Down with Fluff: Executive Storytelling in the AI Era - with Anuneha Mewawalla - The Trending Communicator

Episode Transcript
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Dan Nestle (00:00):
Welcome or welcome back to the trending
Communicator. I'm your host, Dan Nestle. Have you
ever wondered why some CEOs always seem to say
the right things? Expressing nuanced views with

(00:20):
confidence and clarity, even under pressure or in
the middle of a crisis, while others struggle to
string sentences together and are probably better
kept out of the public eye? Look, maybe you know
all this already, but one of the most important
and impactful roles communicators play is to make
sure that leaders are prepared and ready to be
the authoritative voices of an organization. We

(00:43):
keep them informed, we brief and we coach them,
we write or we refine messaging, while at the
same time we work to help them build trust with
audiences and stakeholders every day, on social
channels, in the media, at events, pretty much
anywhere you see them, and so on. Of course,
leaders are people. Some are great in front of a
room, some are great writers and deep thinkers,

(01:06):
and some just aren't. But if they're leading an
organization, one thing they all need to be good
at is telling a story, conveying ideas in ways
that make sense, talking about their
organizations in relatable ways, talking about
them in. In their own stories, using their own
experiences to build relationships and to build
trust. We've talked about storytelling before on

(01:27):
the show, but executive storytelling is kind of
at a whole other level. And my guest today is one
of the leading practitioners in the field. A
trusted thought partner to the C suites of high
growth and Fortune 500 companies. Her background
as a TV news anchor and comms leader gives her
exceptional insight into the art and science of
storytelling. After starting out as a journalist,

(01:49):
she made her way into corporate comms, leading
communications functions at the Page Society,
Accenture and F5. Before founding Lexato
Consulting, she's been helping her clients with
executive brand strategy, leadership,
communications, change and transformation
communications and more. And now with the advent
of AI, she's been at the forefront of AI adoption

(02:10):
and enablement in the PR profession and in the
spirit of transparency, is partnering with your
humble narrator on a variety of AI training and
enablement projects. I'm excited to get into the
world of executive storytelling, how it's
evolving and of course, what effect AI will have
on all of this with my good friend, Ananeha
Mevawala. Ananeha, it's good to see you.

Anuneha Mewawalla (02:34):
Thanks for having me, Dan. I'm delighted to be
here.

Dan Nestle (02:36):
I have to say it's been a wonderful pleasure to
get to know you over the last year. But also, you
are a trending communicator. It's why I've been
working with you, it's why, you know, we get
along so well. But also it's really why I wanted
to have you on the show. Because, you know,
storytelling is one of those things that we pop
around. It's a term we throw around a lot. And,
you know, there's a lot of different takes on it.

(02:58):
And oftentimes when business leaders hear
storytelling, you know, they don't. They don't
hear value, they hear fluff. But we're here to
tell you that that's not exactly right. And it
has its own discipline and it has a lot of
science behind it. And certain. It is a preferred
method of maybe the only method of effective

(03:21):
communication when we're talking about, you know,
more complex subjects, for sure. So, you know,
let's get into it a little bit. But before we
start there, I just, you know, give us a few
minutes if you, you know, if you want to walk us
through the, you know, how did Ananeja get to
where you are today? And why did you get so
interested in storytelling? I kind of want to

(03:42):
know.

I think my love affair with storytelling dates
back to my time in the newsroom as a news
reporter and as a television news anchor, bearing
that responsibility to represent different sides
of the story, to bring those stories, those
stories that matter, to really be the one to

(04:04):
sniff out, you know, stories in the most
unlikely, unexpected places. And sometimes it's
about finding the needle in the haystack. Stories
worth telling, stories worth sharing, stories
that inform, that are powerful, that can evoke
emotion, that can inspire, that can change lives,

(04:26):
that can cause change in our world, in our
society. And I think that is where my passion for
storytelling comes from. And I think that it
translated really quite elegantly from journalism
to strategic communications, to helping companies
of all sizes, be it startups, high growth

(04:49):
companies, or Fortune 500, because I think that's
what separates companies today is how can you cut
through the noise, how can you differentiate
yourself in a very crowded marketplace with
stories that are not just a listing of facts and
data, stories that speak to both the heart and

(05:11):
the mind? And so I think that brings me to
something that's so fundamental that I think we
must address at the get go of our podcast and our
time together is what is storytelling?

Dan Nestle (05:22):
You're getting way ahead of me. Getting.

Well, not way ahead.

Dan Nestle (05:25):
You're getting right ahead of me. But you're
absolutely. I was just going to say that I'm so
glad that you pointed out that a string of facts
and information itself unstructured or even just
as a list is not a story, A story is not the
facts of which it is composed or the points of
which it is composed. A story is the composition.
So, yes, please tell us what storytelling is in

(05:48):
your mind. Like, what's your view on
storytelling? And let's lay it out for our
listeners.

As I see it, at its core, storytelling is the art
of creating meaningful connection or meaningful
connections through the power of narrative. And
it's not about a simple recounting of facts or
just sharing information. It is about tapping

(06:16):
into the universal human desire, but purpose for
emotion, for shared experience, for connection.
And when you think about the communications
toolkit, executive storytelling is absolutely
foundational. It is not just one other tactic,
one other channel. It is the strategic backbone

(06:40):
that shapes how leaders communicate their vision,
their values, their impact, and it's also how
they are perceived. Now, executive storytelling
is, and this is maybe one point of distinction
from just storytelling per se is it's about
inviting stakeholders into the leader's

(07:00):
worldview. It's about disseminating. It's not
just about disseminating the company line. I
think that's really, really key to understand.
And the best executive storytellers that I have
worked with understand that their personal
narratives are intrinsically linked to their
organization's broader brand and reputation. And

(07:24):
so it's about getting behind the person behind
the title. It's about revealing the humanity
behind the title. What are the motivations, what
are the struggles, the why that inspires people
to follow and to come along on that leader's
journey. If you think about the most influential

(07:48):
leaders, you know, what makes their communication
stand out, nine times out of 10, it's their
ability to weave a compelling narrative that taps
into our shared hopes, our fears, our
aspirations. Incredible storytellers, incredible

(08:09):
executive storytellers. They do not just inform
us, they inspire us. That's one thing I want you
to take away. And the power of executive
storytelling, it's not just one additional tool
in the communications PR toolkit. It is the glue

(08:30):
that binds strategy to execution, vision to
reality. And when done right, it can be that
difference between creating superficial awareness
or driving deep, lasting engagement with a
variety of stakeholders.

