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Learn six actionable rules to transform resistance into momentum, build a movement, and sustain change with clear strategies, storytelling, and key influencers.
Change is inevitable. Use the Change Spectrum to map resistance, inspire action, and lead teams through disruption toward growth.
Tackle coordination debt by clarifying ownership, streamlining decisions, fostering trust, and aligning outcomes for better teamwork.
Coordination debt slows progress. Identify root causes, break silos, streamline processes, and restore collaboration for growth.
Time is limited. Prioritize Core and Critical work, cut Busy work, and unlock Secret work to drive change and fuel passion.
Discover 21 actionable "how-tos" to work smarter, lead effectively, and communicate with impact in 2024. Simplify, execute, and inspire success.
Writing refines ideas and builds clarity. Learn how to craft precise, engaging content that sharpens your thinking and enhances your leadership impact.
Discover the power of radical simplicity. Learn six practical rules to streamline communication, processes, and innovation for transformative results.
Perfect communication is elusive, yet simplicity can cut through the noise. Learn six rules to craft clear, concrete messages that stick.
Learn six steps to shape your organization's culture to align with strategy, foster teamwork, and drive success—explore actionable tips on culture alignment, analysis, and more.
Discover the future of HR by adopting a product mindset. From culture to data, learn six steps to make HR a valued product that drives business impact.
"Learn six practical delegation techniques to empower your team, increase speed, and eliminate bottlenecks. From letting go to setting context, transform your leadership."
Discover how storytelling, a soft power in organizations, influences behavior, drives change, and complements hierarchical power. Learn six key strategies to improve your storytelling.
Unlock the power of storytelling for leadership, strategy, and change. Learn how simplicity, structure, and emotional engagement can drive impactful business communication.
Learn how leaders use aphorisms and axioms to communicate powerful messages and drive meaningful change. Discover the art of leadership storytelling.
Discover how deliberate practice and passion can help you master any skill, from golf to leadership. Learn the six key practices to accelerate your growth.
Level up your internship experience! Learn how to boost productivity, collaborate effectively, and take initiative. Get tips from real interns and transform your internship from good to great.
Struggling with one-pager design? Master the art in 5 steps! Learn to structure, iterate, and create a visually-appealing document that informs & impresses.
Confused by charts? Unleash the power of data! Learn 9 secrets to transform complex information into clear, actionable insights that drive results.
Don't just tell the "why" of change. Engage your team with the "how" too. Learn the 2 stories leaders must tell to inspire action & achieve lasting change.
Learn how to grab attention & tell impactful stories. Explore 6 narrative techniques to engage your audience & drive results.
Strategy is useless without execution. Learn 6 habits to become a leader who gets things done, builds strong teams, and drives results.
Unleash your team's potential. Inspired by F1, learn 6 winning strategies: Do less, set high standards, use simple rules & more. Discover effective ways to give feedback, make decisions & power up with rituals.
Feeling lost on trust? This article breaks it down with 6 key principles for leaders & teams. Discover trust in action, goals, feedback & the "6 C's of Trust" (Consistency, Clarity...). Learn how trust changes & why Mike Tyson almost got it right.
Learn the 6 secrets of product leaders. Discover the difference between a product & bureaucratic mindset. Borrow ideas, understand constraints, design for users & more.
Learn 6 secrets to crafting winning product stories! Discover how to tap into people's desires, use relatable language, tailor messages & adapt over time. Includes a story of Slack's rise & a quote by Gracie Allen on focus.
Learn 6 routines to run your OKRs effectively! Discover how to free up space from busywork, build a work rhythm, manage data effectively, and celebrate outcomes. Read on for how to create a growth mindset in your team.
Want high-impact OKRs? Ditch the checkbox mentality & test them! Learn 6 tests like the "Goldilocks" & "Hallway" tests to ensure your OKRs are clear, ambitious, & drive strategy.
Confused by OKRs? This guide breaks down Objectives & Key Results, explaining how they differ from KPIs & MBOs. Learn how to set effective OKRs, translate them across teams, and use them to boost alignment, engagement, and execution.
