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clear, compelling, clutter-free communications for nonprofit leaders who want to get the word out. COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY, NARRATIVES, Campaigns, PLATFORMS, Creative Content, WRITING + EDITING
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Static reports, in short, particularly voluminous ones, are not necessarily the best channel to deliver information that resonates, inspires, motivates, and activates stakeholders. These audiences need to be emotionally engaged, ideally by a cascade of compelling content that lives alongside, not inside, your report.
ESG reports are primarily just that: reports. They inform and analyze. On their own, they’re not communications tools meant to inspire or engage.
Carol Goodstein explains how storytelling backed by data can be a vital tool in communicating a company's purpose to different audiences
With virtually no resistance, no access to medical treatment and a government that condones the deforestation and development of their lands, the COVID-19 pandemic is far worse for indigenous people.
In what is still one of the most true, inspiring and relevant TED Talks ever, How Business Leaders Inspire Action, best-selling writer Simon Sinek spoke about the key to successful communication: Start With Why. WHY, then, are so many businesses and nonprofits talking about their successes, particularly around sustainability, without referring to their why?
Think about the attributes that great brands share—passion, purpose and clarity. They’re distinctive, interesting and engaging. Then think of sustainability. Ugh. Even the word rings wrong. It’s leaden, virtuous, earnest, wonky, dense, dorky. A literary liability—in the US, anyway. In the UK and in other places, sustainability is bouncier, younger and actually speaks to people, not at them.
The question is how to sexy up sustainability so that it sounds less stale.
I’ve been wracking my brains, trying to conjure up a new and original blog post to write on storytelling—the value of brand narratives and sustainability stories. Then I watched the video of Greta Thunberg, who in her address to the delegates UN Climate Action Summit declared that it’s time to “tell it like is.”
There is no one way to stop the fires (and the prospect of more), but a combination of foreign and local governments, business interests, investors, and nonprofit organizations could start to mitigate the problem.
The obscurity and ambiguity about what we mean when we try to talk sensibly about the environment has enabled too many of us to emotionally distance ourselves from the most terrifying issues of our time.