so earlier in September when the good
folks at TEDx SNU and I got talking we
started thinking about what I can talk
to you about their suggestion was look
you can have some 200 odd young bright
students in the room folks are gonna go
out there in the next one or two years
we’re gonna transform lives build
something make a difference so we agreed
that I’m gonna dive deep into what I do
best what I’m passionate about and just
run with it and there’s a catch there
because for many of us what we do what
we’re passionate about and what we
believe in are actually very different
things
and it’s not because we choose for it to
be so but it’s because almost all of us
were molded and shaped by our
circumstances by the commitments that we
make or our temperaments or even the
crazy ideas and choices that we make
when we are young I’m living with one
right here and I’m not even sure why I’m
living with it for the rest of my life
but that’s where we were and luckily for
me what I do and what I’m passionate
about pretty much run the same track
almost everything that I do at work or
outside of it involves some form of
storytelling either the making or the
telling or the selling of stories
disclaimer not in my personal
relationships but everything outside of
it but stories why is it so important
and why do I think that I can build an
entire career out of storytelling for me
stories are an open slate of possibility
stories are like jello or water you know
they take the ship that you want them to
take and it’s incredibly powerful
because everything around us from
politics to business to perceptions to
our relationships everything gets molded
and shaped by the stories that get built
around them
to think in terms of stories I think is
fundamentally human we use stories to
make sense of ourselves to build
connections between people and brands
and products or to make sense of our
achievements and if I can do it for
brands why can I not do it for myself to
build my own brand my own public me so I
want to ask you today what is a brand
right I don’t mean like this I also
don’t mean like this confused right yeah
I know me too
so your personal story is essentially a
composite of everything that’s publicly
available about you you know the
perceptions people have about the UV
anecdotes all the gossip all those
social media posts and Instagram posts
and snapchat stories that you’re putting
out there indiscriminately all of that
together creating this representation of
you it’s how you earn your place here is
how you distinguish yourself from
everybody else but the power of a
personal story is not just in the story
itself but in the fact that a story can
change the way people perceive you with
technology now making it you know easier
to tell your story and experience those
of others and as the lines between our
physical and our digital lives as those
lines are blurring stories can make and
they can break us so today I’m going to
share with you some of my experiences
with and experiments with stories as I
went about building you know my own
personal story as my autonomous brand
now as a career woman navigating the
many corridors and choices and
connections of corporate life I deal in
stories every single day I write them I
create them and I guess I do an okay job
because I have this cool job that I
really love doing every single day and
so I thought let me try and build
something of my
oan which I can stand for which people
can know me for but what I didn’t know
was if it’s going to be you know
starting my own story my journey if it’s
going to be something as simple as a
story of me just being me now that’s the
point where I was thinking where to head
from so here are my three key takeaways
that I’ve learned over the many last
many years I’m not gonna be so bold as
to say that I’m gonna give you advice
because I know better but these are
lessons that I have learned over the
many years essentially you know from my
failings and my learnings and the reason
I chose to talk about this today is
because I want you to understand the
importance of the impact that stories
can have on your life your careers and
your trajectory so takeaway number one
now this takes me back to the time I
used to be a journalist you see as a
journalist reporting news you do just
that right you report news facts and
numbers data things as they have
happened the way that they have happened
no judgment no opinion not your personal
standpoint for sure I’m obviously
talking about the time which is three
times now 2006-2007 when news was really
about being right not so much about
being the first so all kinds of personal
opinion bias you know all kinds of
elaborate forms of storytelling would
take a backseat to factual reportage and
rightfully so so there was no place for
the personal thinking which is why as I
went about covering the news that I was
doing and you know standing in the Sun
all day and getting my sound bites and
all of that I said I want a platform
where I can talk about what I think and
what my ideas are now what I didn’t know
though was what I wanted that platform
to look like will I use visuals will I
use the written word what kind of
technical skills do I need to know to be
able to build that who can I turn to for
advice will I make it
blake not the strongest vision to be
sure but just because starting out is
hundred times better than thinking and
planning so i did some research and at
that point in time blogspot was kind of