Explore the intricacies of AI prompt engineering with Gavin McMahon's insightful article. Gain a deep understanding of the inputs and outputs that drive artificial intelligence systems. Unlock the secrets behind crafting effective prompts and optimizing AI performance. Read now for valuable insights into the world of AI and prompt engineering. #AIPromptEngineering #ArtificialIntelligence #TechInsights
Find out what parsnips have to do with AI. Uncover the nuances of artificial intelligence through a unique lens, simplifying complex concepts. Read now for a fresh and insightful perspective on AI that bridges the gap between technical details and everyday understanding. #AIExplained #ArtificialIntelligence #TechSimplified
Dive into the basics of AI with Gavin McMahon's comprehensive guide. In 'AI 101,' gain essential insights into artificial intelligence, unraveling its principles and practical applications. Explore a user-friendly narrative that simplifies complex AI concepts. Read now for a beginner-friendly journey into the world of AI. #ArtificialIntelligence #AI101 #TechnologyExplained
Discover the power of three little words in storytelling with Gavin McMahon's insightful article. Unlock the secrets to crafting a compelling narrative and communicating with impact. Dive into a concise guide that reveals the art of storytelling and the influence of carefully chosen words. Read now for practical tips on telling a better story in just three words. #Storytelling #CommunicationSkills #ImpactfulStorytelling
Delve into the essence of trust in relationships with Gavin McMahon's insightful article. Uncover the dynamics of trust-building and the pivotal role it plays in personal and professional connections. Gain practical wisdom on fostering trust for lasting and meaningful relationships. Read now for valuable insights that can transform your approach to trust. #Trust #Relationships #PersonalDevelopment #ProfessionalSuccess
Explore the intricacies of trust in Gavin McMahon's compelling article, 'Trust: A Many-Splendored Thing.' Gain valuable insights into building trust, fostering relationships, and navigating its diverse dimensions. Dive into a thought-provoking narrative that unravels the complexities of trust in various aspects of life. Read now for profound wisdom on cultivating trust for personal and professional success. #Trust #Relationships #ProfessionalSuccess
Gain valuable perspectives on leadership, belief systems, and strategic thinking from Brandon Chin. Dive into a thought-provoking narrative that unveils powerful lessons for personal and professional growth. Read now for compelling wisdom on leadership philosophy. #Leadership #BeliefSystems #StrategicThinking #ProfessionalGrowth
Dive into Gavin McMahon's half-year roundup of 13 articles on storytelling and leadership. From crafting engaging beginnings to decoding data stories, master communication with practical insights. Explore topics like message discipline, concrete language, strategic narratives, and more. Elevate your skills with word hacking and discover why your agenda might be hindering meetings. Join Gavin in celebrating the 4th of July with bite-sized stories centered around the humble hamburger. Read now for concise and actionable insights! #Storytelling #Leadership #CommunicationSkills #Innovation
Explore the power of bite-sized stories in driving innovation with Gavin McMahon's insightful article. Learn how concise narratives can fuel creativity and inspire innovation. Discover practical strategies to harness the impact of short stories in your business. Read now for a fresh perspective on storytelling and innovation. #Innovation #Storytelling #BusinessStrategy
Optimize your meetings for success! Learn how to shift from topic-laced to outcome-driven agendas with Gavin McMahon's insights. Discover the purpose-driven approach for coordination, prioritization, business operations, culture, learning, and creative meetings. Maximize engagement, alignment, and productivity with actionable tips to improve your meeting effectiveness. Say goodbye to lengthy and unproductive sessions and hello to purposeful and impactful meetings. #MeetingManagement #AgendaOptimization #ProductivityTips
Unlock the power of word hacking with Gavin McMahon's guide to choosing zesty over sterile words. Discover the art of crafting attention-grabbing neologisms and compound nouns for effective communication. Dive into the world of portmanteaus, -ify, -athon, and -Ops to elevate your storytelling and leadership game. Learn to navigate the life cycle of coined words and avoid clichés for lasting impact. For more insights on leadership, storytelling, and the future of work, join Gavin's bi-weekly newsletter, Forward Thinking. #wordhacking #leadership #storytelling #futureofwork
Explore the transformative power of 20/80 Conversations in leadership. Learn to shift the focus from 'me, myself, and I' to engaging discussions that boost team collaboration. Discover practical tips to enhance your leadership style, improve communication, and validate your team's contributions. Elevate your leadership game with insights from this insightful article.
Are you telling a story of the future? These are stories that you should be telling. Are you?
The Call to Adventure The hero receives a call to action Refusal of the Call The hero initially refuses the call Supernatural Aid The hero receives assistance or guidance
In celebration of National Conversation Week and in support of Executive Coaching Month, we proudly present another compilation of invaluable "how-to's" to help you feel lighter, smarter, energized.
