Whether you’re a journalist, a fiction writer, a biographer, a marketer or a corporate PR pro, the art of telling a good story will invariably lie at the heart of what you do. Attracting the attention of your audience and then holding them captive is an invaluable skill. Stories that inspire, inform, entertain and move are undoubtedly the best way to engage with people and make an impression.
Human rights, human wrongs: Who cares?
I recently returned from a trip to Geneva, the human rights headquarters of the world, you might say. Only what struck me from the people I met, the stories I heard and the places I visited was not the undeniable force of activism and political will that characterises the city, but the sad sense that for the people it represents, the human rights movement is losing its grip.
World Humanitarian Day: Changing the world one conversation at a time
Is there one word that sums up what the world needs more of? That’s the question posed by the UN for this year’s World Humanitarian Day, when it pledges to “turn those words into currency”. Change, peace, hope and teamwork (the latter as favoured by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon) spring instinctively to mind. Along with justice and equality, they are among the trending suggestions in the run up to 19 August. But just how realistic is it to think that words have the power to accelerate global change to the extent that is needed?
Failure: The great unexpected result
Memories and the value of narrative truth
Memories are the defining feature of human identity. They underlie the decisions that help determine our future, they colour our reflections on the past, and they characterise our life stories. But our headspace is notoriously fluid, susceptible to damage, change and loss. The stories that we weave together from what we can recall, while an inimitable gateway into our personalities, are not entirely true.