“The Narrative Age” is a new book that came out in April written by our friend and Staffbase co-founder Frank Wolf. It provides compelling insights into how successful narratives go beyond storytelling to create messages that inspire change and support success
In a world where story and narrative are often used interchangeably, understanding their distinction holds the key to giving organizations a significant edge in building compelling, authentic connections with their stakeholders. “The Narrative Age" explores how the world's most successful organizations and movements, from SpaceX to DeBeers to the Barbie movie, have harnessed the power of narratives to inspire their audiences.
The Narrative Age makes you think differently about the way you perceive the role of communications in shaping organisational vision and direction. It offers a roadmap to navigate the complexities of modern communication and stakeholder engagement with confidence and clarity.
In a recent members’ call Frank joined us for an informal book launch. He shared a few slides (download as PDF) and we talked about the book. The conversation, as per tradition, started with ‘why’ - what was it that triggered our dear friend Frank to write 200+ pages on narratives?
Read moreGerman software vendor Staffbase is eying the broader market for corporate communication and indeed many talks and themes on the agenda at their VOICES 2024 conference in Berlin went far beyond the usual intranet topics.
Known for changing the game with their employee app approach, Staffbase has made it to the top of the charts for delivering modern intranets in a packaged solution. Or to be blunt: An alternative to the SharePoint intranets that tend to come up short and which historically has been loved by few.
We’ve followed them since the early days a decade ago, when they were called eyo and mostly delivered features like forms, calendars, and menu plans. Still back then they did more than just ship features, but looked broadly at the pain points of internal communication.
With ‘Inspiration’ as the key theme at VOICES 2024 coupled with some major product announcements, you don't need to be a seasoned industry analyst to see that they are going after a bigger market. Also, similar to the movement we are seeing from other software companies, winning the hearts and minds of the agencies is key and Staffbase also used their conference to share a new partner program. This also resonates with customers increasingly turning to their trusted agencies to make vendor decisions.
Based on conversations and the presentations I watched in Berlin, I'll share my perspective on the conference, key takeaways from some of the major customers who shared their experiences and finally how the Staffbase narrative is changing and what it means for you.
Read moreAI is coming hard and fast at all of us, but assessing AI capabilities has so many dimensions.
Why should communications teams be championing AI in their organizations? Precisely because of that middle L in LLM. The deep knowledge of genres, rhetoric, metaphor, and other functions of language that determine the success of communication is key to assessing the potential and limits of AI.
It is our professional responsibility to discover, share, and discuss ethical problems and universal or local benefits within our field of knowledge. but we also have a responsibility to go beyond our professional perspective in this learning process. What can seem a blessing in communications may be a curse in public management and vice versa. In this phase, we really need cross-disciplinary insights.
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