Are you ready to let go of largeness?
Concrete language is clearer. It’s more understandable. It connects. But we don’t use it as much as we could—or should. Learn how to get more concrete.
How do you get your strategy working? Build a strategic narrative. Clarify your strategy, go from narrative to story, and bring the narrative to life.
Practicing the full range of your leadership thinking helps solve even the most unexpected challenges.
The best of plans become the worst of presentations when featuring only reasons. They need hope and fear as well. Ignore feelings at your peril.
Confusion creeps into allcommunications. Message Discipline helps you find clarity, keep it simple, and consistently land your point.
Bold change becomes real change when tackled one conversation at a time. Rose Fass describes how in her book “The Leadership Conversation”.
Eugene Yoon is a graphic designer and illustrator at fassforward. She is a crafter of Visual Logic. Eugene is multifaceted and works on various types of projects, including but not limited to product design, UX and web design, data visualization, print design, advertising, and presentation design.
Exhausted? Cynical? Less effective? These are the hallmarks of burnout. Your health is your wealth. Try these four ideas for how to win it back.
Many of us spend a big portion of life focusing on the wrong things. Life-crafting gets you back on track. Here’s how to find your life’s purpose.
What's the greatest data story ever told?
We are in the game of creating value, which comes from people, which means storytelling.
Experiment with flavor. Find the descriptive blend that works for you.
There’s a secret structure to any good communication. A structure that contains three elements. A Hook. The Meat. And a Payoff.
Communication: you can’t have too much.Leaders have taken this to heart. Their mantra is to communicate, communicate, communicate. And yes, some communication is better than no communication. But too much becomes a sea of noise. Awash in competing communication, it’s critical to cut through the clutter.
A magic trick. The right blend of charm and skill to make a reliable living on the range, coaching adults. What’s the trick?
When you hear the word "chocolate," what comes to mind? Chocolate conversations occur when colleagues talk past each other, but think they are on the same page.
Vague messaging melts leadership. Spot the chocolate conversations that make sticky messes out of mission.
To round-off the year, we’ve asked our team of leadership coaches to review which articles they’ve found themselves recommending the most during 2022.
Without perspective, it’s a 2D world. These rhetorical techniques of scale stop your facts from falling flat.
How to quickly build and leverage a network that works for you, when you’re new to the business.
At any one time, there are three conversations around you. Understanding what they are can improve your executive presence.
Simple techniques and a sharp edit produce holiday speeches to enjoy.
These simple repetition techniques make your message strike home, no matter how distracted the audience.
Get your priorities straight and take the stress out of managing change by weeding out busy work, and separating core work from critical work.
Deconstruct the mystery around your strategy and build a narrative to translate your strategy for regular people. To begin, ask yourself these four questions.
There are only two conversations that matter. The one that frames the way people think and the one that moves them to action. Everything else is noise.
Make the most of your time and calendar without sacrificing relationships or your sanity. Read our 10 tips to help you think through if you need that next meeting.
Habits are hard to break, and for many, the concept of an office full of people is an addiction. Read more as we debunk the negative myths about return-to-office.
When faced with a problem, most people add. Strategic thinkers subtract. Read on to learn how to become a more strategic, critical thinker.
There’s been a fundamental shift in workers’ mentality. How can you reduce ‘regrettable attrition’ in your workforce? Dig into the switching costs of moving jobs.
Agile work is about doing something, declaring victory and moving on.
How do you beat complexity? Make things simpler.
Turning hybrid work into just work takes investment in six areas: leadership, technology, learning, onboarding, space, and culture. Learn how.
Zoom fatigue is real, but it’s not the same as meeting fatigue. Learn more practical tips on how to have better meetings.
We see the following nine issues to solve for hybrid work. Connecting with People, Mental Health and Wellbeing, Increasing Workload, Onboarding and Learning, Work/ Life Balance, Team Cohesion, Coordination, and Collaboration, Getting to Results, and finally, Access, Connectivity, and Tech.
Many leaders declare, but Volodymr Zelenskyy has been focused on action — demonstrating expansive leadership throughout the invasion of his country. To be successful leaders, we need to understand how we think, and importantly, how others think.
It's not about re-christening the great resignation, but de-toxifying corporate culture, rethinking the work of distributed teams and equipping leaders to lead.
Everything communicates, how we speak, what we look like, and where we are. Those signals make up a story for others. They’re a raft of micro-expressions, verbal tics, and non-verbal cues that inform others about you.
