Do a Google search on the words CFO and storytelling, and you’ll find many articles that will supposedly enhance this communication skill. Yet, most of these articles merely scratch the surface on how to tell better stories in the appropriate context. My suggestion is to learn from an expert on analogies, a former presidential speechwriter and the author of Shortcut: How Analogies Reveal Connections, Spark Innovation, and Sell Our Greatest Ideas.
Who is John Pollack?
I first learned about John through a YouTube search on the term analogies, and that’s when I uncovered this TEDx presentation.
According to John’s bio page on his website, he’s a former presidential speechwriter for Bill Clinton. He has spent more than fifteen years as a consultant for Fortune 500 companies, nonprofits, public sector leaders, and major philanthropists.
John is the author of several books including Shortcut which is the subject of this conversation.
Interview Highlights
- On doing a TEDx presentation
- The cool work of writing speeches for the president
- The realism of Toby Ziegler
- Best definition of an analogy
- The difference between analogy and stories
- Can anyone master the art of analogies?
- My Sistine Chapel
- Adams v. New Jersey and the use of analogies in the legal system
- A bicycle for the mind
- Too many sports analogies and the one with unintended consequences, Three Strikes and You Are Out
- The 5-step framework for analogies
In sum, the art of analogy is the art of cultivating and communicating ideas—revealing fresh connections and relationships between things that are not only useful and make intuitive sense, but also bear up under honest scrutiny. Because while all analogies obscure complexity and some reveal simplicity, only the very best approach truth.
John Pollack – Shortcut
Books Mentioned by John Pollack
- Paddle-to-the-Sea
- Anti-Intellectualism in American Life
- The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York
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