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The best stories get you thinking. And that’s usually because they are not simply black and white. They leave you with something to work out; a dilemma, a problem that gets you pondering.

Sadly a lot of stories in our news media, our film industry and our television world, don’t do audiences the honour of leaving something for people to work out.

Some new research shows from a visual point of view, dumbing things down destroys development. In fact it shows that visually difficult images can actually aid comprehension.

Albert Einstein said everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler; “we can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

Likewise, John F. Kennedy once said “we go to the moon not because it’s easy, but because it’s difficult.”

When I hear people trot out the aphorism, Keep It Simple Stupid, it annoys me. Often it is not honouring of the audience. Don’t get me wrong, I think we should always work hard to achieve clarity in all communication, but there is a difference between clarity, simplicity and dumbing down.

I think it is time to share stories that have complexity and depth, that stimulate reflection and actions. The greatest stories are about journeys between dark and light, failure and success. Characters in great stories are faced with choices and dilemmas, and sorting through complexity. Stories need a KICC more than they need a KISS.

Actions speak a thousand times louder than words when miming.

I watched an awesome mime busking on Auckland’s waterfront last week.

He had a special talent for creating story out of nothing, and working with his audience.

His brilliance was working with young children. He grabbed young members of the audience and had them take part in his story creation. He built a story in front of us, based on the reactions of the children.

One child was only just walking, maybe 18 months old. He was obviously intrigued with the miming and was fearless in his interactions. The mime teased the little boy; squirted water at him, caught him a fishing net, threatened him with a giant boxing glove, and played with a ball with him. They were very simple actions, but compelling and funny. The little boy was fearless and only briefly got upset when he could not keep the ball.

The crowd was entranced. I was amazed. We have become so accustomed to sophisticated tricks, with lots of bells and whistles. But this guy’s props were minimal, and he created a story on the spot, with the simple actions of small children.

Another trick involved having children take part in a trick that involved creating a drum roll, and a human wall that he was apparently going to leap. The setting up of the trick became the story, as he arranged the children, and mimed what he wanted them to do. Every time some one misunderstood an instruction became part of the gag. He slowly builds anticipation in the trick. In the end he never leapt, but gently pushed the kids over like human dominoes.

He took risks, he did things that in another context might be inappropriate, but did them with grace and balance.

His actions, in another context would be meaningless and boring, but he held the audience in his hand, through his courage to be engrossed with the people with him, and build a performance out of natural actions.

Story at it’s most powerful is very simple and based on very human experience, often just twists on the very everyday things we all do and see.

We all have stories we will remember all our lives. Without question. So what makes them stick?

There are always some juxtapositions, some sharp angles that have a story stay with us for good.

Time and place, and the depth and breadth of the content.

Time and place is about a moment. Great storytellers can create moment through being present, and clear, with a focus 100 percent on their audience.

The content will have actions, goals, and interactions between characters and the world around them. There is detailed scientific research now that shows these elements are what lands a story throughout different centres of the brain.

The X factor is whether a story ‘rings true.’ This is it’s resonance. I have been on a 10 day silent meditation retreat several times. Each morning starts with a gong. Once I took on the responsibility of ringing the gong. There was a well worn thick length of wood to do the job. When you hit the gong just right, the ringing pulsed, and felt. It felt perfect and aligned, like hitting the sweet spot with a golf club. My listening was so acute in the silence that I could hear the ringing fade in ever decreasing waves for ages. I could feel this right throughout my body. It had rung true. It’s impression was lasting. A great story does the same.

I just spent several amazing days in Arnhemland, in the Australian outback. We sat and reflected amongst 10 thousand year old rock drawings on caves; possibly some of the oldest art on the planet. The pictures told stories, that have lasted countless generations. They were very simple; about people and places, and those things that matter as much today as ever; food and shelter. Simple stories, beautiful images, probably not made to last, but created in a moment to powerfully connect with an audience.
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When I worked in a university I used to crack jokes about the PhD academics.

I’d say they were lost to the world, delving so deep into the their specialty they could only talk, think, and act in a way that didn’t much relate to the day to day world. They were lost in space.

But there were a few, a very few, who would rise above the verbiage and diatribe of their speciality, and become wise, and in fact succinct.

I used to admire those people, because at the essence of any specialty or expertise, is clarity and simplicity.

So too when it comes to stories and language. It is the simple things we remember.