Effective and successful leaders don’t just declare. They demonstrate. Zelenskyy is a perfect example of this.
Hybrid work gives us an opportunity to lead through change differently. We can do that by working towards outcomes. Working to outcomes increases alignment and autonomy on the team.
Learn about four practical rhetoric-approved ways to be more persuasive in your business communications.
When something is presented cleanly and simply, it’s easier to process. Learn how to simplify your communication when speaking to an audience.
What Is Social Capital? Our ability to work as teams, or even function as a team, relies on the strength of relationships between people. Knowing where to find information and knowing the “players”, especially between functions, reduces the time and investment in maintaining social networks.
“One believes things because one has been conditioned to believe them.” — Aldous Huxley, Brave New World "I'm going to work." In 2019, those four words drew images of jumping in a car, fighting traffic, and pulling into the company parking lot — a daily ritual for millions of professionals. No longer. Work is not a place. It never has been. It's what it always was — something we do. If your mind's eye sees work as an office, it's time for an update. Hybrid work will mean different things to diff
“In space no one can hear you scream; and in a black hole, no one can see you disappear.” — Professor Stephen Hawking "What's the future of work?"... "How will a return to office work?"... "How do we make hybrid work, work?" I don't know the answer to any of those questions. No one does. If you poll academics and business professors, management gurus, CEOs and consultants, they’ll all tell you different things. This means no one knows. We've never done this before; we've never lived this before.
"Leadership is about unlocking people’s potential to become better." - Bill Bradley Every leader working today grew up in an office. How we think, the habits we picked up, the tips and advice from mentors along the way — all developed with the backdrop of four walls, cubicles, the odd motivational poster, a water cooler in the corner, and the hum of a printer in the background. Today’s office is different. For some, it’s not there. For others, it’s a spot we go to once a week, or once a month. T
“The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.” — Mark Twain Let’s obsess about ‘Umms’ for a moment. We all have them, these verbal tics scattered through our speech. It could be an ‘ah,’ or an ‘um’; a ‘like’ or a ‘you know.’ These fillers are quite normal, and yet they’ve been bothering me of late. Nick Mohammed is an actor and comic whose brilliant portrayal of ‘Nate’ in Ted Lasso earned him an Emmy nomination. He’s known for a quick wit and astou
“In the midst of every crisis lies great opportunity.” — Albert Einstein COVID-19 has driven the largest workforce evolution since the Industrial Revolution. In 2021, nearly ⅓ of Americans left their jobs and the trend continues.¹ Many factors have fueled the Great Resignation, but ineffective leadership is near the top of the list. However, leaders can choose to view the Great Resignation in the same way many individuals do — as an opportunity. A time for a reset. A Great Reset. In order to suc
“Performance appraisal. ...the most dreaded and hated process for managers and employees.” — Wendy Pat Fong In my recent article “Judgment Day”, we met Tricia, a client who I had been coaching. Tricia agreed that performance was being driven by the superstars on her team. She also acknowledged that she had a couple of underperformers that needed to be put on a performance improvement plan. But she still had a lingering, and important, question: “How do I get my average performers performing?” Wh
“Performance appraisal. ...the most dreaded and hated process for managers and employees.” — Wendy Pat Fong On a recent coaching call, something was up. Tricia didn’t have her usual bounce. I didn’t get the upbeat, “Hi... how’s it going?” Tricia is one of those people, who, no matter how badly her day is going, is always enthusiastic and positive — happy to speak with you. It’s a strong leadership trait. But not today — the bounce was gone. I asked what the problem was. “I hate performance rev
“Commerce is our goal, here. More human than human is our motto.” — Dr. Eldon Tyrell 2022. We’re living in the future. In the blink of an eye, we’re more than two decades into the 21st Century. Blade Runner is in the past. Fans will know that Philip K. Dick wondered about androids dreaming of electric sheep in 1968, a year before humans set foot on the moon. Ridley Scott’s masterpiece of #storytelling and world-building had its cinematic release in 1982, four years before Chernobyl and the Chall
“What I don’t like about work Christmas parties is looking for a job the next day.” — Phyllis Diller Thinking of a speech or a toast for the annual office party is enough to make you hope a trio of Christmas ghosts might spirit you away. Whether in-person, or via virtual, speeches, like gifts, need planning. You’re looking back to the year just gone, and forward to the year ahead. There are victories to mark, and hard times to acknowledge. There are people to be thanked. And the whole holiday pa
“The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.” — Albert Einstein Here’s an interesting article on the vital elements that IQ tests miss. These are the traits of cognitive flexibility — part of the brain's executive function. They're vital for creativity, decision-making, problem solving, learning, resilience and more. We’ve written about it before. Agile thinking means the difference between success and failure. It's the ability to change what we're thinking about, how we're thinking ab
"He who controls the spice controls the universe." — Baron Harkonnen¹ "Umm, ahh, so here are the figures for last quarter..." We’ve all sat through presentations that are, shall we say, less than. A little boring. Chock-full of information perhaps, and full of nutritional fiber, but grinding to get through, and difficult to digest. In some cases, that may be the content. Let’s face it; financials are not everyone’s cup of tea. A group of salespeople may not have the patience — or interest — to s
How slides can create a logical framework that keeps Coaches close to their structure.
