Ep 56 Neal Foard: The Power of Stories to Inspire The Best of Us

I first came across Neal Foard about a year ago. I saw one of his videos on Linkedin and I was hooked. Since then, I light up every time I see the distinctive black backdrop with his smiling face inviting me in for another immersive life lesson.

Neal is a storyteller. He shares beautiful, heart-warming stories – always with a powerful takeaway. In an age where many of our political leaders and media personalities encourage us to think the worst of each other and to focus on the rage, Neal highlights the best of us. Through his stories, he inspires the best of us.

Neal’s background is in in advertising and marketing. Thirty years spent creating award-winning campaigns for global power brands like Budweiser, Sony and Nokia. For his work on Toyota, Neal ranked among the top ten most awarded creative directors in the world in 2002. As the author of an innovative talent development series, Neal was named Worldwide Director of Creative Learning for global ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi. He has consulted on creative messaging for Fortune 500 companies and universities and been a featured speaker at TEDx conferences. Most recently, Neal has gained a sudden following on social media for his inspirational videos about the kindnesses of everyday people.

Today, I am so excited to introduce you to Neal. This episode is filled with stories and insightful nuggets of gold. Ultimately the message that rises up is the immense power of stories to connect us in a disconnected world, to build trust and to inspire the best from us. 

 

Highlights:

• Stories – many of them - littered through our chat. You’re welcome!
• Neal shares a story about a car dealer friend, whose philosophy is to be prepared to lose a little money to make a friend. I’ll leave you to figure out how healthy his bank balance is!
• We talk about how the best leaders bring a real energy when they walk in the room; they don’t just have that energy, they inspire it in others
• Neal shares his belief that brands are not only defined by what they do, but what they don’t, or won’t do
• We talk about trust and Neal shares his view (which I share) that trust is the most valuable commodity a business can offer. He shares the story of Sandra, a hotel receptionist who left an enduring impression on him through her thoughtful and playful approach
• Neal shares his background story of thirty years in advertising, along the way he shares the insight of what great brands do – enable people to be seen. He uses the Barbie movie as a great example of this.
• He explains what Storyfire does and why it is so important – words, persuasion and most powerfully stories, allow us to relate to each other, which build trust
• We explore the idea of energy, the magnetic gravitational pull, that stories can inspire
• Neal loops back to the story of Sandra, sharing a deeper explanation of why the impression she created was so powerful – by making him the hero of a story he could share with others, she had played to his narrative (one we all share) of being the hero of his own story. There’s a beautiful insight here around ‘Story Gifting’ and the power we all have to do this.
• We explore the value of being our unique selves and attracting the people and opportunities that reflect who we are – connecting to our identity. Neal shares a personal story that demonstrates the Pygmalion effect – when you set a standard of behaviour and expect people to live up to it, they usually will.
• Neal explains why he shares stories of human kindness; through his own personal experiences, to combat the confected rage that is being stirred up by elements in society
• We discuss the importance and power of stories to inspire the best of us. Not brand stories or marketing stories, but everyday stories that reflect our identity.
• Neal explains why he believes CEOs should be the greatest tellers of stories, to infuse a culture with belief… “Stories are the CEO providing a vision and warm safe place for people to be their best self; for them to think of new ideas because they’re not terrified of losing their job tomorrow” (had to include that)!
• He also shares why CFOs ought to be storytellers – to tell you where the numbers are headed; and of course, why sales people too should be storytellers
• Neal envisions his dream for the future: travelling America to tell the stories of American small businesses – relationships, truth telling, values, old fashioned traits - people taking care of each other

Connect with Neal

On Linkedin

On YouTube

On Instagram

On TikTok

Storyfire website