Author and global speaker on communication, creativity and collaboration, Neil Mullarkey, says the good news is, everyone can tell a story: colleagues, clients, customers... you just have to seek them out.

Who’d be a leader now?

It’s no good just being good at your own job, you’ve got to be a coach as well, an enabler, yada-yada … and now a storyteller! When did storytelling become a thing?

There are lot of myths about storytelling. Some people think it just means being better at presentation skills. Others whisper deeply about ‘sense-making’. ‘Narrative’ is bandied about in data and tech circles. Or does it just mean, ‘marshal your thoughts better’?

I teach storytelling.

One time I talked through the twelve stages of the hero’s journey. Well, it was for a business school. I droned on about archetypes - the mentor, the shapeshifter - and, oh dear. The story that lots of organisations want to tell is, ‘we want to sell more widgets’ or ‘our thingamajig is the best’ or ‘our whatjamacall will make you happy’.

I...