Clear, uncluttered slides provide structural stepping stones for Storytellers and their audiences.
How can Producers benefit when they carve through the clutter and clarify their message in their presentation slides.
An Inventor is a visual and engaging speaker who likes to connect ideas and build logical sequences on presentation slides.
A Counselor is a logical and eloquent speaker who likes to talk about ideas on their presentation slides.
A Teacher is a highly organized speaker who can easily get complex ideas across on their presentation slides.
“Find out who you are and do it on purpose.” — Dolly Parton Truthiness. On October 16th, 2005, that word didn’t exist. Stephen Colbert launched “Truthiness” into the public lexicon the following day. It was such a hit, Merriam-Webster selected it as their word of the year over Google. On The Colbert Report, his bit, called “The Word” — a monologue by his conservative commentator character, was a highlight. As Colbert thundered and opined, straight-faced about elitism, facts, and the Iraq War, th
Storytelling is an integral capability for leaders. The key is the connection between stories and innovation. Innovation has a story and it inspires invention.
“People want the truth. Even if they can't handle it, they want it.” — 50 Cent The 4th of July; barbeque, fireworks, and independence. We all know, roughly, what happened: The British taxed the American colonists, they didn’t like it, threw some tea in the water, so the British sent an invading army. Paul Revere rode through the night and raised the Alarm. Washington, Valley Forge, Hamilton, independence, fireworks. But can we trust the story? According to Longfellow, Revere raised the alarm and
“A story is a trick for sneaking a message into the fortified citadel of the human mind.” — Jonathan Gottschall Product stories are born in garages, showers, and people’s heads. The product story takes root before writing the first line of code or building the first prototype. That product story is, by necessity, a work of science fiction. It’s a story of a future world, one better than today. The buyer is the protagonist or hero of the story. The product is a magic bean, a device that propels t
“All the world is made of faith, and trust, and pixie dust.” — J.M. Barrie “You believe me, don’t you?” Homework: done. Boxes: checked. Facts: double-checked. All lined up in a relentlessly logical argument. Yet you still can't shake the feeling that the audience isn't buying your message. They don't trust what you're saying. If you want to lead or persuade, trust is essential. ¹ Trust is the currency of life. But nearly two-thirds of Americans believe trust is shrinking.² You can’t leave “trust
“When people have common context, our shared opportunities are markedly better.” — Ronan Dunne Great leaders are great storytellers. Ronan Dunne is a great storyteller. A proud Irishman, Ronan leads Verizon’s global consumer business based in the US. Always generous in sharing his wisdom, Ronan had a conversation with us about his experience, focusing on the connection between leadership and storytelling. Excerpts from that conversation follow. An ‘origin’ story. GAVIN: Ronan, thank you for shar
“We’re all islands shouting to each other across seas of misunderstanding.” — Rudyard Kipling The Public Square was the physical center for discussion and debate. Imagine the agora of Greece, the piazza of Italy, the meydan of Iran, the square of England, and the village green of early America. Across the globe and across time, the public square was a vital gathering place for people to trade goods and ideas. People gathered to take up their differences and hash them out, using the greatest
“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether this happens at twenty or eighty.” — Harvey Ullman Humans are social.¹ That has many worried about the long-term effect of remote and hybrid work. It’s a whole new world, and we're not quite used to it. Which leads to a bigger question: In a hybrid world, how do we ensure collaboration, innovation, and learning? The key may be in how we shape the culture around us. The switch to hybrid work has people concerned. Michael Fraccaro, Chief People Officer a
“Neither E=mc2 nor Paradise Lost was dashed off by a party animal.” — Winifried Gallagher ¹ In the current reality of a global pandemic, fassforward ran a wide-ranging study on remote learning. The goal: to understand how remote work would fundamentally change learning. As part of the study, we conducted qualitative interviews with over ninety business leaders, HR professionals, learning practitioners, and academics. One theme kept repeating — Work is learning and learning is work. As we emerge
During the height of COVID, fassforward conducted a six-month study into the future of learning. In nearly one hundred conversations, a theme kept repeating — that the scope of learning professionals must move from building learning programs to building a learning culture. Coaching and building a habit of practice and improvement into the organization is an integral part of this learning culture. It’s also the most challenging part of creating a successful Learning Flywheel.℠