Dan Nestle (08:48):
So you've said so much there that I'm just, you
know, I'm nodding my head like, well, of course
it's such an ideal. It's a wave of magic wand.
And we have a leader who can lead. You know, we
have somebody who can, who can inspire others to
follow or to kind of, you know, at least take a

(09:09):
leap of faith or you know, accept the strategy
that's being put forward, you know, be motivated
to accomplish certain goals and tasks. I think
we've all been there, we've all been in
situations where you've had somebody that's
inspired you, you've had a leader that's inspired
you. And I suppose if we can, if we go back to
those episodes in our life and in our

(09:32):
professional life, I suspect very strongly that
you're going to find these storytelling moments
where they've woven in their own experience or
set it up such that they're not just talking
about, here are the things you need to do and
here's why you have to do them. They're talking
about, look, we have a greater mission here and a

(09:54):
greater purpose here. Here's the situation. And
that's, that's something that we should all kind
of understand. But that's not all. You know,
there are, there are forces arrayed around us.
That's why we need to do this. So there's a,
there's a story, there's a, there's a flow. And
almost like it's a, it's almost like the tasks

(10:17):
and the goals or the medicine and the story is
the sugar coated capsule that goes around it that
allows us to swallow. In some ways. I don't want
to like, demean the story itself into something
that's extra or fluffy, but one thing you said
that really, really stood out is this idea of
inviting. You know, you said that effective

(10:39):
storytelling, executive storytelling, that the
whole goal of this is to invite stakeholders in.
And I have to admit that I haven't heard it put
that way until just now. And whenever that
happens to me, I furiously start scribbling. When
you think about that, inviting stakeholders to be

(11:01):
on the journey with you. When we say
stakeholders, we're talking about all of our
audiences. We're talking about the people who buy
products, who donate to your organization, who
advocate for you, and also your employees, your
coworkers, everybody. These are all different
stakeholder groups inviting them in. Can you

(11:21):
think of any examples from when you've worked
with executives where there's somebody who has
done a terrible job of being invitational, so to
speak, versus an example of a very good inviter

(11:41):
or a trust builder that brings people in?

Absolutely. I'm going to answer that question in
two ways for the benefit of our listeners. I'll
also kind of try to be a little bit like, what
can we take away? How can we apply some of this
to our own experiences and challenges and
opportunities? And then I'll also Share an
example. I think that what it comes down to is

(12:07):
authenticity. I think it's the willingness to be
personal. Because when you're personal, when you
are willing to share a little bit more about that
person, the values, the leadership values, the
mindsets, the philosophies behind whoever your,
whatever your title is, the likelihood that you

(12:30):
come across as real and relatable is that much
higher. And I think that's all very just
inextricably linked to that idea of inviting
people in. And so I've seen this on so many
occasions, it's hard for me to decide which
examples to share. But on one occasion, working

(12:50):
with the, you know, one of the C suite executives
at a major tech company, you know, him being
willing to share with the organization as part of
all hands meetings, what are their top five
leadership values. But really each of them was

(13:11):
associated with a story. Either a story that was
a struggle, a failure, or something that
propelled them forward. But that was just, it was
just remarkable what response that had and how it
evoked a variety of reactions from employees in
that they suddenly saw their leader in a

(13:32):
different light. Here's someone who is just like
us, who struggled, who succeeded, but he is
willing to bring us in and be candid about it.
And that was just such a tremendous driver of
credibility, that transparency, that

(13:52):
authenticity, but also of trust. They suddenly
saw their leader in a way that they had never
seen them before. I have so many other examples,
but with another multibillion dollar tech company
that I worked with, the CEO was on a
transformation journey with a number of
challenges that came along with it. Globally

(14:14):
distributed workforce, multiple acquisitions in a
short period of time, which led to an
amalgamation of cultures and a whole lot more
transformation ahead in terms of the strategic
vision. Looking out, how are we to bring
employees along on this journey? And that's
something that I had the good fortune and the

(14:35):
opportunity to work with him on. And I think
that, you know, what we ended up doing was very,
very authentic in that we made the CEO part of
the storytelling, a very central figure in the
storytelling, talking in ways that were very
personal and connected about the future strategy

(14:58):
of the company, the priorities, the execution
priorities of the company, the culture and the
values of the company. Really sharing from a
personal place, sharing employee stories, sharing
the CEO's personal background and stories and why
things and why this future scenario meant so much

(15:20):
and why it could be such a game changer for the
company in terms of competitive advantage it
brought to us. And how he infused employees into
all of the storytelling in a very Big way. And
the results were just phenomenal in that we had
over 70% of the company sort of participating in

(15:42):
this CEO led very authentic storytelling, which
was really driven by transformation storytelling.
And we had close to like almost 90% saying they
were more committed and inspired about the
future, which was just remarkable and inspiring

(16:02):
on so many levels that when you get it right,
when you get executive storytelling right, when
they are, in fact, inviting stakeholders to join
them in a journey to understand the why behind
their sort of persuading you and, you know,

(16:23):
getting you to understand why. There is, you
know, there's. There's a. There's a joint
purpose. There's a mutual purpose at stake here.
Amazing things can happen. And I think we've all
kind of probably been exposed to a lot of really
great research around employee engagement. So
employee engagement is linked to higher

(16:45):
performance, better customer success, lower
turnover, absenteeism. And so I know I'm probably
like, you know, this could be its own topic, and
it's such a rich one, too, but I think that
executives can play such a profound and
influential role when it comes to engaging

(17:06):
employees. And once employees are engaged, that
can lead to such a phenomenal result in terms of
company performance.

