Anecdotally Speaking

This week, it’s Shawn’s turn to share a story, and he’s chosen one about Michael Lewis and a baseball game that changed everything for him. Until then, Michael hadn’t thought much about what he would do in his life or how, but now he’s an author and financial journalist. His notable works include The Blind Side (https://buff.ly/3zXa7xj ) and The Big Short (https://buff.ly/3WHjP0E).

This week on Anecdotally Speaking, Mark has a story from the aircraft industry, which one of our partners shared in our last monthly partner meeting. Shawn rated this story an 8/10, while Mark gave it a 9/10. We hope you also find it useful! Don’t forget to register for our upcoming webinar, “Scale, Climate, Inclusion!”: How stories can tackle your organisation’s biggest challenges! Join Anecdote...

Rob Grundel cohosts this week’s episode of Anecdotally Speaking with Shawn and announces our upcoming webinar, ‘“Scale, Climate, Inclusion!”: How stories can tackle your organisation’s biggest challenges’! He and Shawn give listeners a taste of what they can expect from the 60-minute webinar and Rob shares a relevant research story. Rob will run the free webinar twice on Thursday, the 3rd of Novem...

We have something special for you in the works, so this week, instead of bringing you a new episode, we’re replaying 126 – Shattering decision on pet food quality. Make sure you’re listening next week for an exciting announcement! We recently had James Mills (https://buff.ly/3Cu32pW), Global Vice President of Sales at Mars Wrigley, on the podcast (https://buff.ly/3TwNpUm), so we thought it appropr...

Welcome to another episode of Anecdotally Speaking! This week, Shawn shares a story he heard on ABC Radio, which details how Lisa Blair became a record-breaking solo sailor. You can listen to the same ABC Conversations episode here: https://buff.ly/3Clcr1E The inspirational story makes a case for the saying, ‘When the going gets tough, the tough get going.’ And in retelling it, Shawn showcases a s...

We have something special for you this week! With Shawn on leave, Mark is joined by Mike Adams, Anecdote’s Head of Story-Powered Sales, and James Mills, Global Vice President of Sales at Mars Wrigley: https://buff.ly/3Cu32pW James shares some of his favourite anecdotes to use in the workplace and his best storytelling tips. The episode is the first of many where we’ll have a guest like James share...

This week, Shawn shares the story that you can add to your story bank and use to make a business point. It explains the thinking behind and impact of one of performer Andy Kaufman’s most famous acts. Shawn recommends the movie Man on the Moon: https://buff.ly/3xmUJcw And he says the story reminds him of the one he shared in 154 – Less is more: https://buff.ly/3PAWY2S

This week, Mark shares a story from Freakonomics based on research undertaken across a series of childcare centres in Haifa, Israel. You can find the original Freakonomics article here: https://buff.ly/3Doohdh It’s a nice, compact story that you’ll be able to tell quickly. If you share it at work, we’d love to hear what business point you made with it! Feel free to utilise the comments section bel...

This week, Shawn shares a scientific story that will be useful for anyone with a mathematically oriented audience. He found it while looking for stories for our data storytelling program, Story-Powered Data: https://buff.ly/38nNgAv And you can read about it in more detail in this Quanta Magazine article: https://buff.ly/3P2ZZbp Mark rates this story a 5/10, while Shawn gives it 8 or 9/10. So we’re...

This week on Anecdotally Speaking, Mark shares a story that combines negative and positive stories he could have told independently. In doing so, he provides examples of what to do and what not to do, particularly when innovating.  The story follows the attempts of two different teams to achieve the first powered, controlled flight—teams led by Samuel Pierpont Langley and the Wright brothers. It r...

Shawn’s been reading about Richard Branson, so this week, he shares an anecdote from the beginning of Virgin Records. Thanks for tuning in!  The anecdote depicts Branson’s leadership style through his interactions with Mike Oldfield, the composer and musician behind Tubular Bells (https://buff.ly/3CGmq3x). He doesn’t argue with the people around him but influences them. 

Mark takes the lead this week and shares a story within a story. He explains how Ted Turner founded CNN, Cable News Network, after remembering the World War II story of General Erwin Rommel and his clever, unexpected strategising. Shawn and Mark remind our listeners that free tickets to our upcoming events (https://www.anecdote.com/events/) are available for those wishing to evaluate our programs...

