The StoryBank

Send us Fan Mail Has something like this ever happened to you? You bought something. Say a new car.  And then you ended up purchasing all sorts of additional things to go inside it. A new car charger for your cell phone, an extra umbrella, a first aid kit, and even a flashlight. You owned your previous car for nearly 7 years and at no point did you feel that any of the previously mentioned items w...

Send us Fan Mail Imagine you are the first officer in the cockpit of a flight. The ATC has been highlighting some storm clouds in the flight path your plane is taking. It seems that the pilot hasn’t paid any attention to the warning and is flying straight towards the storm. You decide to say something. What do you choose to say:- A. “That dark cloud at twenty-five miles looks mean.” Or B. “Which d...

Send us Fan Mail Let’s imagine you are in an unfortunate situation where there is a medical emergency. Someone in the family needs help. You have never faced this situation earlier. You ask around and you are advised that the best solution lies in a land far far away. You have the resources to take the family member to that far away land. What would you do? In a recent lecture, Anand Mahindra narr...

Send us Fan Mail Many years ago, a tourist in London, let’s call him Peter, needed to travel from Covent Garden to Leicester Square. He opened the London Underground Map he carried in his pocket and saw that Leicester Square was one stop away. The map he was looking at was created in the early 1930s by an electrical engineer called Harry Beck. Harry Beck had taken an extremely complicated map and...

Send us Fan Mail It’s 1995. The stadium is full. It is a World Cup final. The oppressors are playing their fiercest competitor. In walks the man who is the most recognisable face among the oppressed. This man had come out of a 27-year prison sentence. As he walks in, the crowd is shocked….why? To know more listen to this absolute gem of a story on leadership. For more Stories at Work do subscribe...

Send us Fan Mail Back in the early 1980s, I remember excitedly waiting for each episode of The Friendly Neighbourhood Spiderman. I could sing every line from “Spiderman, Spiderman, does whatever a spider can…….”. My favourite is “In the chill of night, at the scene of a crime, like a streak of light he arrives just in time”. Those joys of mine would never have happened if the creator of Spiderman,...

Send us Fan Mail It’s early 1940s, the world war was at it’s height. The Allied forces were losing ships that came from the US carrying food and ammunition. The Germans had a code machine called the Enigma. This code was considered unbreakable. The code allowed the German submarines to sneak in a sink ships. Enter Alan Turing….. phir kya hua? (That’s Hindi for - “What happened next”?) Listen to th...

Send us Fan Mail “Think small, not big”, seems to be advice contrary to what we are commonly told. But is there something missing in our usual drive to look for big levers of change? We all want to change the world. Perhaps thinking small can have a bigger impact than we expect. Today’s story is about that. Listen on….. To sign up for the Founding Fuel daily newsletter use this link https://foundi...

Send us Fan Mail When in doubt and data is insufficient who should you ask? If you had two lifelines, is it better to “Ask the Audience” or “Phone a friend”. Today’s story may hold the answer. For more Stories at Work do subscribe to our YouTube channel which has two playlists -  #StoryBank https://bit.ly/WStoryB and  #LeaderSpeak https://bit.ly/WLeaderS You can also join our WhatsApp group to get...

Send us Fan Mail Imagine that you had hired a new person in your team. In a key project, she tried her best but failed and let the whole team down. A few days later, another important project comes up. What would you do? Give her the role she was hired to do, or do it yourself? After all, it is a very important project. This story from November last year from the US basketball league (NBA) is insp...

Send us Fan Mail It is 2003, AM Naik the Chairman of L&T Infotech has traveled to the US to promote the business. One of the people he is supposed to meet is the CEO of AXA. The CEO walks in late for the meeting and declares that he has only 10 mins to spare. AM Naik surprises everyone with a story and the meeting lasts 90 mins. What was the story? Listen on. #businessstorytelling #storytellin...

Send us Fan Mail The Most Dangerous Phrase In Business is “We've Always Done It This Way”. Nothing kills innovation faster. Nothing strangles creativity more tightly. The stories about Kodak, Nokia, Blackberry and Blockbuster have been done to death. Here is a more human story that drives the same message home. For more #storiesatwork do subscribe to our YouTube channel which has two playlist...