Dan Nestle (17:21):
Oh, yeah. Our friend Ethan McCarty, who's been on
the show twice, often talks about the multiplier
effect of engaged employees on company
productivity. And I think I'm quoting him, or at
least I'm paraphrasing him properly on that one,
or at least attributing it properly. You know, at

(17:41):
least he's the guy I heard it from, let's put it
that way. And there's no doubt that executive
presence and executive, like the leadership
qualities of the executive, the leadership
qualities as conveyed to the employees is, I
wouldn't say has an effect on that. I would say

(18:04):
it's a precursor or a prerequisite for that.
Like, it has to happen for the employee community
to really be engaged. Otherwise, the. I guess it
does depend on how you define engagement, but for
it to be positively engaged, obviously, if
there's an issue with the CEO or with one of the

(18:24):
leaders who is the face of the company to the
employees, and they're failing at their
storytelling, that causes disengagement or it
causes the wrong kind of engagement. And, you
know, it's. It's. It's a. It's a very critical
skill and a. An important path to walk, I think

(18:47):
rightly on. It's. It's. So in other words, it's
kind of dangerous and risky. If you have somebody
who can't be relatable and authentic and tell
their stories at the helm and you know, you run
these risks or these actual cases of, you know,

(19:07):
oh yeah, I really, I really liked the company,
but I just never really understood the vision or
I, you know, I wanted to do a good job, but I
couldn't. You know, like my, you know, I got the
goals from my, from my manager, but I couldn't
figure out how they fit in to the organization.
And you know, a good leader has to be empowered

(19:31):
with the stories to make that relatable. And
that's kind of where what really stood out to me
here is this Authenticity, of course, but being
realistic and being relatable is paramount now.
It also brought to mind another question of mine

(19:51):
and I was wondering how you're dealing with this,
with your clients. You know, I mean, at the time
of this recording, in fact, you know, we will be,
this, this episode will be going live still when
all this is fresh in people's minds. Right. We've
just had a big election here in, in, in the
United States and you know, we're not going to

(20:12):
talk about that. It's fine. But what it does
bring to mind is there are so many issues and so
many social issues, so many, you know, causes, et
cetera, in a fairly divided population. You know,
your employee population oftentimes reflects the

(20:33):
general population. And you know, and over the
last several years, we've seen changes in the way
that a lot of CEOs and a lot of leaders in
general tell their stories and the stories they
tell, in fact. So when you're talking about, I
promise I'm going somewhere. When you talk about
authenticity and you talk about relatability, I

(20:58):
get the sense that there was an over indexing on
that for a little while where you had CEOs or
leaders being what they. Well, I guess they were
being inauthentic in a way because they're being.
They're really trying their best to recognize the

(21:20):
many different thoughts and opinions and traumas
and joys of their employee audience. Trying to
wrap it all into one story and one message, when
in fact that's impossible. Right? The old adage
that you can't please everybody, everyone. Maybe

(21:40):
that's only part of the adage, but I think it
holds true. It's impossible to please every
single person. And I think if the storytelling is
aimed at pleasing one part rather than the other
part, you're going to run into issues. So my
point is this. How do you stay authentic and
relevant and in light of all These different

(22:04):
social issues still maintain, still build trust
and still build credibility and authority and
belief in your vision, you know, when your
employees might be thinking about other things.

It's a great question. I'll answer that in a few
different ways. I think it's critical for us to
ground ourselves in the context in which we are
operating. Post pandemic, I think companies and
employees have a new sort of contract that binds

(22:47):
us, if you will, in that employees, their
expectations of companies have evolved so vastly,
so radically in that employees are hungry for
what are the values, what are the purpose, what
is the purpose of the company? The need to know

(23:07):
that, but also the need for that to be somewhat
aligned, for companies to be vocal, for leaders
to be vocal about where they stand on a variety
of social issues that we may be faced with. So I
think that's important for us to recognize that
that has evolved, that has changed, that that is

(23:29):
a reality that we are going to be faced with
const as we, as we sort of evaluate our
communication strategy internally and vis a vis a
variety of stakeholders. Secondly, I think it's
become increasingly very, very complex for

(23:50):
communicators to assess the path forward. Every
time something comes up in terms of what is our
response going to be? Do we respond? Do we not
respond? How do we respond? And I think that the
way to think about it is really to ground
yourself in the company's values. What is the

(24:12):
North Star when it comes to the company's values?
And I think that's fundamentally where it all
comes from in terms of assessing how you respond,
do you respond? And I think the other thing that
I would say is really, really important is it's

(24:33):
not just about words, it's about actions and
behaviors. So you have to be able to back up and
substantiate and support the words, whether, you
know, if it's words that are coming from at the
executive level with what is the company doing to

(24:54):
actually stand for those causes or issues?
Because otherwise employees are going to just see
right through. And so I think that every
company's situation is different, every issue
that comes at us is different. But I think that's
sort of a rubric to consider in terms of how do

(25:16):
you apply, how do you evaluate for your
particular situation, your particular set of
company values?

Dan Nestle (25:24):
Yeah, the CEO is in a tough spot, right? I mean,
the CEO has to be the face and the voice of the
company and really exemplify the company's values
or define them in many cases. And being authentic
doesn't mean that you have to Tell every single

(25:46):
personal story all the time. It doesn't mean that
you have to share everything, but it does mean
that what you do tell has to be real. And what
you do talk about has to align with the company's
vision, your vision, the company's values and
your organization's values and goals and culture.

