I did not plan it in any ways. But as I realize it now, this week’s recommendation have a theme - storytelling. From Pixar (and Steve Jobs) to Dil Chahta Hai, I was lucky to experience some brilliant stories this week. It’s been fun experiencing them, hoping you enjoy them as much.
1.
For a lot of us, success depends on how well we are able to influence our stakeholders. Getting their buy-in on our ideas and recommendations is a big step to the actual execution.
In this short essay, the author points three key reasons we fail to get buy-ins:
Assuming everyone is thinking what you’re thinking. We assume the “right answer” must be obvious, but it almost never is.
Feeling time-crunched. We believe there isn’t enough time to get everyone fully bought in before you have to move forward.
Fear of disagreement. We’re afraid someone will dissent, so we try to sneak the plan through. Sometimes we do this subconsciously, and we aren’t even aware of this fear!
It further suggests 3 tactics to avoid these pitfalls & become better a getting buy-in: 1. Co-creation 2. Presence and 3. Storytelling
My biggest takeaway from this article? "Buy-in is the result of showing your team why your idea achieves their goals."
2.
If you’re in your late 20s and 30s, you will remember Dil Chahta Hai. It was a game-changer in many ways. It showed a totally new and cool way of how friends and friendships are. All our Goa trips got added an extra charm since then. This post in fiftytwo.in tells a lot of what happened to make this movie happen. I had goosebumps when I read this one. I saw only the final product then and honestly did not care a lot about what was behind the scene. After reading this post today, my respect & excitement for this movie goes up big time.
3.
We know Pixar for a lot of tech innovation they brought to the world of animation. Their contribution to storytelling is equally if not more important. Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Ratatouille are some of the best told tales of our time. Inside out is my favorite, I discvoer some new moment every time I watch this movie. This post from David Perrel shares key elements of thir storytelling guidelines.
Btw, follow @david_perell if you’re looking for inputs on writing. He shares some really useful inputs on twitter or in his newsletters.
4.
Some random goodness from the internet:
Twitter thread: A long thread that a father crowdsourced to tell his kids ‘interesting facts’ every night at bedtime. Really fun read for your free time.
Youtube: Steve Jobs’s metaphor for a team working together on an idea they are passionate about.
Tool: Refind (Apologies to those I had shared this already). Create an account, select your interest & voila. It will mail you a great curation of interesting & popular resources every morning. This is the easiest way to find some of the most recommended articles from the hottest newsletters & journals in one place.
That's all, folks!