Blog Archive

Soundbites

Schools kill creativity

7th December 2009
11:20am

Posted by Alison Esse

Filed under Creative, Soundbites, Stories

I loved this clip from the TED series which features Sir Ken Robinson giving a highly entertaining yet profoundly moving talk on creativity, and the effect on creativity that our education system has.

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Going Undercover

2nd November 2009
4:13pm

Posted by Alison Esse

Filed under Organisations, Soundbites

I enjoyed a recent presentation by Steve Martin, CEO of the steel manufacturing Clugstone Group.  He is one of the few, gutsy CEO’s prepared to be filmed ‘going undercover’ by Channel 4, in order to mix and work with employees on the front line of his steel construction company.

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Dubai conference

22nd February 2009
6:01pm

Posted by Alison Esse

Filed under Creative, Organisations, Soundbites, Stories

I’m looking forward to a whistle-stop visit to Dubai next week, where I am speaking on Engaging Employees Through Storytelling at the 8th Middle East Conference & Expo.

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Obama The Storyteller

20th January 2009
12:51pm

Posted by Alison Esse

Filed under Misc, Soundbites

Barack Obama has been hailed as one of the finest orators in recent history.  On the day that he is inaugurated as the 44th US President, we celebrate a passage from Dreams Of My Father (Barack Obama 1995):

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Out of the comfort zone

3rd November 2008
4:56pm

Posted by Alison Esse

Filed under Misc, Organisations, Soundbites

Halloween has come and gone and there may have been more than a few HR people feeling like the Grim Reaper than usual at this year.  Slashing costs and making redundancies is never easy at the best of times – and never more so than now in the knowledge that it won’t be easy for people to find new jobs, particularly in the manufacturing, construction and, dare I say it, corporate finance sectors.

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Soundbite: Keith Coats

6th June 2005
3:10pm

Posted by Alison Esse

Filed under Soundbites

I wholeheartedly agree with Keith Coats’ views on the leadership of the future, and the need to foster, nurture, grow and develop relationships within a business. Yes, yes, yes, I hear my team say in unison – it is that deep-seated relationship deep within the business that reflects how we deal with our customers, clients, suppliers and colleagues…

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Soundbite: Philip Pullman

5th June 2005
5:43pm

Posted by Martin Clarkson

Filed under Soundbites

‘Thou shalt not’ is soon forgotten, but ‘Once upon a time’ will last forever…

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Soundbite: Stephen Carter

5th June 2005
5:27pm

Posted by Marcus Hayes

Filed under Soundbites

Wise words in MT from the CEO of Ofcom…

All organisations are no more than the sum total of the talent of their people and the energy they bring to bear on their task

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Soundbite: Walter Simonson

20th April 2005
10:30am

Posted by Alison Esse

Filed under Soundbites

Storytelling can help both the listener and the teller to better understand purpose and meaning, friendship and fear, being young and growing older.Walter Simonson

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Soundbite: Ben Okri

10th March 2005
3:16pm

Posted by Alison Esse

Filed under Soundbites

In storytelling there is always transgression, and in all art. Without transgression, without the red boundary, there is no danger, no risk, no frisson, no experiment, no discovery and no creativity. Without disturbing something of the complete order of things, there is no challenge, and no pleasure, and certainly no joy. All true artists suspect that if the world really knew what they were doing they would be punished. Quietly, or dramatically, storytellers are reorganisers of accepted reality, dreamers of alternative histories, disturbers of deceitful sleep.Ben Okri

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