popular so i subscribed and I started my
own blog but one of the most significant
I think influences that has that I’ve
seen on my own journey has been really
just the writing because the more I
wrote the more I understood my own
process you know it’s strange but
starting out your own story as your
brand is really a lot about knowing
yourself it’s a lot like these impulses
that I have and I’m sure many of you do
to where you think I have to travel to
really know myself so this is that
except this isn’t the spoken you know
spoken or written form and it’s a lot
less cheaper than actual travel but like
everything else what you stand for
changes over time so when I sew between
2007 when I started out my blog and 2017
today my aspirations my expectations of
people and myself what I want to stand
for all of that has undergone a dramatic
change so somewhere in the middle of
2013 I went in and unpublished my entire
blog so much so that when I met my
partner and you know in the initial
months of getting to know each other he
was really curious that I’ve run a blog
for many years and he was like send it
to me and that just wouldn’t fly because
in those seven eight years of running my
blog my entire center of gravity had
changed and I did not really have those
ideas representing me anymore so my
learning then is that it’s okay to start
without a plan it’s okay not to know
what am I going to do with this thing
just start okay so the next takeaway
number two and this one really took me
some time to get to so I kept writing
and I kept you know talking about
storytelling trying to sound like I know
what I was talking about but something
didn’t stick it was like people were not
really warming up to me or they didn’t
see me and
when the realization hit okay I’m gonna
be a little honest here and say that
it’s not so much a realization as much
as someone really pointing it out to me
in clear plain English this person who’s
been a mentor for many many years for me
and she said look stop trying so hard
the voice that you use that’s not you
people can’t relate to it and I guess
that was happening because I was trying
to sound like someone I was trying to
project myself as somebody and it was
particularly true of those speeches and
articles that I was you know where I was
talking about how to tell better stories
I don’t think else that I was doing
before that was kind of pointless some
of that was a good commentary in terms
of how to build action or theme or
character but it wasn’t me and it took
me some time to understand that while
it’s okay to be influenced and inspired
by all these different people your voice
is so completely and so wonderfully your
own and it is a journey that will never
really end because you will always be
crafting it like I am today every single
day let’s um let’s take an example right
I want you to think about what a
personal voice an authentic voice can be
for me it’s a lot like the clothing
choices that we make let’s say you’re
standing in front of your cupboard
before you’re going out to a party you
have to ask yourself and and be really
honest about one whose attention you’re
trying to grab to what is the occasion
and three what is your style if you
ignore that you’re gonna make some
really uncomfortable clothing choices
and maybe even hilarious ones but on the
other side a real and humble and a human
voice is a lot like a well tailored suit
it’s gonna make you look great it’s
gonna make you feel great and you’re
gonna be just that much closer to
cracking that deal or landing your job
or that first date so for me that is the
centerpiece of storytelling that no
matter how you craft a packager story
unless you’re willing to be yourself
everybody can tell you see people don’t
really care about how much you know
until they know how much you care and
nobody is going to care unless they’re
able to take something from you which is
real and authentic and borrow from it
which brings me to my third takeaway
co-create with the rise of Technology
the ways that you can tell stories the
opportunities are far higher and what
you can do with that technology is kind
of mind-boggling right so if you look at
co-creation of content and I will come
to that in a little bit but at one point
in time even five years back stories
were a one-way broadcast now they are a
two-way exchange because you can have
other people contributing to and
participating in your story I am so so
intrigued by the many different roles
that people can now play in your story
and the spectrum of things that you can
be in between being the teller and the
listener of stories so co-creation of
content is really like the next level or
the next stage in building your own
personal story it shows a lot of
credibility it shows maturity it also
shows a lot of confidence in your own
ascent to City right joint blogs invite
people in to you know do these LinkedIn
videos with you or when you find that
you’ve got a passion a common passion go
ahead and organize tweet chats your
brand is going to be just so much more
stronger if you let people in if you let
them take from what you have build off
of it learn from it and give it a new
life if you look at my online community
now I’ve got people like Emmy Award
winning storytellers chief marketing
officers people who call themselves
technologists and some of them who are
working with community groups all around
the world there’s even a magician on
there and much as I would as much as I
would like to do it and I don’t do it
