When you spend time in a Laundromat, as I have done for the last two years, one thing is immediately obvious: almost everyone there smokes, most are overweight, and many are eating junk food and drinking colas. The need to use a Laundromat is generally a sign of limited financial resources; the behavioral side suggests limited health literacy.
For home re-location and professional transition reasons, I coincidentally found myself in this environment to observe both. Continue Reading →
Emotive Storytelling:
Narrative is a powerful strategy for influencing health behavior.
With the increasing interest in the use of narrative communication as a strategy for influencing health behavior, there has been an effort to develop standardized protocols for creating engaging stories and to determine the successful components of an effective story. Continue Reading →
You can train and educate until the cows come home and you won’t see any long-lasting change
Education and training are the most common solutions when we run up against a performance discrepancy—a situation where we are trying to get people to perform according to a set of standards, expectations, or rules and they are failing to do so. Continue Reading →
Soldiers Peter Nemmers, Morgan Bright and Matthew Hildebrandt from the 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division laugh while preparing to depart from Iraq at Imam Ali Base on December 17. (Mario Tama/Reuters)
The last place you would probably expect to find a standup comedian would be in an Army uniform. But there I was for the better part of a decade, trying to make one of the most dangerous chapters of my life a laughing matter. Not because I didn’t take the Army seriously, much to the contrary. I took it very seriously, which is why when the laughter stopped I was in big trouble. Continue Reading →
Hi, I’m Dr. Gerard Gibbons, on-location in the Owens Valley, one of the most magnificent landscapes in the world. A good place to demonstrate how important perspective, memories and stories can be. Continue Reading →
Hello, I’m Dr. Gerard Gibbons with emotive storytelling.com with a few comments to share against the backdrop of this majestic scenery.
Storytelling was the hot topic at the most recent SXSW interactive conference in Austin, Texas. Continue Reading →
Let me ask you a question. What do these concepts have in common?
Prevention, compliance, marketing, sales, assertive communication, setting limits, and incentives.
Look closely. The commonality may not be obvious because they are each associated with diverse areas of endeavor including medicine, business, interpersonal relationships, morale building and parenting.
Give up? Continue Reading →
We’ve all faced a scenario like this: we sit through a meeting, presentation or conference, listen to catch what we can, take lots of notes, and then think to ourselves “Good—I got it” as the situation ends.
But did we really?
Did we understand what the speaker was trying to communicate?
Let me tell you a story about what a guy named Peter Guber has learned about storytelling. Peter Guber is a successful film producer whose films have earned over 3 billion dollars and have captured 50 Academy Award nominations. He is also an owner of two major league sports franchises. So he’s got some cred. Continue Reading →
The Best Story Wins
Years ago, mealtimes in many homes meant story time – retellings of work experiences, report cards and bargains. When friends, uncles and aunts came to visit and mealtimes were longer, there was more storytelling, gossiping and laughing. (And yes, crying and arguing were part of those stories, too.) Continue Reading →
