It was a quiet Tuesday morning in my hometown on the edge of the prairie. The sun had just begun to peek over the tops of the trees. The birds were just beginning their morning serenade. Ahhhhh It was a quiet and serene morning in my little world. I had just sat down for a […]
Marinating In The Mediocre
April 25, 2023 by Leave a Comment
It started out innocently enough. Quite pretty, actually. Lovely little messages, dripping down. Falling lightly in our collective lap. Then things changed The wind shifted and the messages increased. Now filling the sky, turning everything in their way into a messy soup. Each message now propelled horizontally like a bullet stream. Making everything indistinguishable, indecipherable […]
Scared: A Storyteller’s Tale
April 22, 2023 by Leave a Comment
It’s lurking in that white piece of paper. Be careful, my friend. The Scared might get you. The Scared is everywhere. And it’s waiting for you For some people, it’s waiting for you on an airplane. The Scared is out there in the audience you’re about to address. If you’re an artist or a storyteller, […]
The Storyteller’s Promise
December 18, 2019 by Leave a Comment
A Manifesto by Rebecca Solnit. Edited (with apologies to the author) to fit the Art Of It style. Or lack there of. Stories surround us like air. We breathe them in. We breathe them out. The art of being fully conscious in life means seeing the stories and becoming their teller. And not letting them […]
Schizophrenic Advice To Storytellers
November 5, 2019 by Leave a Comment
So many voices in my head. Telling me what to do. Or how to do it. Or how to think about storytelling. The difference between what to think and how to think It’s always been that way. There’s always a battle between the rules and principles. For example, once upon a time there two titans […]
Want To Lead A Movement? Start With A Story
April 16, 2019 by 1 Comment
Two children were born on the same day in Uganda. Two children grew up in the same Ugandan village. One boy One of those boys dropped out of school. He never learned to read. He ended up cutting sugarcane. He eventually struggled with alcohol abuse and parented many children out of wedlock. The other boy […]
Empathy: The Overlooked Secret
March 5, 2019 by 1 Comment
By Mark Clevenger Mark Clevenger is the President of Clevenger Associates, a marketing research consultancy specializing in human behavior. Empathy is for practical people The question: “Knowing our customers is important, but isn’t empathy getting into la-la land?” Mangers worry. How can we improve efficiency? Detours are the enemy. Stay focused. Find the quickest path […]
Visual Stories My Old Friend Tells Me
January 22, 2019 by Leave a Comment
We have met at least once a month for the last 22 years, my old friend and me. And every time I visit I see something I didn’t see before. Something new from my old friend to me. For 22 years Every time we’re together I feel inspired. That’s my old friend’s gift to me. […]
More Nothing: What Visual Storytelling Needs
January 8, 2019 by 1 Comment
Heather Anthony is an artist. She creates family portraits. To begin, she asks the family to send her photographs of each person. She asks them about the clothes they like to wear. And the fashion story they tell. Creating context From those contextual elements, she draws a digital sketch of the group for approval. Only […]
What The Critics Have To Say
May 10, 2018 by 8 Comments
A few reviews of the Art Of It experience for your reviewing pleasure Gordon has that rare mind for creative thinking. And Gordon’s presentations are inspiring. He guides his audience to a promised land of purpose-driven solutions and delivers beyond expectations. His quiet demeanor hides the passion he feels for great work. His soft voice […]