often enough I would like to invite them
into my story and in a green
participate they’ve elevated my brand to
get there
it has taken quite a lot obviously it’s
not a linear journey for me it’s taken a
lot of persistence
it has taken effort a curbing of the ego
very very important and a keen
observation of people and technologies
and platforms you see there are lots of
examples all around us right so if
you’re looking at for example JK Rowling
her story we all know about her story
right she grew up poor she struggled for
many many years to make ends meet she
obviously struck gold with the Harry
Potter series but what she has done so
beautifully well is how she stayed in
her own story and use that narrative and
weaved it in so beautifully into the
story of her product which is the
success called Harry Potter and what she
has essentially done is she’s taken her
own story and that’s how she’s become
from being an unemployed person living
on state benefit to becoming a great
brand with a great reputation that
precedes her and a billionaire all under
a decade and you don’t have to go so far
to see these examples right look it
could make her call for example or come
not on ours right she’s this now feisty
young woman who knows what she wants who
knows what her Worth is and she’s gonna
get out there and get it coincidence
possibly not there might be a lot of
deep thinking planning timing that must
have gone in to select those things that
these people want to be seen and heard
talking about and talking for the way
that these guys are all building their
you know their personal stories and
their branch is a great example and
storytelling honestly but look before I
wrap up I want to leave you with this
one thought because every time I’ve put
the two words personal and brand
together in one sentence people have
gone to opportunistic self-serving
everything aside the story of all our
lives for all of us
is really based on direct experiences we
find our place on this planet and we
change it and change ourselves with our
story of ourselves is you walk out as
you walk into your 30s and your 40s
and I know it will happen whether or not
you want it and a lot of you cannot
really think of being in your forties at
this point in time but I want you to
take a moment to reflect on the
self-awareness that you’ve gained along
the way the value of a really personal
good valuable story a personal story is
that you value yourself and others value
you and you can take criticism not as a
tearing down but as a point of
reflection a point of view to better
your own self and that is the real
benefit of consciously investing in your
own personal story that’s why it’s worth
giving it so much thought shape and life
thank you
folks at TEDx SNU and I got talking we
started thinking about what I can talk
to you about their suggestion was look
you can have some 200 odd young bright
students in the room folks are gonna go
out there in the next one or two years
we’re gonna transform lives build
something make a difference so we agreed
that I’m gonna dive deep into what I do
best what I’m passionate about and just
run with it and there’s a catch there
because for many of us what we do what
we’re passionate about and what we
believe in are actually very different
things
and it’s not because we choose for it to
be so but it’s because almost all of us
were molded and shaped by our
circumstances by the commitments that we
make or our temperaments or even the
crazy ideas and choices that we make
when we are young I’m living with one
right here and I’m not even sure why I’m
living with it for the rest of my life
but that’s where we were and luckily for
me what I do and what I’m passionate
about pretty much run the same track
almost everything that I do at work or
outside of it involves some form of
storytelling either the making or the
telling or the selling of stories
disclaimer not in my personal
relationships but everything outside of
it but stories why is it so important
and why do I think that I can build an
entire career out of storytelling for me
stories are an open slate of possibility
stories are like jello or water you know
they take the ship that you want them to
take and it’s incredibly powerful
because everything around us from
politics to business to perceptions to
our relationships everything gets molded
and shaped by the stories that get built
around them
to think in terms of stories I think is
fundamentally human we use stories to
make sense of ourselves to build
connections between people and brands
and products or to make sense of our
achievements and if I can do it for
brands why can I not do it for myself to
build my own brand my own public me so I
want to ask you today what is a brand
right I don’t mean like this I also
don’t mean like this confused right yeah
I know me too
so your personal story is essentially a
composite of everything that’s publicly
available about you you know the
perceptions people have about the UV
anecdotes all the gossip all those
social media posts and Instagram posts
and snapchat stories that you’re putting
out there indiscriminately all of that
together creating this representation of
you it’s how you earn your place here is
how you distinguish yourself from
everybody else but the power of a
personal story is not just in the story
itself but in the fact that a story can
change the way people perceive you with
technology now making it you know easier
to tell your story and experience those
