in the Ph.D. program at MIT and was a National Science Foundation fellow.
In Episode #794 of CXOTalk, we explore storytelling in business with Josh Bernoff, a seasoned ghostwriter, industry analyst, and business strategist. Josh explains how stories can drive business success, and how empathy can transform intellectual ideas into emotionally resonant narratives.
This episode presents the challenges technology leaders face in storytelling, the significance of a robust product story, and the universal appeal of visual storytelling. Josh explains how to manage executive bias in data storytelling, crafting stories with data, addressing salespeople's resistance to storytelling, and the foundational role of empathy in effective storytelling.
Topics in this episode include:
► The power of stories in business communications
► Impact of stories on business success
► Empathy translates intellectual ideas into stories with emotional impact
► The challenge of storytelling for technology leaders, like CIOs and CTOs
► The power of a strong product story
► How to tell a memorable story
► The power of visual storytelling is universal across cultures
► How to handle executive bias in data storytelling
► How to tell a story with data
► How to address pushbacks from salespeople on storytelling
► How to tell sales stories
► Role of empathy in storytelling for sales
► How to write an effective story for business
► Effective stories require details to become real
► How to write an effective customer case study in business
► How to manage marketing departments that do poor storytelling
► Create interesting storytelling, without rehashing old, tired stories
► How to create a narrative story arc in business writing
► What CIOs should know about effective storytelling for information technology
► What are the best AI tools for B2B writing
► Empathy is the foundation of effect storytelling
Subscribe to be notified of LIVE CXOTalk shows: www.cxotalk.com/subscribe
Read the complete transcript: https://www.cxotalk.com/episode/cxos-guide-to-effective-storytelling-in-business
Josh Bernoff has been a professional writer since 1982. He has coauthored three books on business strategy, including Groundswell, which was a bestseller. And he is passionate about clear, brief, fascinating communication.
For 20 years at Forrester Research, he wrote and edited reports on the future of technology. He learned to do kickass analysis of business strategy, then taught others to do so. In his last five years there, as Senior Vice President, Idea Development, he identified, developed, and promoted Forrester’s most powerful and influential ideas. He gave hundreds of speeches around the world, got quoted in every news source you can name, and gave strategy advice to countless clients from the world’s largest companies and tech vendors. Josh Bernoff also created Technographics, the segmentation that launched Forrester’s highly successful consumer survey business.
At Forrester he edited two books by other analysts: Outside In: The Power of Putting Customers at the Center of Your Business (New Harvest/HMH, 2012) by Harley Manning and Kerry Bodine and Digital Disruption: Unleashing the Next Wave of Innovation (Amazon Publishing, 2013) by James McQuivey.
Before Forrester Josh Bernoff spent 14 years in technology startups writing everything from product definitions to online tutorials to press releases. He studied mathematics in the Ph.D. program at MIT and was a National Science Foundation fellow.
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