Send us Fan Mail It’s October, 2022, the Spanish Football team is practicing very diligently for the World Cup that will be played in December in Qatar. Their coach Luis Enrique has given them an audacious target. Practice a minimum of a 1000 penalties. The Spanish team actually did the unthinkable. Practice more than a 1000 penalties. 7th Dec, 2022. World Cup Round of 16. Spain ranked 7th loses t...

Send us Fan Mail If I told you that introducing wolves in an area can change the behaviour of rivers, would you believe me? It is true. This is the story of the several cascading effects that took place when wolves were reintroduced at the Yellowstone National Park, located in the western region of the United States. In business, we often think that with all our data and all our analysis, we can a...

Send us Fan Mail Last week we talked about the fiasco at the 89th Academy Awards. On 26th February 2017, when the award for Best Picture was to be given out by Warren Beatty and Fay Dunaway, a bizarre incident unfolded. The award was given to the wrong movie. Several human beings were blamed. I believe the fiasco could have been averted if two non-human errors had not happened. Last week we discus...

Send us Fan Mail This was Oscar week. This year everything went off well. Especially for India. And unlike last year no one got slapped 😂 However, on 26th February 2017 at the 89th Academy Awards there was a fiasco. When the final, most prestigious awards - Best Picture was to be given out by Warren Beatty and Fay Dunaway, a bizarre incident unfolded. The award was given to the wrong movie. Sever...

Send us Fan Mail Are You Smart Enough to Pass Thomas Edison's Employment Test? He interviews you and then takes you to a diner with the team. The first course ordered is a soup. What you do next will determine whether you are hired or not? Will you pass. Listen on. For more #storiesatwork do subscribe to our YouTube channel which has two playlists - #StoryBank https://bit.ly/WStoryB and #Lead...

Send us Fan Mail In 1960, the major Holocaust perpetrator Adolf Eichmann was captured in Argentina by Israeli agents and brought to Israel to stand trial. His defence was that he was merely following instructions when he ordered the deaths of millions of Jews. Imagine you are driving in the city, and two people wearing traffic police uniforms stop you. They ask for your license and car papers. Aft...

Send us Fan Mail Sometimes our understanding of a word or a phrase is completely turned on its head when someone shares a different meaning. This is one such instance. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Heard it a million times, right? Listen to the story and see if your understanding of that phrase is the same as that of Micheal Phelps! For more Stories at Work do subscribe to our YouTu...

Send us Fan Mail There is a quote that often appears on social media to promote positive mindset. “According to all known laws of aerodynamics, there is no way that a bee should be able to fly. Its wings are too small to get its fat little body off the ground. The bee, of course, flies anyways. Because no one told the bee it can’t.” THIS IS A MYTH. However, here is a real story you could use to re...

Send us Fan Mail Big Brother is a fictional character and symbol in George Orwell's dystopian 1949 novel called ‘1984’. Phrases like ‘Big brother is watching’ and words like ‘bureaucracy’ have come to symbolise the stifling of employees’ potential by their organisations. But when used well, with the right intent it can actually have an extremely positive effect. I first heard this story from...

Send us Fan Mail How many of you know the name of your office lift man (if you have one)? What about the housekeeping person who cleans up every morning? Do we only know the names of people who are or someday might be useful for us? I hope the answers to the above questions are YES, YES, NO. Do honestly share your answers in the comments. If not, perhaps we should reflect. Hope you find this story...

Send us Fan Mail If Lionel Messi worked in a corporate, there is a high likelihood he would be just another good footballer. Fortunately, he was under a wise coach at La Maisa, the FC Barcelona Academy. This story is about the Feedback Fallacy. Feedback in the way it is given in most organisations doesn’t work. I am sure what I am saying runs counter to everything you would have heard, read or see...

Send us Fan Mail Ever heard of the watermelon effect? I was introduced to the term a few years ago and it makes sense. The name has to be understood quite literally. Describe a watermelon. Besides being a fruit, round, and full of seeds, it is green outside – but red inside. And that is exactly WHERE the name comes from. The watermelon effect is what happens when employees dare not tell management...

Send us Fan Mail Have you ever noticed that when there is a crowd, very often, no one steps in to help? This is called the "bystander effect". This story demonstrates how dangerous it can be. I also discuss what you can do when you are the one who needs help (maybe with a project or presentation) and crowd (colleagues) doesn't step in. It's not that everyone is selfish or they...