Great post by Iain Verigin to highlight the role of iteration and value of design thinking in product development.  Iain’s blog is always a good read – check it out!

Comparing Steve Jobs with Lean Startup & Customer Development « Iains Chips & Tech.

via Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling

.Digital Storytelling is the practice of using computer-based tools to tell stories. As with traditional storytelling, most digital stories focus on a specific topic and contain a particular point of view. However, as the name implies, digital stories usually contain some mixture of computer-based images, text, recorded audio narration, video clips and/or music. Digital stories can vary in length, but most of the stories used in education typically last between two and ten minutes. And the topics that are used in Digital Storytelling range from personal tales to the recounting of historical events, from exploring life in one’s own community to the search for life in other corners of the universe, and literally, everything in between. A great way to begin learning about Digital Storytelling is by watching the following video introduction to Digital Storytelling.

Great short piece on story and leadership from Harvard.

A good leadership story has the power to engage hearts and minds. It has these six crucial elements:

1. Draws on your real past and lessons you’ve learned from it.
2. Resonates emotionally with your audience because it’s relevant to them.
3. Inspires your audience because it’s fueled by your passion.
4. Shows the struggle between your goal and the obstacles you faced in pursuing it.
5. Illustrates with a vivid example.
6. Teaches an important lesson.

How a 2-Minute Story Helps You Lead – Stew Friedman – HarvardBusiness.org.

SIX TIPS FOR GIVING A GREAT ELEVATOR PITCH

An elevator pitch is a mixture of an explanation and a sales pitch. It’s intended to get people excited about your organization, your new product, or even you personally (in an interview situation). Here’s how to give a good one:

1. Think short – no shorter than 30 seconds and no longer than 3 minutes. Time it.

2. If your topic is complex, use the “anchor & twist” format to orient your audience.

3. Don’t wing it, script it. Once you’ve figured out how to explain something well, there is NO value in novelty. Tell it the same (effective) way every time.

4. ‘Why’ comes before ‘What.’ People will understand better what you’re doing if they first know why you’re doing it. Here’s an example: “Most people invest some of their savings and give some of it away to charity. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could do both at once — get interest AND impact? That’s why we invented “the Calvert Community Investment Notes.”

5. Mandatory: Include a story. For a product pitch, tell a customer’s story. For a nonprofit pitch, talk about the people you help. For self-promotion, highlight a time when you nailed it.

6. Check out other pitches for inspiration. Here’s one that we worked on for Peter Singer’s great book, The Life You Can Save. And here’s a great article about elevator pitches, starring Dave Yewman and Andy Craig, the masters of the craft.

via http://heathbrothers.com