(26:09):
And, you know, I think I've certainly seen, you
know, more recently a, you know, more of a kind
of worry or concern on the. On the. On the part
of leaders and executives about going too far in
one direction or leaning or, you know, do I need
to talk about this? Or, you know, how do I tell

(26:32):
the story without, you know, without essentially
pissing off half the people? And I think if you
have to ask that question, then you're probably
just telling the wrong story. You know, I mean,
it's. There shouldn't be any issue about talking
about your company and talking about the great
things you're doing and talking about your values
and your vision, you know, taking it to whatever

(26:53):
next step you want to, or you're connecting it to
outside events or you're connecting it to things
is that's where. That's where you need to have
some. Some introspection and some contextual
understanding, I think. So you know what to talk
about. But the core of your message can be framed
in a story, right? That is relatable regardless

(27:14):
of what the externalities are, if you're doing it
right. I think so. I didn't mean to go really
down too far down that road, but I think it's
important to understand that this is where the
art comes in a little bit, and it's also where.
Or an understanding of the world around us is

(27:37):
important as we construct stories and as we kind
of coach and prepare our leaders to convey their
visions. So it kind of makes me think about. Kind
of makes me think about where, you know, where

(28:00):
they should be focusing. If it's, you know, if
it's not all about the. If you're. If you're not
constructing your stories based on all these
things around you? Like, where is it that they
should be focusing? Mission, vision, values,
whatever you want to call it. And, you know,
maybe it's not always about the content. Maybe

(28:20):
sometimes it's just about your leadership skill.
Right? So I guess what I. Where I wanted to go
with that is how does that leadership presence
trump some of that stuff? Like, how does
leadership presence, you know, fit into this
larger picture? And some. Some leaders simply
don't have a lot of presence, but they can tell a
good story. You know, where, where's the balance?

(28:44):
You know, and now that I'm on, I keep adding more
to the question on neha. I'm very sorry, but how
does that leadership presence fit in? But, you
know, let's kind of steer it towards something a
little more practical here. Right. Where do we
see leadership presence? We see it on LinkedIn
all the time, for example. Right. And LinkedIn
members get a little persnickety about some of

(29:05):
the things that people say. Right. So how does
that presence fit into this larger picture? And
maybe we can kind of start to drive it toward
what does it look like on LinkedIn, for example?

Yeah, I'm going to pull back the lens here and
make it a little bit more macro level about
leadership presence broadly. Right. So if you
think about leadership presence on LinkedIn, that

(29:38):
has today become a critical component of overall
executive visibility and in many ways is driving
business value in ways expected and unexpected.
So let's take a minute and just ground ourselves
in some numbers. LinkedIn today has over 900
million members in over 200 countries worldwide.

(30:00):
It is the largest professional networking
platform. It's growing by nearly 60 million new
members. Those were the numbers in 2022. And
LinkedIn members are 50% more likely to buy from
a company when the CEO is active on the platform.
Profiles with like C Suite in the title in the

(30:22):
heading get 8 times more profile views. On
average, content posted by C Suite executives
sees twice or two times higher engagement rates
compared to content from other employees. 79% of
buyers say top leadership influences their

(30:43):
purchase decisions. And 79% of the global
workforce is now on LinkedIn, making it a
critical talent pool. So I think those numbers
are telling us something. There's, there's a,
there's a story in here which is that a strong
executive presence on LinkedIn is fundamentally

(31:04):
important in today's day and age. And I think
what the numbers are also telling us is that in
our digital first world today, a leader's brand
on LinkedIn, a leader's personal brand on
LinkedIn has become just, you know, inextricably

(31:25):
linked to their company's broader visibility and
the company's broader brand. I think that that's
pointing to a need for communicators to be
actively proactively strategizing about their

(31:49):
Leader's presence on LinkedIn, about managing
that, about curating really thought provoking
content engagement, really managing that sort of
social content strategy. It's not something that
we can. It's a huge missed opportunities for
executives and for companies who are not

(32:11):
Thoughtful and strategic about the opportunity
here.

Dan Nestle (32:16):
Well, two questions for you. First of all,
where's all that data come from and where can we
find it? Was that. Is that available on LinkedIn
or where does that specifically?

It's a number of different sources. A lot of it
is LinkedIn themselves, but it's all very widely
available. And I think it's just always really
helpful. Right. Because we're talking about
executive storytelling and executives love
numbers. So it helps to kind of immediately drive
home the need and the importance of paying
attention to your executive presence on LinkedIn.

(32:52):
But, you know, it also is kind of steering me to
another topic that I'm curious to kind of ask you
a little bit about, if we may take a few minutes.

Dan Nestle (33:05):
Go on.

Yeah, I was just thinking about, you know, we've
been talking about how to maintain trust. And,
you know, we're also talking about a world where
AI is just presenting incredible opportunities
and incredible upside for communications. I think

(33:27):
we're both very bullish on it. And of course, I
think that the flip side, which, you know, we
always like to see, we like to be balanced, we
like to be informed in kind of seeing every
opportunity and for what it. For what it brings.
And so, you know, I'd love to also hear a little
bit of your perspective on, from an AI driven

(33:49):
perspective, AI driven world, AI driven
communications era that we are stepping into or
actually in some ways already kind of straddling.
How do we maintain trust in this era where
there's so much synthetic content that's being
created, we're dealing with, you know, deep fakes

(34:13):
and whatnot. And I think that's somewhat, you
know, that is pretty relevant in the context of
what we're talking about. So I'm curious if you
have some thoughts there.