It is the proverbs, the one liners, the quotes from writers, poets, leaders and experts, and song writers.

We have so so much information today we get lost. So it is no wonder that we are developing more and more forms of what I am calling MicroMacro Media.

Twitter, texts, You Tube Clips, and Sound Bites, One Minute Films.



Masters of MicroMacro Media tell short but deep stories.

There is an art and a science to telling stories in a short space of time.

The science shows us that great stories, and they can be very very short, hit our brains on at least three levels, in a primal way, an emotional way and an intellectual way. That’s why we remember them.

The art is in the love of the telling; the quelling of the ego, the play and the courage to leave stuff out.

Short and sweet.

When I left mainstream journalism and public relations, I tried to stop being cynical and sarcastic. My children always hated it when I was ‘sarckie’, and nasty with words. It came naturally.

So I’ve largely eradicated my cynical side, and hopefully replaced it with discernment, and critical analysis.

But I am only human and there are some things that really get my goat! (Really funny expression that with no clear origin, strange how I end up using it)

And it’s cliches and jargon that make me snort. I came across a new one in PR yesterday. Boilerplates for media releases.

Ok so now we move from templates, to boilerplates, and the difference is???? And who cares???

And this got me to thinking about how often I now hear talk about templates and frameworks. It is almost obsessive.

I find myself using these terms endlessly in business.

” We need to set up a template.” ” We have to get the framework in place.”

Ok so this is the need for order in a complex world, I get that.

But what goes inside the templates, boilerplates and frameworks ?

My point is, particularly in communication, is that there is no depth. There are superficial statements about frameworks and templates with very little substance.

No patina. No backstory. Just a proforma template like plastic boxes on a production line.

Apparently a boilerplate is stock standard language that doesn’t get changed. It comes from the anal world of legal contracts.



Now I find myself hearing the same professionals rolling out templates, boilerplates and frameworks, say in the same breathe: Content is King!

So who is doing the content?

Where is the compelling story? I like the image of a Greek Wedding with Smashed Plates. Drama, story, excitement, engagement, content.

Great content is about contrast, juxtaposition, some drama. Smash it up, mash it up, so we don’t have to snore through boilerplates, templates and frameworks with no ‘guts’.

My main form of exercise is walking the dog. I really resent it sometimes, especially if the dog has been doing a real stand over at home, in my face, throwing the lead across the floor in my direction etc. Not subtle.

But over the last couple of years I’ve started to really appreciate the space, some thinking and reflecting time and some much needed exercise. There is even a Canine Charter for Human Health

But that’s not really my point. Walking the dog does something to my synapses, my mind starts to think differently, making links, connections, creating ideas.

Yesterday I conducted a mentoring session on the phone while walking the dog. It had a flow, that I am sure if I had recorded would be a very interesting set of stories. The dog walking helped the process hugely.

I have a friend who sometimes comes and walks the dog with me, and we have a mentoring session on route.

When I was a radio journalist I used to interview farmers for a programme. They were shy men often. The best way we found to interview as to walk across the farm, side by side, rather than me confronting them with the microphone.

Being on the move helps generate great stories.

Its a great antidote to sitting in front of a blank screen, stuck in our head.

I work with a lot of leaders and organisations that often hesitate before communicating. They are worried about the risks. Publicly voicing a point of view will inevitable attract some opposing points of view. And this goes for inside and outside an organisation.

We’ve all become pretty risk averse when it comes to communication these days. Many people with an outspoken point of view, exhibiting too much emotion or passion, can often be shot down. Like wise, there is often a desire to keep communication on a safe and even keel. It’s no wonder we frequently here people say: ” No, no, don’t go there!” Or ” No, no, too much information!” We are averse to getting into any potentially dangerous communication where emotions might ignite.

The thing is, there is always something being communicated. There is no such thing as a communication vacuum. Our beautiful little brains are always making up some story or other about what is going on around us.

So I urge anyone in leadership, anyone who is part of an organisation or a community, to step up and say what needs to be said. Work to make sure people know what is going on. Work to tell the truth, and not shy from what might be uncomfortable.

Every story we have ever heard and remembered and valued, had powerful juxtapositions that make up a journey, failure and success, happiness and sadness, light and dark.

So great communication will ‘go there’ and engage people in stories that canvas the ups and downs of life, the ups and downs of business, of leadership, of community.