“What’s the capital of Brazil?” — Veronica Yan¹ How much are we actually understood? How much of the information we share is actually absorbed? How much is acted upon? How do we learn? The “question” of “questions” came up as part of fassforward’s recent six-month study in remote learning. Interestingly, asking a question, even if the learner doesn’t know the answer, is probably a more effective way of learning — because questions focus attention. ² The use of questions in the context of leaders
How is learning changing? What can organizations do as they shift to remote learning? And how do you build a learning culture? Take a look at a conversation Gavin had with Janice Robinson Burns, Chief Career Experience Officer at Degreed and former Chief Learning Officer at Mastercard.
“The capacity to learn and adapt is going to be the only competitive advantage that matters.” — Rich Vincent¹ The results are coming in from the great remote work experiment of 2020. 73% of employees want to continue having flexible remote work options after the world returns to some semblance of normalcy. Remote job postings have increased fivefold during the pandemic, and a significant portion of the global workforce is considering leaving their employer now that they can work remotely.² Remo
When the world shut down a year ago, everyone had to grapple with the fall-out of suddenly being forced to work remotely. At the same time, our learning designers and facilitators have had to face the very same challenge - delivering quality, remotely. This is their experience.
“Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.” — Alphonse Karr How can we ensure remote learning initiatives represent evolution, not revolution? fassforward ran a study on remote learning. One of its principal findings (warning: spoiler alert) is that remote learning is here to stay. Contrary to being thought of as classroom’s poor relation, “remote” delivers specific benefits that challenge previous assumptions about learning. The question; how to net those benefits without losing the elements th
“The answer to virtually every question is, it depends.” — Jordan Birnbaum How do we learn? What can organizations do to grow their talent? And how will the pandemic change this? fassforward ran a study on remote learning to understand the story behind these questions. As part of the study, we conducted qualitative interviews with over ninety business leaders, HR professionals, learning practitioners, and academics to find out how remote learning would change. One of the most memorable was with
In the latter half of 2020, fassforward conducted qualitative interviews with nearly 100 business leaders, HR professionals, learning practitioners, and academics to find out how remote learning would change. Here are seven trends that surfaced in those conversations.
Gavin McMahon (co-founder) has been instrumental in growing the company into a multimillion-dollar consultancy whose clients include Verizon, Mastercard, Estēe Lauder, and others. Gavin specializes in market changes and the interrelationship with marketing and business strategy and the impact it has on overall business objectives. Recently, Gavin sat down with Dave Byrne, Global Head of Brand Safety & Industry Relations at TikTok, and Founder of Controlling Ideas to discuss storytelling. Enjoy!
Gavin McMahon is a founder and Chief Content Officer for fassforward consulting group. He leads the design and product development of fassforward’s services. This crosses diverse topics, including Leadership, culture, decision-making, information design, storytelling, and learning design. In this interview, Gavin talks about business storytelling and weaving this skill within PowerPoint. Geetesh: You hear consultants, presenters, and communicators talk about how storytelling helps share a messag
How can you clean up your charts to give you the best chance of success in your presentations? Using the Gestalt laws of cognitive biases will improve the quality of your charts.
“It is in everyone’s best interest to learn how to display data in the best, most accurate way possible.” — Stephanie Evergreen We are awash in a sea of data. We create it, collect it, analyze it, all to make sense of it. The human brain isn’t built to comprehend rows and columns of numbers. It’s made to see patterns and draw inferences. To be useful, we need our data to be visual. We process images in the blink of an eye,¹ tens of thousands of times faster than text.² Stories are persuasive.³ P
“If we have data, let’s look at data. If all we have are opinions, let’s go with mine.” — Jim Barksdale It felt like we reached peak big data sometime in 2019. The 800-pound gorilla of data, Google, confirms this. But the trend is still going. Big data is helping driverless cars drive. It’s discovering your shopping habits and streamlining media streaming.¹ Former Gartner analyst Peter Sondergaard called information “the oil of the 21st century” and said that “analytics is the combustion engine.