of others and as the lines between our
physical and our digital lives as those
lines are blurring stories can make and
they can break us so today I’m going to
share with you some of my experiences
with and experiments with stories as I
went about building you know my own
personal story as my autonomous brand
now as a career woman navigating the
many corridors and choices and
connections of corporate life I deal in
stories every single day I write them I
create them and I guess I do an okay job
because I have this cool job that I
really love doing every single day and
so I thought let me try and build
something of my
oan which I can stand for which people
can know me for but what I didn’t know
was if it’s going to be you know
starting my own story my journey if it’s
going to be something as simple as a
story of me just being me now that’s the
point where I was thinking where to head
from so here are my three key takeaways
that I’ve learned over the many last
many years I’m not gonna be so bold as
to say that I’m gonna give you advice
because I know better but these are
lessons that I have learned over the
many years essentially you know from my
failings and my learnings and the reason
I chose to talk about this today is
because I want you to understand the
importance of the impact that stories
can have on your life your careers and
your trajectory so takeaway number one
now this takes me back to the time I
used to be a journalist you see as a
journalist reporting news you do just
that right you report news facts and
numbers data things as they have
happened the way that they have happened
no judgment no opinion not your personal
standpoint for sure I’m obviously
talking about the time which is three
times now 2006-2007 when news was really
about being right not so much about
being the first so all kinds of personal
opinion bias you know all kinds of
elaborate forms of storytelling would
take a backseat to factual reportage and
rightfully so so there was no place for
the personal thinking which is why as I
went about covering the news that I was
doing and you know standing in the Sun
all day and getting my sound bites and
all of that I said I want a platform
where I can talk about what I think and
what my ideas are now what I didn’t know
though was what I wanted that platform
to look like will I use visuals will I
use the written word what kind of
technical skills do I need to know to be
able to build that who can I turn to for
advice will I make it
blake not the strongest vision to be
sure but just because starting out is
hundred times better than thinking and
planning so i did some research and at
that point in time blogspot was kind of
popular so i subscribed and I started my
own blog but one of the most significant
I think influences that has that I’ve
seen on my own journey has been really
just the writing because the more I
wrote the more I understood my own
process you know it’s strange but
starting out your own story as your
brand is really a lot about knowing
yourself it’s a lot like these impulses
that I have and I’m sure many of you do
to where you think I have to travel to
really know myself so this is that
except this isn’t the spoken you know
spoken or written form and it’s a lot
less cheaper than actual travel but like
everything else what you stand for
changes over time so when I sew between
2007 when I started out my blog and 2017
today my aspirations my expectations of
people and myself what I want to stand
for all of that has undergone a dramatic
change so somewhere in the middle of
2013 I went in and unpublished my entire
blog so much so that when I met my
partner and you know in the initial
months of getting to know each other he
was really curious that I’ve run a blog
for many years and he was like send it
to me and that just wouldn’t fly because
in those seven eight years of running my
blog my entire center of gravity had
changed and I did not really have those
ideas representing me anymore so my
learning then is that it’s okay to start
without a plan it’s okay not to know
what am I going to do with this thing
just start okay so the next takeaway
number two and this one really took me
some time to get to so I kept writing
and I kept you know talking about
storytelling trying to sound like I know
what I was talking about but something
didn’t stick it was like people were not
really warming up to me or they didn’t
see me and
when the realization hit okay I’m gonna
be a little honest here and say that
it’s not so much a realization as much
as someone really pointing it out to me
in clear plain English this person who’s
been a mentor for many many years for me
and she said look stop trying so hard
the voice that you use that’s not you
people can’t relate to it and I guess
that was happening because I was trying
to sound like someone I was trying to
project myself as somebody and it was
particularly true of those speeches and
articles that I was you know where I was
talking about how to tell better stories
I don’t think else that I was doing
before that was kind of pointless some
of that was a good commentary in terms
of how to build action or theme or
character but it wasn’t me and it took
me some time to understand that while
it’s okay to be influenced and inspired
by all these different people your voice
is so completely and so wonderfully your
own and it is a journey that will never
really end because you will always be
crafting it like I am today every single