Dan Nestle (34:24):
Well, I don't mind flipping the script a little
bit and you can interview me too, here. That's
fine. Well, I mean, but it's an interesting point
because it was something that was on my mind
about executive storytelling in general. And you
brought up a couple things that I think we can
continue to kind of weave into this conversation.
One of them being the personal. The leadership,

(34:47):
sorry, the executive brand, meaning the personal
brand of the executive as the company brand. And
the idea that being active on LinkedIn, for
example, is sort of like, it's almost a critical

(35:10):
success factor for any executive who's out there.
So, you know, I was going to ask you just about
the, you know, the kinds of storytelling that
executives should practice or that their
communicators should practice on LinkedIn

(35:32):
specifically, but let's, let's back into that
because I think trust has something to do with
this. I think, I think the idea of, since you
asked me, the idea of how do we build trust is
part of this. You know, the way that you
communicate on LinkedIn, obviously, you know, is
if there's 900 million, you know, members, not

(35:54):
all of them are your audience, but it's still a
massive audience and you do have core audiences
there. So the way that you're represented on
LinkedIn is, is either a trust builder or trust
killer. You know, it's, you can walk the middle,
the middle road and not have any impression on
anybody whatsoever, but what good does that do
anyone? So the kind of content that you produce,

(36:20):
the kinds of things you say have to be, and you,
meaning the executive in this case, have to be
their words, like it's gotta be theirs. It
doesn't work when, you know, a comms person is
writing on your behalf. It doesn't work when you

(36:42):
are, you know, getting social media posts written
by an agency for you. I mean, it ultimately has
to be in your voice. You know, that's not to say
that a very, very skilled communicator can't get
there, but in the end, the CEO or the leader
who's, who's putting stuff out there on, on
anything, but certainly on LinkedIn really has to

(37:04):
have a final look at it and make sure that it is
in there. It's something that they would say,
right? So it goes to that authenticity and it
goes to almost a, a validation that, oh, this is
the person who, who says they are. Right, who
they say they are. So this is part of this, you

(37:27):
know, AI deepfakes, you know, you don't know if
the content is real or not. Well, chances are
you'll never really know as a casual observer or
as a consumer of content, but one way that you
can sort of prevent against that is to make sure
that you can tell, you know, the authentic voice

(37:50):
or like when somebody's being a real person, you
know, investing the content with stories that
make it real. So this is all, this is all. I
think executive storytelling is so critical to
this because when the executive has the right,
has, has their own experiences and their own
stories to pull in, it's far less likely for that

(38:11):
content to be manufactured by some random bot or,
you know, or a deep fake. So in many ways it
makes more sense for the leader, the CEO, to get
even more personal with their stories, with the
way that they provide context on LinkedIn,

(38:33):
especially than they ever have before, with the
caveat that personal on LinkedIn is not the same
thing as personal on Facebook or Instagram or
someplace else. Personal meaning it's your point
of view. You do bring in your own experiences.
You're not talking about necessarily taking the

(38:56):
kids. Well, you could talk about taking the kids
to the ball game, but you're not talking about
necessarily spouting out about political views or
talking about, you know, your hobby that nobody
cares about, you know, unless it is absolutely
germane to the story you're talking about. I
think the CEO of LinkedIn recently said that he

(39:21):
was questioning whether or not there should be
more personal content on LinkedIn so that it
resembles more of a Facebook feel. Of course,
LinkedIn members do not like this, but he ended
up saying it should be personal ish. It should be
personal ish. And I kind of like that because
that's, you know, that's what we're talking about
here. A story that is, that is undoubtedly yours

(39:44):
and yours alone. But it's not oversharing. It's
not over revealing, you know, it's not, you know,
it's not telling the world things that you know
are better kept between you and your family or
between you and your friends on Linked, on
Facebook or something like this. You know, I'm

(40:08):
not saying that you should never share a personal
experience because sometimes it really does make
sense to do that. You want to show vulnerability,
but, you know, not all the time and only when it
makes perfect sense to do so. And you have to
read, you got to be able to read. The room is
sort of where that's got to go. All of this to
say that I think the stories themselves and the

(40:31):
power of the stories are really your first line
of kind of bullshit detection and making sure
that what you're looking at is real and not a
deep fake. Technology is getting better. AI is
getting better. And there's no question that you

(40:53):
can use AI in great ways to enhance your
executive profile, to create more content, to
increase your volume, to increase your frequency,
to get things done faster. But that doesn't mean
you should trust everything to the AI. It means
you should just use it as a boost or as a tool,
as an enhancer to get you going.

Such a great segue too. Dan, to a very related
topic on the topic of AI is how does AI intersect
with executive storytelling that can it enhance

(41:37):
or enable better executive storytelling? And I
think you made some really pertinent, profound
points for us to reflect on. And as I look at it
from this new Vantage point. What I would say is

(41:59):
in working with C suite leaders, I'm seeing that
AI can deliver benefits in four key areas. When
it comes to executive storytelling, I think it's
certainly not replacing executive storytelling as

(42:23):
we know it. It's amplifying it in these four
ways. And I think, number one, it's enhanced
personalization, because AI has the capability to
help us understand audience segments more deeply,
allowing executives and leaders to be able to
tailor their narratives while staying authentic.

(42:45):
I think the number two would be in terms of
adaptation, which could be pretty real time,
could be pretty dynamic, in that AI can now help
us analyze audience engagement and sentiment, and
so it can allow for more dynamic storytelling. I
think the third point I'd like to make is

(43:07):
probably around content optimization, because AI
can help in various stages of the content
creation and refinement process, drafting of
content, be it speeches or blogs or social or
what have you. But it's also speeding up that

(43:29):
process of improving consistency and accuracy. It
can help execs refine messaging, refine their
voice, align more with organizational goals, and
ensure that, you know, all of their content and
their various communication, different forms are
staying, are reinforcing the same messages, the

(43:51):
same organizational goals or values. I think the
fourth one is around storytelling formats and the
fact that AI is and will continue to make it
easier to integrate a variety of multimedia
elements, you know, but also to repurpose, if you

(44:16):
will, or content, mix the content in different
formats, because as we know, audiences consume
content in different ways. You can't communicate
to everyone in the exact same way. One size does
not fit all. And so that could be huge for
executive storytelling, because look at the
implications for resonance.