With its foundation of information architecture and Gestalt Theory, visual hierarchy is all around us: Learn about six practical tips to improve your presentation slides.
“Headline writing is an art form.” — Jennifer Lee If I could change one thing about PowerPoint, I would remove the “click to add title” feature and make it “click to add headline.” Maybe, just maybe, it might make people stop and think. Instead of plugging in what passes for a title on your next PowerPoint deck — 4th Quarter Highlights, Consolidated Finance Review, Business Strategy — there might be an actual, exciting, point-making, “I get it, now I’m interested”, “aha”, honest-to-goodness head
“On your deathbed, you never wish you worked harder.” — My Dad Enough already! Remember when this was all going to be over in a few months? Many of us sheltered-in-place, homeschooled children and adapted to remote working with the belief that we’d be back to our normal routines by the summer. Instead, almost 9 months later, we are likely entering the most challenging months of this pandemic. Remote working burnout is yet another negative consequence of COVID. At a time when our stress levels ar
“When we understand that slide, we’ll have won the war.” — Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal¹ The clue is in the name. PowerPoint.™ To make a powerful point.² Yet so often, we’re left clueless and befuddled about the point of the slide. So we blame poor old PowerPoint.³ Imagine driving down a busy highway. It’s raining. Suddenly, a car roars past you, swerves between two lanes, brakes, and swerves again — all to beat traffic. A few miles further on, you see that same car in a pile-up, surrounded by bro
“My work is about how to think clearly and deeply, using evidence, and all that has to pass through some presentation state.” — Edward Tufte A tractor salesman visits a farmer and asks, "Can I show you my new tractor?" “Sure, go on then,” replies the farmer. The salesman jumps in the driver’s seat and starts the engine. He then plows three fields, pulls stubborn tree stumps, and bales a ton of hay, all in record time. “Well, what do you think?” asks the salesman, jumping off the tractor. The fa
Stories rely on three central elements. The hero formula, created by Peter Watts at fassforward, works for your marketing, presentations, and messaging to help you communicate more effectively. Take a look at our blog post on HOW to put your audience at the center of your story.
When it comes to speaking to your audience's listening, "It's all about me!" Well, not in the way you may think. It's more, 'You' have to speak to 'Me'. But, HOW? Check out Gavin McMahon from fassforward’s post on HOW to speak to your audience’s listening.
Finding the right balance between onsite and remote working. To win the full potential of remote work, we need to solve the problem of isolation. Volunteering could be the answer.
Storytelling is the most powerful tool you have. If you want your story to be a story, it will have six elements - all which help you to communicate more effectively. Fassforward’s Gavin McMahon shows you HOW to tell if your story is working in this blog post. Take a look!
Your Thinking Pattern informs how you think, act, and lead. And there are four elements to that pattern. A good leader uses all four equally.
“I prefer drawing to talking. Drawing is faster, and leaves less room for lies." — Le Corbusier The way we've learned to communicate is wrong. Denizens of business, deep in the world of operations reviews, presentations and pitches, are communicating past each other, drowning in a sea of PowerPoint. It seems the general rule of corporate culture is to put that on a deck, or put some slides together. Many of you reading this will have lived through that ritual. We cannot speak to each other witho
“Learn the rules like a pro so you can break them like an artist.” — Pablo Picasso Every organization and business has a set of unofficial rules. They are largely unwritten¹. Those rules are part of the lore. Every newbie learns them. They are a guide to how to do things in that place. You have those rules where you work. They are woven through the fabric of your culture. They are foundational to the core capabilities of your business. Take Pixar for example. Disney bought Pixar for $7.4 Billion
Although remote working is all the rage these days, it can also hurt your mental health and well-being. HOW? Check out our new blog post and find out!
Retail was in trouble long before COVID-19 hit. So now, how will customer experience help retailers overcome the financial hit from coronavirus?
During this pandemic, we’ve all had to get used to new ways of working. Rather than flounder with the trial and error of figuring it out, here are six practical how-tos. How to show up, and do our day job. How to present, persuade and lead when we're on camera.
In stressful times, we can update how our brain copes with daily chaos and stress overload, and boost our natural capacity for resilience using neuroscience.
