In my day job, I help leadership teams get aligned around the clear narrative, and I help them tell  that story in succinct and simple language so other people can understand it. I'm a huge believer  in the power of stories. In fact, I actually studied in theater here in Technology Incubation Center of  National Institute of Technology and I'm a  songwriter precisely because I'm fascinated by how stories move people, and when you think  about it, that's really the point of storytelling in business. To help people understand and then  move them to action. Okay, let's get started. Ernest just walked you through how to get inside the  mind of your stakeholders, which is really important. Once you know who they are and what  they're thinking about, it becomes time to develop the right story that's going to resonate with  them. To do this you'll need a structure of that story, and fortunately this is actually pretty  simple. If you think of all the millions of stories that have been told throughout the ages, they all  tend to follow a pretty consistent structures. There are characters, there's some kind of setup or  conflict, there's a sequence of events which we call the Plot, and then there's some kind of  resolution at the end. Sounds pretty obvious, right? In fact, we probably use this structure all the  time in conversations without even thinking about it, but here's the interesting thing, this  structure also shapes how we listen. See, when we tell a story, people start to listen differently,  their brain instinctively begin to look for these different elements and wants to put them together  in a structure. A good story teller knows that. And, they make it easy by putting the pieces  together for you. So, you can just focus on the meaning of the story, and that's when stories  become most powerful and most memorable. That's why the structure matters. Okay, enough  theory. Let's look at story structure. When I'm preparing a narrative, whether it's for a client. Or a  call or presentation, maybe it's for a paper, I like to use what we call a Narrative Map. This is  really nothing more than a visual outline, it's a kind of mind map, to show you how it works, I'm  going to use a narrative to explain a new product idea that I actually stole from someone I work  with. So here it is. Have you ever noticed that when you use a white board A lot of the markers  are out of ink. I get burned by this pretty much every time I facilitate a session, but why does it  happen? See, when most people use a marker and it doesn't work instead of throwing it out, they  put the lid back on it and they put it back in the tray. It's like they have this moment of  compassion, they're like it's okay, maybe tomorrow will be better. So here's my business idea.  Create a new kind of dry erase marker that will always have ink in it when you pick it up. It  works like this, there's a sensor inside that knows when the marker's really empty and that sensor  triggers an indicator on the marker to show a funny message like I'm toast, throw me away.  Finally, the marker comes with a canister that mounts right next to the whiteboard, so you can  just throw it in there and recycle it without having to look around the room for a garbage can.  This is good for people like me because I know the marker has ink in it when I pick it up, and it's  good for the manufacturer of the marker because inventory will turn faster. Okay, so that's the  narrative, so here's how we would map that out. At the center of that map is our headline, this  answers the question, what is the story about? In this case, the story is about a New Kind of Dry  Erase Marker. At the top of the map is the background or challenge statement, so here we would  too many markers that don't work. Moving clockwise, our next message the opportunity  message. For every challenge there's gotta be an opportunity otherwise we're just complaining.  Our opportunity here is a marker that will always work. Now quick comment on the challenge in  the opportunity messages before we move on They're super important because they answer the  critical question why. Answering the question why creates context for the person who's listening

and they need that to understand what you're saying. Hands down the biggest mistake I see  people make when they're communicating is skipping the question why. Don't skip it. Okay,  moving on a long bottom of the map you have your messages.

A mindmap, which is also sometimes called the cognitive web or brain map, is a diagram used  for visually outlining information using nodes and levels to generate ideas based off of a  keyword or key idea. Here we've got the Post-Its from the attribute listing video as an example to  explain mindmapping as a creative tool. Creating a mindmap can be a good way to do the  attribute listing exercise. In this case, Post-It notes are the core idea being the product we're  looking to alter. And so that becomes the central idea, with the second level of nodes being the  traits to be altered. From here, you can list which traits can be changed and organize each  subcategory easily. So again, different ways you can change the shape or material of a Post-It to  give it a new use. You can also go on to make associations to other ideas and make connections  you might not have thought of. In this case, creating a Post-It out of a different material, like  fabric, would allow you to make visual associations to a new use of the product. Also, thinking  about different ways traits can be changed. For example, oversized Post-Its made from fabric  could have a use in apparel. While some ideas may be odd, or may not seem to be practical. The  idea is that you're free to jot down whatever comes to mind, even if it doesn't make any sense at  the time. Another useful thing with mind maps is that they are a good way to organize  information with graphic elements, such as color, shape, or size for emphasis. Or to make  connections between the subcategories later on. So here with another more abstract example,  take the word creativity. Trying to define an abstract concept can sometimes be difficult, but it  helps to take advantage of the visual format of mindmaps. When you want to connect one idea to  another in a different category on the other side of the web, you can user a certain element like  color or shape to make that connection. This is a good method to lay out all of your ideas and  associations with a topic in a visual manner. So, you're free to make connections you may not  have thought of before. Essentially, mindmaps are a way of creating visual analogies between  abstract concepts. And to help trigger new ideas much in the way, the simple act of doodling or  drawing allows your mind to think more clearly and creatively. So, at their core, mindmaps  utilize existing knowledge. And allow you to make connections by free association or laying out  ideas in a non-linear structure. Information is visually categorized and structured to create some  type of hierarchy. But you have more freedom to find connections to other ideas as your map  grows. Creating mindmaps also helps with mnemonic memorization and can be a useful study  tool. For this class, it's helpful to create a mindmap for your weekly DSDs and other projects to  quickly come up with creative ideas. And to visualize what follows into the realm of creative  different and fits your social aspect of the project. They are a convenient way for anyone, though  visual thinkers in particular, to jot down notes or generate ideas as quickly and with freedom  from self-censoring of ideas. In addition, free mind mapping software exists, that helps with the  visual and spatial organization of information. And you'll find the link to that in the course  materials. Mind mapping is one of the most powerful tools in the design thinker's toolbox. It's  used to look for patterns, it's used to look for insights, that lead to more creative solutions to your  design challenge. In the first phase of design thinking process, we take a look at the current  reality. At what is. In doing so, we amass a huge amount of data. Before moving to the next

phase, what if, we need to distill all that data into information and insights that can be easily  communicated. This is just what mind mapping does well.

