This was the spectacular view from Sydney Festival’s Moonlight Cinema last night. Weirdly, what really caught my attention was the ads. What advertisers understand better than anyone is how to influence through storytelling and they just keep getting better and better at it. Masterful ads for airlines selling through stories of love, banks selling stories about freedom and a beer selling a story about snow (still not quite sure what that was about…). Each ad beautifully executed to connect to us emotionally, no sign of practical features and benefits.

What we’re talking about here is the art of influence and a practical demonstration of the power of great storytelling. It’s a perfect lesson for emerging leaders that creating great stories is the way to mobilise action. The lesson is, develop the spreadsheets and ppt’s with the detail and data but lead with your stories.