Transparency and Corporate Storytelling
I saw this article from Jennifer Oladipo that she shared on LinkedIn. Jennifer has been on the pod before and I like the topic so I asked her to come on again and talk about transparency and corporate storytelling.
Rather than tell people how great your company is (no one cares as Mark Schaefer noted here) try telling them something they’ll find more relateable. What have you learned that helps you do things better?
Jennifer describes the concept of “flawsome”, a mashup of flawed and awesome, which may be the opposite of a humble brag. Instead of downplaying a great thing your company did, you expose something you learned by mistake and why you are now better at what you do.
We agreed that customer and internal employee stories can each serve as a source of messaging and even ideas for product development.
Jennifer shared two examples of corporate stories that moved her. One from Charles River Laboratories and one from….wait for it….Domino’s Pizza.
The Domino’s story is an example of flawsome. The Charles River film is more about how they serve customers told through the beneficiary of a customer’s product and CRL process.
About My Guest …
An award-winning journalist, Jennifer Oladipo founded X Editorial to dig deeper and become a partner with clients, rather than an observer. More than 15 years of journalism and communications for nonprofit and for-profit organizations fostered an ability to understand complex information and ideas, and convey them powerfully to diverse audiences.
