Just skimming through Steve Denning’s latest eNewsletter and I clicked on a supposedly helpful link (not from Steve): “50 Writing Tools”. Hmmm – “50 Writing concepts and not an example in sight” would be a more descriptive title.
I tried another link: “Having your listeners get the point without preachiness” and Steve gave three simple examples of phrases that we can all use after a story to help people get the point subtly.
I hope I’m not breaching copyright here, but here’s one example from his article:
“Just imagine” you started an article or a presentation with three guiding principles and then gave an example of each. How much better is that than than three orphan concepts with no sibling examples?
[Note to self: good start, needs more practice to improve the subtlety!]
In the meantime, check out Steve Denning’s excellent website and articles for a master of the art of business storytelling.