March 2026: The connection between stories, hormones and impact!

This month’s topic: 
the connection between stories, hormones and impact!

Not from the books, but from behind the scenes of coaching conversations with real people!

1. All Personal Coaching Backstage: what’s the story you’re telling yourself about your own personal leadership? 

2. Motivation Moment: Game On: Coaching Question Friday Raffle #50 and monthly awards!

3. Just One Learning Bite: an article on how stories and hormones are connected – and why that matters for impact!

What’s a struggle or a topic you want me to talk about next month?

All Personal Backstage:
What’s the Story You’re Telling Yourself about Your Personal Leadership?

When I talk about Leadership, I don’t mean hierarchy.
I mean Personal Leadership – which is hierarchy agnostic.

It’s the one where we decide how we’d like to lead our life – both the professional and the personal one.

Often in coaching sessions my clients’ focus is on managing up, performance management, managing and motivating their team and building healthy, trusting relationships with clients and peers.

And (usually after they’ve also completed the Emotional Intelligence course included in their coaching program) we focus on how they can hold themselves accountable fist – especially when it comes to managing their professional growth (which comes with managing their personal growth in parallel).

That’s because the story we tell ourselves about our own Leadership skills and capabilities leads to action (or inaction) around our own growth!

And that’s when we go through an exercise that I invite you to participate in:

Think about yourself as your own business: [Your Name] Inc.

1. What would a good strategy be for [Your Name] Inc?
2. What would be your business priorities?
3. What relationships would you need to build?
4. How would you market [Your Name] Inc.?
5. How would [Your Name] Inc manage their internal and external customers?

Change the vantage point and see how your story changes. 

What I’ve experienced back in my corporate L&D days, and also now, working with (mostly) mid-career professionals, is thatpeople need the chance to form and practice good leadership habits long before they start leading teams or organizations!

So change your own story: start managing yourself and your own growth first (hence the analogy with you as your own business: how effectively are you managing your own business?)

And then, imagine you did this exercise with your team.
What would that change in everyone’s levels of engagement, motivation, accountability?
How would that increase the impact you’re all making?

Leadership coaching & training are important tools to make available to more people, especially the ‘frozen middle’ – it saves a LOT of pain, time, energy and, yes, money!

 Just One LEARNING Bite

Stories are the most powerful way to activate our brains. They ignite our imagination and make us more empathetic and connected.’

Imagine a world where every story you tell has the power to captivate your audience, making them more focused, trusting, and creative.

That’s the magic David JP Phillips unveils in his TED talk, “The magical science of storytelling” – which is our Leadership Learning Bite this week.

In good old story-telling style, here’s why I liked it.

Phillips takes us on a journey through the intricate workings of our brain, revealing how stories can release a cocktail of chemicals like dopamine, oxytocin, and endorphins.
These chemicals are the secret ingredients of the ‘angels cocktail’ that makes us… watch the talk to see its benefits.:)

AND there’s a twist.
Phillips also warns us about the “devil’s cocktail” of cortisol and adrenaline, which can make us – you’ll see in the talk.

He demonstrates that storytelling isn’t just an art; it’s a science.

There’s a strong connection between stories and hormones! Which make your impact boost or flop!

And by mastering this science, we can transform the way we communicate, making our messages more impactful and memorable.

So, if you’re looking to enhance your storytelling skills and connect with your audience on a deeper level, this TED talk is a must-watch.
It’s not just insightful; it’s a revelation.

Curious to know what you thought of it.

What’s a leadership learning bite you’d like to share?

Lead Different. Boost your impact by boosting your storytelling!