Amid unprecedented global job losses, concerns about transport infrastructure and the continuing need for workplace social distancing, governments are launching back-to-work plans. Here are five key trends that will shape the future of how we work.
You maximize performance by building a place of psychological safety. To do this, we need to turn a negative trio into useful feelings — anxiety, frustration and regret. ‘Good’ stress gives us a sweet spot of performance.
HOW do you prioritize work? HOW do you make sure you're working on the right thing? HOW do you make sure that your work is rewarding, both for yourself and the business?
Every customer has new unmet needs, but what are they and HOW do you meet them? HOW do you help guide them through this process?
Think about your words. Words are powerful enough to build markets, change opinions and shape culture. Learn about other tips to improve communication.
We’re getting a lot of questions about how to lead remote teams. Here are some of them in a handy-dandy FAQ. As we get more questions, we will keep getting answers.
COVID-19 has changed the way we live and work. The lines between the two have become blurred. fassforward has 20 years of experience in working with teams and individuals on how to tackle difficult challenges. One of the most effective tools we use is our 3 Basic Needs model.
The coronavirus outbreak sweeping the world has led to massive disruption in business. Employees worry, travel is cut, planes empty and markets tank. Leadership, in volatile, uncertain times, is essential. As this shift happens, and employees work remotely, how do leaders cope?
Most people presume that all these measures to combat the virus will be temporary, and that at some point — in two, six, or perhaps 12 months — life will be back to normal and business as usual. To some extent, this may be true. But many changes could well be permanent.
You may not be a writer or a poet. You may not be in sales or marketing. But you are in the story business. What you do, no matter what it is, affects people. People are moved by stories. You are in the story business. Training yourself to understand the creativity of it all and how to make it work for you is essential
Learning is hard work. It’s also part of life. When you stop learning, you stop growing. That applies equally for people and businesses. Coach and train yourself to pay attention to the small things.
How do we break through a sea of data? Part of the answer is a story. The other? Shakespeare said it best, "Brevity is the soul of wit." Simplicity. Simple, practical training to create a six-word story coaches our creativity.
You can get better at anything you do, any skill, with deliberate practice. Practice at the edge of your comfort zone with coaching and practical training with your brain. Simply put, we have to be slightly stressed to perform.
The top 3 skills needed to complete in 2020 are complex problem solving, critical thinking, and creativity. Thinking is the key skill for the 21st century. Well, Duh.
Critical thinking allows us to create an outcome when there is no obvious action. We want to accomplish something but don’t know how, so before we can act, we must think. Coach your mind to critically think with this simple routine.
“How often do you think about how you think?” That sounds like a trick question. It’s one we ask in our workshops. The answer, usually, is, “not a lot.”
"Powerpoint is evil!" "Powerpoint makes you dumb!" "No, Powerpoint is great!" Psh, listen. It doesn’t matter how well dressed, or how beautiful, your message has to matter. And there are only two conversations that matter. Everything else is just noise.
A wise old saying might have us believe ‘facts speak for themselves’. Reality is different. How facts are framed has a dramatic effect on how they are perceived, and how they are perceived affects how your audience translates those facts into action. Simple creativity.
Seven things, plus or minus two. That’s how much information the average human brain can keep front-of-mind at any one time. Beyond that — you’re swamped. With such limited capacity, how do we handle complex problems? Simple, practical, engaging, training.
Most often, when communication breaks down, nothing happens. There’s no message, just missage. Hitting the mark, getting through and clearing the clutter is the business of a leader. A leader’s job is to translate. Building that skill in conversations is a lifetime’s work.
Our brains want structure. It helps us make sense of the world, and feel comfortable. What’s the best way to put structure in your presentation? Here are some simple, engaging ways we’ve found useful.
We're the How-to: lead people, tell your story and advance your business company. We specialize in training and coaching around Leadership and Storytelling. By design, we don’t quite fit into any of the well-known consulting profiles. We’re outcome-based and specialize in translating strategy, building capabilities, and shaping culture; all with a focus on growth.
Our team works hard creating our learning experiences around relevant themes such as business storytelling, training a remote workforce, executive presence, leadership and management training, leadership coaching and more. We do tireless research to prepare, and we interview countless employees in the workplace, from CEOs all the way down to administrative assistants.
Many of our executive coaches, facilitators and other team members have logged decades in the corporate world, navigating the people, politics and personalities in boardrooms and conference rooms across the globe.
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