Peter Gruber is a filmmaker, and needs to understand how stories touch audiences -- why one story becomes box office boffo while another fails to connect. He's also an entrepreneur and businessman, who has learned that storytelling helps lead to success in every aspect of the enterprise. In Harvard Business Review, he presents four truths found in storytelling:

• Truth To The Teller: We think of storytelling as spinning yarns, but a storyteller must be authentic. He must know his deepest values and reveal them in the story with honesty and candour. Being true to yourself involves everything from how you dress, stand and greet other people as you tell your story to showing and sharing emotion.



• Truth To The Audience: The listeners' expectations, once aroused, must be fulfilled. "Listeners give the storyteller their time, with the understanding that he will spend it wisely for them. For most businesspeople, time is the scarcest resource, so the storyteller who doesn't respect that will pay dearly," he warns.



• Truth To The Moment: A great storyteller never tells a story in the same way twice. He responds to what is demanded at that time.



• Truth To The Mission: A great storyteller is devoted to a cause beyond self. That mission is embodied in his story, which expresses values he wants others to share. "This explains the passion that great storytellers exude. They infuse their stories with meaning because they really believe in the mission," he notes.

Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson publishers, believes the ideal candidate for a job is humble, honest, hungry, and smart. Here are interview questions he offers on his Where I Sit blog to help you probe those areas:

• Humble: How do you feel about this opportunity? What work experiences prepare you to be successful in the position? What are your three greatest strengths? What is your biggest weakness? You've obviously accomplished a great deal; to what do you attribute that success?



• Honest: Do you think that telling a white lie is ever justified "for the greater good"? If things go wrong with a project, what obligation if any do you feel to share with your boss? If someone else has wronged you in any way, how do you deal with the situation?



• Hungry: Are you satisfied with what you have accomplished? Where do you see yourself in three years? What are your biggest goals? Would you consider yourself a reader? What kinds of things do you like to read? How do you make sure that you follow up on assignments -- do you have a system? How do you prepare for meetings?



• Smart: How well did you do in school? If you had to do it over again, how would you have done it differently? What do you wish they had taught you in school that they didn't? What's your general approach to problem solving?

Your business card may be small, but it's a big part of your image and brand. On Entrepreneur.com, consultant John Williams warns against these blunders:

• Choosing low-quality paper stock, which may save money but leaves you with a card that feels cheap.



• Using a design template that does not match the logo. Often entrepreneurs choose over-designed templates that distract from their logo or add an unrelated photo.



• Putting too much colour on the card, which is like screaming when you want someone's attention. Tie your business to one or two specific colours.



• Making the card too unique, but because it's oversized the card doesn't fit into the recipient's wallet or filing system easily.



• Making the logo gigantic. In general, the bigger the company the smaller the logo appears on business cards.

Personal success writer Brad Isaac says there's one word that can determine whether you will succeed or fail at any goal you aim for. That word is: Until.

"Think about it for a moment. What great things could you do if you persisted until? A setback comes along and instead of quitting you remember your plan to work until you were successful?" he writes in his Achieve-IT blog.

Pledging to do something until you reach a certain outcome solidifies your effort. It reinforces your persistence and convinces others of your dedication. It dissolves excuses.

• Successful people need a "not to do list" -- things they won't do any more in order to be more effective.
  (Source: Engage Selling newsletter)



• The signs in hotels urging people to re-use their towels in order to help the environment only received modest support but when social psychologist Robert Cialdini tested a sign saying "the majority of the guests who have stayed in this room recycled their linens" take-up increased significantly. The reason is social proof: Using the many to influence the few. He suggests using it in marketing, and in office change efforts by enlisting supporters to persuade the wary.
  (Source: Knowledge @ WPCarey)



• Anne Mulcahy, the CEO who led a turnaround at Xerox to avoid a potential bankruptcy, urges you to keep in mind one of her key strategies: Even in the worst of times, invest in the best of times. Even as she drastically cut costs, she maintained R&D spending on her core business.
  (Source: Executive Excellence)



• If you are creating wide documents in Microsoft Word, such as those you will print in landscape mode, then you may find yourself scrolling left and right within your document window all the time. To avoid that, choose Zoom from the View menu; select the Page Width button; and click on OK. Word will reduce (or increase) the magnification so that the entire width of your document will fit on the screen at once.
  (Source: Allen Wyatt's WordTips)



• Instead of asking customers if they are satisfied with your product, ask them if they are purchasing more from you this year -- and why, or why not?
  (Source: Coachville.com)

Most organizations are looking for new ideas but are put off by the unrealistic results produced by typical "brainstorming" sessions and outside-the-box thinking. At the other extreme, many planning approaches seem to do no more than tweak the same old strategies and focus on the past rather than a new future. So how to find great, fresh ideas that work and will catapult you forward?

We have found that a team will come up with better ideas when working in small groups. In fact, we like to see participants brainstorm quietly on their own first, then share ideas in small groups (ideally, with four or five participants in a group). This ensures a wider range of ideas and more engaged discussion by all participants. In larger groups, many members don't participate and only a few ideas -- or their promoters -- tend to dominate the process.

A second key to success involves posing carefully designed questions that create new boxes, not old boxes or no boxes, for people to think within. This approach gives focus, thus avoiding wild blue-sky thinking or going blank because of a lack of structure during the first step of idea generation. Nothing stops an idea faster than a blank page.

For some great examples and tips on this technique, see Breakthrough Thinking from Inside the Box, an article by Coyne, Clifford and Dye (Harvard Business Review, December 2007). In particular, you might borrow from their list of 21 Great Questions for Developing New Products. For example:

• What is the biggest hassle of purchasing or using our product?



• Which clients use or purchase our service in the most unusual way?



• Who uses our product in ways we never expected or intended?

You may be starting to think inside a new box already!

Thanks for your input! In our last issue of the 8020Info Water Cooler, we presented a dozen trends touted by various gurus and asked whether you thought they might make a critical difference in your marketing and business strategies in 2008.

We had a modest response rate but the results were clear -- the concern for 2008 involves connecting effectively with your priority audiences. The top four issues were:

• Standing out: Navigating infinite channels of communication and standing out amid the communications clutter.



• Targetting: Today it matters more who is paying attention to your message and why, rather than sheer volume and reach.



• Authentic Stories: We make sense of the world by telling stories and, to be authentic, we have to stand for something.



• Speed: It's hard to remember how slow the world used to be -- today your entire operation has to be organized for speed.

This year we'll look forward to bringing you more tips and insights in the 8020Info Water Cooler to help you address these key issues.