For 18 years, Park Howell has been the owner and chief storyteller of Park&Co, an advertising agency in Phoenix, AZ that exists to build movements that matter.
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30 years of mankind’s impact on the planet caught on tape by NASA and Google
Gary Larson, the biologist-meets-comic cartoonist who created The Far Side, caught fire with the public because of his unique juxtaposition of the universe versus our little lives. This cartoon of a smoldering fire lookout has always been one of my favorites. No words. Just visual irony. I saw a lot of these forest service towers growing up the in the Pacific Northwest. Can you imagine having the place burn down on your watch as you vigilantly survey the miles of evergreens ...
What chief sustainability officers can learn from screenwriting
(The following article appeared today on the Sustainable Brands website.) If all the world’s a stage, according to Bill Shakespeare, then one needs to look no further than the c-suite for some of its highest drama. A new, fairly misunderstood protagonist has entered this mercurial world where survival typically goes to the fittest Machiavellian mind. The success of our hero, the chief sustainability officer (CSO), relies on an immense and nimble curiosity, and they must possess a cadre of skills to capture ...
Are your presentations flicking them off or turning them on?
When given the honor to command an audience, most presenters default to binary facts, figures, features and benefits. The trouble is that your audience’s light switch of interest can just as easily and instantaneously be flicked off as turned on. I prefer the rheostat of story. With it you control emotional nuance to take your audience from darkness into light. That’s called, “Character arch,” one of the most powerful ways to influence behavior. What's your story?
The life or death power of storytelling for your brand’s mission
Do you remember where you were on February 1, ten years ago? Let me remind you. As you were leading your peaceful terrestrial life, the space shuttle Columbia was disintegrating over the skies north of Dallas, Texas. All seven astronauts perished. The cause of the accident happened two weeks earlier. Eighty-two seconds into Columbia's liftoff, a piece of foam insulation, about the size and weight of an empty brief case, tore from the external fuel tank and slammed into the leading edge of ...
Is small the new big? Triodos Bank thinks so with its brand of conscious capitalism
I received an email yesterday morning that began with an apology. "Happy New Year," the director of business development for a Scottsdale, Az investment bank, opened. "I apologize for the informal means of communication, but thought I'd reach out to you." He went on to blah, blah, blah about the guidance they offer in capital raises, debt/equity financing, recaps and M & As. He inadvertently commoditized his service by failing to cajole me with a good story. About how their company can ...