day let’s um let’s take an example right
I want you to think about what a
personal voice an authentic voice can be
for me it’s a lot like the clothing
choices that we make let’s say you’re
standing in front of your cupboard
before you’re going out to a party you
have to ask yourself and and be really
honest about one whose attention you’re
trying to grab to what is the occasion
and three what is your style if you
ignore that you’re gonna make some
really uncomfortable clothing choices
and maybe even hilarious ones but on the
other side a real and humble and a human
voice is a lot like a well tailored suit
it’s gonna make you look great it’s
gonna make you feel great and you’re
gonna be just that much closer to
cracking that deal or landing your job
or that first date so for me that is the
centerpiece of storytelling that no
matter how you craft a packager story
unless you’re willing to be yourself
everybody can tell you see people don’t
really care about how much you know
until they know how much you care and
nobody is going to care unless they’re
able to take something from you which is
real and authentic and borrow from it
which brings me to my third takeaway
co-create with the rise of Technology
the ways that you can tell stories the
opportunities are far higher and what
you can do with that technology is kind
of mind-boggling right so if you look at
co-creation of content and I will come
to that in a little bit but at one point
in time even five years back stories
were a one-way broadcast now they are a
two-way exchange because you can have
other people contributing to and
participating in your story I am so so
intrigued by the many different roles
that people can now play in your story
and the spectrum of things that you can
be in between being the teller and the
listener of stories so co-creation of
content is really like the next level or
the next stage in building your own
personal story it shows a lot of
credibility it shows maturity it also
shows a lot of confidence in your own
ascent to City right joint blogs invite
people in to you know do these LinkedIn
videos with you or when you find that
you’ve got a passion a common passion go
ahead and organize tweet chats your
brand is going to be just so much more
stronger if you let people in if you let
them take from what you have build off
of it learn from it and give it a new
life if you look at my online community
now I’ve got people like Emmy Award
winning storytellers chief marketing
officers people who call themselves
technologists and some of them who are
working with community groups all around
the world there’s even a magician on
there and much as I would as much as I
would like to do it and I don’t do it
often enough I would like to invite them
into my story and in a green
participate they’ve elevated my brand to
get there
it has taken quite a lot obviously it’s
not a linear journey for me it’s taken a
lot of persistence
it has taken effort a curbing of the ego
very very important and a keen
observation of people and technologies
and platforms you see there are lots of
examples all around us right so if
you’re looking at for example JK Rowling
her story we all know about her story
right she grew up poor she struggled for
many many years to make ends meet she
obviously struck gold with the Harry
Potter series but what she has done so
beautifully well is how she stayed in
her own story and use that narrative and
weaved it in so beautifully into the
story of her product which is the
success called Harry Potter and what she
has essentially done is she’s taken her
own story and that’s how she’s become
from being an unemployed person living
on state benefit to becoming a great
brand with a great reputation that
precedes her and a billionaire all under
a decade and you don’t have to go so far
to see these examples right look it
could make her call for example or come
not on ours right she’s this now feisty
young woman who knows what she wants who
knows what her Worth is and she’s gonna
get out there and get it coincidence
possibly not there might be a lot of
deep thinking planning timing that must
have gone in to select those things that
these people want to be seen and heard
talking about and talking for the way
that these guys are all building their
you know their personal stories and
their branch is a great example and
storytelling honestly but look before I
wrap up I want to leave you with this
one thought because every time I’ve put
the two words personal and brand
together in one sentence people have
gone to opportunistic self-serving
everything aside the story of all our
lives for all of us
is really based on direct experiences we
find our place on this planet and we
change it and change ourselves with our
story of ourselves is you walk out as
you walk into your 30s and your 40s
and I know it will happen whether or not
you want it and a lot of you cannot
really think of being in your forties at
this point in time but I want you to
take a moment to reflect on the
self-awareness that you’ve gained along
the way the value of a really personal
good valuable story a personal story is
that you value yourself and others value
you and you can take criticism not as a
tearing down but as a point of
reflection a point of view to better
your own self and that is the real
benefit of consciously investing in your
own personal story that’s why it’s worth
giving it so much thought shape and life
thank you
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