This week on Anecdotally Speaking, Shawn shares a story from Malcolm Gladwell’s podcast, Revisionist History. You can find the episode here: https://buff.ly/3dalCsJ The story follows the introduction of the triplicate system for prescriptions in the United States, the true impact of which wasn’t realised until decades later.  Shawn mentions a blog post he wrote about adapting podcast stories for u...

This week, it’s Mark’s turn to share a story! And he’s chosen a short but sweet one for us! Mark and Shawn list a few business points you could make with this story, including: - Our formal education doesn’t cover everything; - Make an effort to remember people’s names; and - Little things make a big difference, especially in leadership. Can you think of another that Shawn and Mark don’t mention?...

Welcome back to another episode of Anecdotally Speaking! This week, Shawn shares an anecdote about the original King Kong film: https://buff.ly/3S0TTe5 He found it in this Tom Hanks interview in the New York Times: https://buff.ly/3PVSRxY Did you know that you can subscribe to Anecdotally Speaking podcast emails? We’ll notify you every time we release an episode and include a list of business poin...

This week, Shawn shares another story he heard on My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman, but in the episode featuring Julia Louis-Dreyfus: https://buff.ly/3nUCfL2  It reminds Mark of this video: https://buff.ly/2Ob4aa6 Shawn also shares some exciting news! We recently published an app on the Apple App Store called Anecdotally: https://buff.ly/3AVCYn2 The app acts as a story bank...

Welcome back to another episode of Anecdotally Speaking! This week, it’s Shawn’s turn to share a story. He retells an anecdote Ryan Reynolds shared on My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman: https://buff.ly/3nUCfL2 The anecdote reminds the pair of the story Mark shared in 024 – U2 can protect your tribe: https://buff.ly/2KvbKXs They also discuss a study involving a functional MRI...

Anecdotally Speaking is back! We kick things off for the second half of 2022 with a story Mark found in his story bank from 2010! You’ll notice we’ve made a small change! From now on, we’ll name our episodes based on the business point made by the story we share. We will miss the puns masterfully put together by Dave Stokes, who engineers our podcast, but we hope this change will help you navigate...

Hello! Today we’re coming to you with a public service announcement for our listeners!  Anecdotally Speaking is taking a short mid-year break so that we can produce some exciting new content for you! We’ll be back on the 5th of July to share and dissect more stories! In the meantime, you can browse our entire catalogue of episodes at www.anecdote.com/podcasts! Bye for now,  Shawn & Mark

Welcome to the 150th episode of Anecdotally Speaking! This week, Rob Grundel fills in for Shawn, who recently celebrated his daughter’s wedding! And Rob and Mark take turns sharing small stories.  Rob kicks things off with a story he shared during an Anecdote team meeting last week, which inspired the theme and name of this episode—in praise of small stories. When sharing his second story, he ment...

This week on Anecdotally Speaking, we’re replaying 112 - FedEx helicopter story absolutely positively flies, which features a special guest, Doug Keeley!  Doug is an Anecdote Partner and the CEO and Chief Storyteller at Stories Rule! He shares how he got into storytelling, met the Anecdote team, and his all-time favourite business story. Mark mentions Dave Carroll’s 2009 YouTube sensation, United...

If you want to change someone’s mind, you need to find a range of stories, not just one. Listen to hear how Charles Darwin formulated and gained support for his theory of evolution.  This week, it’s Shawn’s turn to share a story, and he tells Anecdotally Speaking’s first Charles Darwin story. Given Shawn has a keen interest in Charles Darwin, the Anecdote team is surprised we haven’t had one befor...

This week on Anecdotally Speaking, we welcome back Shawn! And Mark shares the story of an incredibly successful but misguided campaign led by Mao Zedong, also known as Chairman Mao. It reminds us of the story Shawn shared in 132 – Wolves, cane toads and tubby ships: https://buff.ly/3cgYC7G If you’d like to catch up with Mark or Shawn in the United States, reach out to us at people@anecdote.com! We...

Welcome back to another episode of Anecdotally Speaking! This week, we also welcome back Rob Grundel, who cohosts with Mark once again! Mark shares a story of unknown origins, which may mean it’s apocryphal. It follows the attempts of a soccer coach to replicate a hot state scenario and ensure his team’s future success. 

Shawn’s in the United States, so Anecdote Principal Rob Grundel is temporarily taking over as Mark’s Anecdotally Speaking cohost. And this week, Rob shares a story about how Michael B Jordan has directed and starred in Creed III: https://buff.ly/3rlauh3 If you’d like to catch up with Shawn or Mark while they’re in the United States, reach out to us at people@anecdote.com! We love meeting listeners...