Dan Nestle (44:37):
You know, I am clearly bullish on podcasts,
right? I mean, and if there's ever a medium that
lends itself better to storytelling, I dare you
to find it. Maybe video, I don't know. But having
a conversation, the most natural human thing to
do is sit around and tell stories to one another.

(45:00):
You know, some people bring up the old campfire
analogy or the old campfire metaphor of, you
know, that's where storytelling comes from. The
way we would convey information through, you
know, through stories that are sticky and
memorable. You know, we had an oral tradition for
so long, it had to be in the form of a story or
else it could never be remembered. The campfire

(45:22):
right now is maybe LinkedIn is the campfire.
Maybe maybe a podcast is. But the point is that
since the podcast or audio, and let's say even
video content is a great way for executives to
tell stories. You know, that's where I think
there's a massive, tremendous power of AI to be

(45:43):
able to take the executive's story, the message,
and repurpose it and make it more accessible,
more available to the audiences that matter.
Because not everybody's going to listen to a
podcast. Not everybody's going to watch a video.
The most important people to you might not ever
see it. Your employees may never have a chance to

(46:05):
see it or hear it or view it. You know, so being
able to take pieces of content that you have or
that you've done five years ago even, right, to
take that and make it fresh and make it new, be
able to kind of tailor it for different,
different audiences and different channels, I
think that's one of the extreme powers, benefits,

(46:27):
powers whatever, of working with gen AI. And I
think it's going to really kind of give a massive
boost to good executive storytelling. I would
even add also another thing to your fore here. I
think research is another benefit for executive

(46:48):
storytelling. And in this, in this very
particular context, you know, we. Information,
speaking from, from a position of knowledge, from
a position of having information is foundational
to any. Like any time you speak, anytime you

(47:08):
write, anytime you communicate, and the more
information you have at hand, the better story
you can tell, the better you can weave facts into
your stories. So, you know, I would always
encourage communicators and the executives who
need us to be, you know, using powers of AI to

(47:32):
really dramatically speed up your knowledge
acquisition, you know, by helping you to, to
absorb more reports, helping you to identify
trends, helping you to encapsulate what experts
are saying everywhere. There's a lot of tools out
there that can help with that. So anyway, I think

(47:53):
that this is all a massive boon to executive
storytelling, any storytelling really, but
executive storytelling. One thing you said that I
wanted to ask you about in particular, is about
formats. I love using AI for this purpose. But
let me just throw it at you here, Ananeha, where

(48:13):
we've heard a lot about telling a personal story
or weaving in different parts of authenticity and
values, et cetera. We haven't talked so much
about how you do it. And again, I think you're

(48:36):
totally right saying AI can help with this. But
storytelling does follow relative. It follows a
process. There's a beginning, there's a middle,
there's an end. In every story there's something
like this, and that's what makes it somewhat
memorable. People have closure. People know if
this happened and then this happened and, oh,

(48:57):
this is how it was resolved. But that's a very
basic, you know, kind of way of thinking about
it. We've talked about frameworks on this
podcast, like the ABT framework, which is one of
my favorites. Shout out to Park Howell and Randy
Olsen on that one. The end. But therefore,

(49:17):
framework for storytelling, it can be. Yeah,
there's, there's other ways to kind of talk about
that in different formats. What do you find to be
the effective models, frameworks, et cetera, for
storytelling that you can. That I think will
remain effective into the future with or without

(49:39):
AI. But if you have AI in your pocket, you can
make them even better. Like what are the ones
that you. What are your go tos?

Yeah, what a great question because when it comes
to frameworks, I've seen every framework under
the sun and I'll tell you what I tell my clients.
Which is the best one is the one that fits. It's
kind of like frameworks are like suits, you know.
Yeah, whatever fits, that's the one for you. But

(50:09):
having said that, I will say that there are
certain frameworks that work particularly well in
specific contexts and specific situations. So the
ABT framework I think can be excellent for
quarterly earnings calls or investor
presentations where clarity and progression are
crucial. The Hero's journey works brilliantly for

(50:32):
turnaround stories, for innovation narratives,
for transformation, for leadership transition
narratives. The Problem Agitate Solve framework
can work really well for product launches, for
strategic shifts, or for major initiative
announcements. I think really what I would

(50:52):
underscore is that the key is matching the
framework to both the message and also to the
messengers or messengers natural style.

Dan Nestle (51:03):
I am 100% in agreement. I love starting with. You
can mix and match them and I love starting with
an ABT a lot just to get my thoughts on paper.
And I think that's the shorter ABT Problem
Agitate Solve. These are really great for, as you

(51:26):
said, for earnings reports, things like this. But
I think it's also great for a compelling copy for
the top of an offer or a webpage or something
like this on the marketing side for sure. But I
love plugging these things into AI and asking
them to rewrite stories in these various

(51:48):
frameworks and figuring out which ones fit best
or which ones feel best for me and then I take
them and rewrite them. But I think you're right,
it's a very. The one that fits is the one that
you should use. I totally agree. In fact,
recently I was exposed to and I should have known

(52:08):
this one a long time ago, but there's a, there's
a, there's A Japanese framework called. I think
it's called. I think that's what it's called.
Basically it's. It's a four instead of, you know,
you. Most of our western style storytelling is in
three parts, you know, beginning, middle, end,
or, you know, problem or situation, problem

