The Art of Storytelling, with Mitch Ditkoff

The art and power of storytelling are the topic of discussion on this week’s episode of “The Innovation Engine” podcast. We talk about the parallels between being able to tell a story successfully and being able to innovate successfully, why it’s important in the corporate world for you to be able to tell a compelling story, why humor is an effective tool for connecting with audiences of all shapes and sizes, and how to get started crafting your own personal narrative.

Mitch Ditkoff joins us to talk about these topics and more. Mitch is the co-founder and president of Idea Champions, an innovation consulting and training company that specializes in creativity, innovation, team building, and leadership. For the last 2 years, he has been named one of the top 5 speakers on innovation by one of the leading speaker’s bureaus in the US. In 2010 and 2011, Mitch was voted the #1 innovation blogger in the world. He has worked with companies including GE, Merck, AT&T, NBC Universal, Coca Cola, and many more to improve their innovation capacity. Mitch blogs frequently at the Heart of Innovation blog as well as posts frequently on the Huffington Post. He has been an adjunct faculty member at leadership development programs at schools like Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, GE’s Crotonville Management Center, and the University of New Mexico’s Anderson School of Management.

Among the highlights of this week’s episode:

• Mitch talks about the need to get past the fear of speaking in public in order to tell stories like a pro
• We touch on some of the elements that tie storytelling and innovation together, namely that they are both a new means to reach an end
• We cover how to get started in figuring out what stories to tell, including bucketing stories based on themes and how “moments of truth” can be cornerstones around which to build a story
• Why there is a silver lining to Mitch and his mother-in-law, whose native tongue is French, not being able to speak to another in the same language

Interested in hearing more? Tune in to the full episode of “The Innovation Engine” podcast  below.

https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/44-the-art-of-storytelling-with-mitch-ditkoff/id814135639?i=1000327767737

Since 2014, 3Pillar has published The Innovation Engine, a podcast that sees a wide range of innovation experts come on to discuss topics that include technology, leadership, and company culture. You can download and subscribe to The Innovation Engine on Apple Podcasts. You can also tune in via the podcast’s home on Spotify to listen online, via Android or iOS, or on any device supporting a mobile browser.