A simple technique for having tough conversations at work

StoryBrand With Donald Miller June 6, 2019

• Find a story from your past where you made the same mistake
• Shared experience kills the judgment mindset before it starts
• Reframing failure as lesson stops the post-firing shame spiral

The four pillars of high performance organisations

StoryBrand With Donald Miller June 5, 2019

• Only four practices separate high performance organisations from the rest.
• 70% disengagement explains why consistent execution is so rare.
• Execution is the dismount — leadership, alignment, and engagement are the routine.

Using "you" and "your" to make marketing customer-focused

StoryBrand With Donald Miller June 5, 2019

• Shift marketing language from brand to customer with one word
• "Your favourite plumber" outperforms "we're the greatest" every time
• Overuse backfires — treat "you/your" as seasoning, not wallpaper

Not gossiping is the single most underrated trust-building habit

StoryBrand With Donald Miller June 5, 2019

• Gossip doesn't make enemies — it quietly kills your career advancement.
• Leaders distance themselves from gossips without ever saying why.
• Three employees who tripled their salary shared one trait: no gossip.

The fastest way to turn a struggling company around

StoryBrand With Donald Miller June 3, 2019

• Struggling companies stop selling — that's the core problem.
• Weekly product emails to your customer list restart cash flow.
• Strategy can wait; soldiers in the trenches come first.

Why customers don't buy: the clarity problem

StoryBrand With Donald Miller June 3, 2019

• Buyers won't do the math — you have to do it for them
• Confusion always produces a no, not a maybe
• Rejected prospects can flip to yes when you name their specific upside

Hire entry-level people who can run the department within two years

StoryBrand With Donald Miller June 3, 2019

• Entry-level hires should pass a 24-month leadership potential test
• Fast growth creates internal vacancies — unprepared assistants leave gaps
• Hiring from within beats external hires on cost and customer continuity

How to keep momentum going after a win

StoryBrand With Donald Miller May 23, 2019

• A win stops momentum faster than a loss.
• Celebrating without a next goal signals the story is over.
• Follow every win immediately by defining the next one.

How to attract people to your brand using story loops

StoryBrand With Donald Miller May 22, 2019

• Open a question in people's minds — they stay until it's answered.
• Your question must agitate a pain only your product resolves.
• Ask: what story loop can I open that my product closes?

A three-part speech formula borrowed from Aristotle

StoryBrand With Donald Miller May 21, 2019

• Intent, obstacle, plan: the only structure a speech needs
• Aristotle's drama rules still govern every great public speaker
• Script your opening five minutes — that's when nerves peak

Three steps to turn failure into professional growth

StoryBrand With Donald Miller May 20, 2019

• Failure builds strength only when you honestly acknowledge it.
• Three-step framework: acknowledge, extract a lesson, then adjust behaviour.
• Writing your mistake and fix to a boss earns respect, not firing.

How to Sell an Idea to Your Team

StoryBrand With Donald Miller May 17, 2019

Marketing vs branding: why most companies get the balance wrong

StoryBrand With Donald Miller May 16, 2019

• Branding is a luxury — only worth pursuing above $250k revenue.
• Marketing means telling people what to buy and why; branding is feeling.
• Spend 80% on marketing, 20% on branding — or you'll go under.

How to turn your brand into a movement by defining a villain

StoryBrand With Donald Miller May 15, 2019

• People unify around a shared enemy faster than a shared product.
• Name your villain with one sentence: 'What X does to our customers isn't right.'
• The villain is the root cause of customer problems, not the symptom.

Starting a business with a friend: how to do it right

StoryBrand With Donald Miller May 14, 2019

• Long friendships reveal character flaws before you're locked in together
• Vaguer agreements — not the friendship — destroy co-founder relationships
• Benchmark equity splits against real investors to remove personal bias