(52:31):
solution or problem solution, you know, you know,
talk, problem, agitate, solve or you know, and.
But therefore, whatever. A play in three acts,
right? The Japanese style has four. It starts
with a kind of a setup and then there's a, you
know, and a build up and then there's like a
novel twist and then a kind of fourth act that

(52:58):
brings everything together. And it doesn't always
bring it together in a very pleasing or, or shall
I say resolution oriented way. It's like
sometimes it's just highly dramatic or it leaves
you hanging a little bit, but it's. That four
part does throw you for a loop sometimes. And I'm

(53:19):
trying to figure out how to work that in
sometimes to interesting storytelling activities.
But anyway, that's neither here nor there. I just
think that there's so much out there that we can
explore and play around with AI and experiment
with. But look back to the topic at hand a little
bit more with executive storytelling. We've come

(53:47):
at it from a bunch of different angles and we've
talked about AI and leadership a little bit
recently on the show. There have been a few
guests talking about the future of work, talking
about leadership and influence. And it's become
clear that there are a lot of, or become clearer
actually in a very reassuring way that there are

(54:09):
certain things that not only are probably not
going to change as AI kind of gets more and more,
you know, gets more and more prevalent, they're
going to become more important as AI becomes more
and more prevalent. Leadership skills like, you

(54:30):
know, like empathy, like listening, like, you
know, reading the room, that sort of thing. When
we kind of narrow that down to executive
storytelling, for example, like what do you think
the future of this sort of practice is? And

(54:54):
storytelling like broadly, but certainly on the
executive side, what's going to change and what
do you think isn't going to change? What do you
think we can double down on now and be safe?

I'm going to give you five of the core pieces of
skills, or let's just say if we had to say, what
is the skill set of the storyteller of the
future? What are those five things that are
essential for storytellers of future? So I'm

(55:26):
going to nail it down to, and I'll elaborate on
it in A bit, but empathy and EQ would be number
one. Second would be mastery in working with AI
tools. Three will be multimodal storytelling.
Four would be data driven creativity. Five is

(55:51):
going to be growth mindset. Let me expand on that
a little bit. Empathy and eq. This is the ability
to deeply understand and connect with human
emotions, cultural nuances across global
audiences. It's the fundamental human capacity to

(56:16):
resonate with others experiences which is just.
It remains irreplaceable. I think number two, I
talked about mastery in working with AI and that
is about AI human collaboration. I think in order
for us to be effective, for us to be successful
in how we harness AI, we have to understand what

(56:37):
are AI superpowers and what are human superpowers
and what is that magic, if you will, that exists
in the middle and how are we going to unlock it.
And I think we have to be super aware of that. We
also have to get better and better at
understanding AI capabilities, Understanding AI

(56:59):
capabilities specifically as they pertain to our
function and broadly at a business level. I think
that what I'm referring to here is also it's
knowing when to use AI and when to rely on human
intuition or what humans are best at. The number

(57:20):
three skill set of the storyteller of the future
is about multimodal storytelling. And this is
about the ability to craft cohesive narratives
across media formats. And it's going to keep
evolving. But you know, text, audio, visual, ar,

(57:41):
VR, what have you understanding how each
medium's, how each medium is unique and what
their unique capabilities are. How can they serve
audiences in ways that connect better, that
resonate better, that advance the story's
purpose? I think that's going to be crucial.

Dan Nestle (58:01):
Yeah. Before you go on, before you go on, that
actually reminds me because something that I've
been doing lately, I think that multimodal point
shouldn't be underestimated. And it's a great
point to bring up because as a communicator or as
anybody who's telling a story now because of AI,

(58:22):
you now have the tools to turn a written story
into an audio file, into a video, but certainly
add images and add more, more types of media or
even tell the story in images. So there's. As a

(58:43):
communicator, this is all in your hands. You
don't have to be a designer, you don't have to be
an audio technician or you don't have to have
these other skills. It's all kind of at your
fingertips, of course, how well it sounds and how
good it gets done. Is a different story. But, but
yeah, I totally agree that it's very important, I

(59:04):
think, to take multimodality as a necessary kind
of part of the brief. Okay, I'm going to tell
this story. How should I tell it as an audio, Can
I tell an audio format? Can I tell it? Can I use
images? Can I do these things? And something to
keep in mind as you go. Very sorry to interrupt.

(59:26):
I just thought that was a pretty, pretty.

Not at all. And I think, you know what, I'll.
Well, I'll. What I'd like to sort of add to the
mix of themes that are emerging is that the goal
isn't just to become AI first. It's. It's to
become intelligence amplified. And the most
successful communications teams will be the ones

(59:49):
that have a, you know, careful balance between
tech capability and human insight. And they won't
just be great storytellers, they'll be AI fluent
strategists who can leverage technology while
maintaining an authentic human connection. And I
think that that sort of is something that's

(01:00:09):
underpinning a lot of what I'm saying. So it's
across a lot of these skills that are going to be
key for the storyteller of the future. And then
the next point is around data driven creativity.
And it's again similar, right? Which is combine
creative instincts with data literacy to

(01:00:30):
understand audience engagement, optimize impact,
identify emerging narrative patterns without
losing the soul of the story. Right? I think
that's where we come in. We have incredible
capabilities at our fingertips. Now it's just how
are we harnessing it and how are we blending

(01:00:52):
human superpowers into it? And then the final
skill is around growth mindset. It's the capacity
to keep evolving with, with new technologies. I
mean, AI is advancing at an exponential pace. You
know, everything we know is being tested because

(01:01:14):
there's new things that are emerging, new tools
and new strategies. And so the mindset to
continue to evolve with it, I think is going to
be key, to be curious, to be critical thinkers,
to have that capacity, cultivate that capacity to

(01:01:36):
learn new tech, new platforms, while at the same
time ensuring that our stories align with our
company's objectives or our executives objectives
or stakeholders objectives. And whether it's
business, cultural, social impact goals, whatever
you have. So I think those are five, I'll just

(01:01:58):
quickly recount it's empathy and eq, it's
mastering working with AI. It's multimodal
storytelling, data driven creativity and growth
mindset. Those are the five essential skills of
the storyteller of the future.

Dan Nestle (01:02:17):
I can't argue with any of it. I think it's all
absolutely critically important. There's a
foundational skill you got to have first. I think
it's called writing. I think you have to be able
to write, assuming you know how to write. That
said, even then, though, you don't have to be a
fantastic writer necessarily to be a fantastic

(01:02:40):
storyteller. Storytelling is, again, as you've
been talking about during our conversation here,
and certainly as we've, I hope, come to
understand, it's. It's about making those
connections and building trust. And overall, it's
that authenticity that invites belief,

(01:03:04):
participation, trust, reputation, whatever it
invites. It invites you to be part of the story.
There's a talent to that, but it's also
learnable. And it's also something that can be,
you know, that the word, where the words and
where those images and everything that we use to

(01:03:25):
tell the story, you know, kind of enforce that or
enhance that or kind of get that out in the
front. So, you know, putting it all together and
you're creating something that's inviting and
hopefully the executive that we are telling

(01:03:45):
stories on behalf of or that is telling stories,
him or herself, you know, building up their
personal brand, which we didn't really get to
because I really. I really wanted to. But get
building up that personal brand, which does
accrue almost 100% to the corporate brand. They

(01:04:07):
also, I think, should not be comfortable
outsourcing their storytelling 100% to anybody
else. They have to have skin in the game. They
have to be involved with this storytelling
because it has to be them. It has to be
authentic. And to your earlier point about

(01:04:31):
deepfakes and trust, that's fundamental to trust
in system, is for the actual person to be
involved in what's going on. So these skills that
you've mentioned, empathy, mastery of tools,
multimodal storytelling, et cetera, without a

(01:04:51):
doubt, the executives themselves really have to
be part of that process. They certainly need to
know. They certainly have to be empathic and have
a high EQ and the growth mindset that sandwich
the more tactical points of AI tool storytelling

(01:05:14):
and being data driven. But it is just. I think
it's such an evolving landscape. But if you have
these five things in your pocket, I think you'll
be. Sounds to me like you'll be fine or I think
you'll be fine. I agree with you on all of that.
I can't believe we've been speaking for so long.
Let's. Let's kind of wind this down and just Give

(01:05:37):
you the last word here, Anuneha, about. I mean,
first of all, I'll give you two choices. First of
all, is there anything that we didn't talk about
that you wanted to have a couple of words, you
know, you want to inform the audiences of or, you
know, drop some wisdom or, and, or maybe it's the
same thing. You know, is there something that
you're concerned about or optimistic about when

(01:05:58):
it comes to the future that you want to share
with us today as a.

Anuneha Mewawalla (01:06:02):
Trending communicator, AI is going to turbocharge
our field. It's going to reimagine communications
as we know it, just as it is already reimagining
business and society. And so I would just implore
all my friends and colleagues in the field to not

(01:06:26):
lose a minute and really capitalizing on its
value, on educating yourselves and your teams on
the capabilities, the use cases. Open your minds
up to the fact that there could be so many more
ways that we could be leveraging this to make our

(01:06:47):
lives better, produce more, be more creative, but
really transform the communications function to
an intelligent, highly strategic, highly
proactive function. So I think that's what I
would leave everyone with is just, you know, to

(01:07:08):
encourage you and urge you to build an AI mindset
and, you know, take the opportunity, every
opportunity you can, to bring AI into the mix and
to think about how it can uplift and elevate what
you do in work and in life.

I don't think I could have said it any better
than that and certainly won't try. I think
everyone out there now understands after
listening to you for a little while, why I am so
thrilled to be. To have the privilege to be
working with you on a few projects. I mean, how
exciting is it? Look everybody out there. I get

(01:07:52):
to talk to Anaha all the time, so I'm always
benefiting from the wisdom and certainly the
perspective. And boy, your approach is so. It's
so calm, straightforward, eloquent, but well

(01:08:12):
informed. And I think that everybody out there
today. I love the takeaways we're going to have
from this episode and I can't wait to publish it.
Anybody out there wants to know more about
Anuneha, check out her LinkedIn profile. I think
there's only one person with the entirety of

(01:08:32):
Anuneha, Me Wala in LinkedIn and her name will be
spelled properly in the episode notes and on the
show graphic. Look. Look her up on LinkedIn.
Check out her company, which is
lexadoconsulting.com that's L E x 80
consulting.com you can find her there. You know,

(01:08:52):
search for her on the web. You'll find some
articles she's written, some good stuff that that
gives you some good insights into her thought
leadership in AI especially. And I can't think of
anybody else who I'd rather have working with me
on things like executive storytelling and

(01:09:14):
communications than Ananeha. So Ananeha, thank
you so much for being on the show.

Anuneha Mewawalla (01:09:20):
Such a pleasure. Dan, thank you so much again for
having me. It is always delightful and super fun
to chat with you on the future of communications.

You got it. Thanks for taking the time to listen
in on today's conversation. If you enjoyed it,
please be sure to subscribe through the podcast
player of your choice. Share with your friends
and colleagues and leave me a review. Five stars

(01:09:51):
would be preferred, but it's up to you. Do you
have ideas for future guests or you want to be on
the show? Let me know@danerendingcommunicator.com
thanks again for listening to the trending
Communicator.

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Down with Fluff: Executive Storytelling in the AI Era - with Anuneha Mewawalla

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Down with Fluff: Executive Storytelling in the AI Era - with Anuneha Mewawalla