Mallory Barbee, AVP at CBC National Bank in Beaufort, South Carolina, wrote the most insightful review of Parenting with a Story I’ve seen to date. It’s encouraging to an author for someone to notice all the things we hope come across to the reader. Well done, Mallory. See her review here.
Category: Recent Post

Book Review: The Relevance of Good Parenting in Business
Posted on January 6, 2015. Book Review from Footdown. A collection of one hundred and one stories from around the world, Paul Smith’s latest book ‘Parenting with a Story’ transcends cultural difference and defies its narrowly focused title in its narrative exploration of 27 moral values. Avoiding the self-righteous disdain of a critical parent, the…

A Christmas Compromise: The fight every couple should have
On December 16, 1961, twenty-one-year-old Aquiles Sanchez married nineteen-year-old Carmen Rodriguez. Six days later, just three days before Christmas Day, they had their first fight. On that day the young couple moved into a small studio apartment and began setting up Christmas decorations. That’s when they discovered that the Christmas traditions held most dear in…

One woman's street-corner cardboard sign that'll make you want to join her with one of your own
Like thousands of people in cities all over the world, Kristin Pedemonti spends much of her time on the sidewalk holding a sign. And like many, her sign is cardboard with hand-written letters in faded black marker. It’s a familiar scene. Most people walk by without even noticing her. Others see her and her sign…

How NOT to Treat Your Mother-in-Law This Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Day 2003, my wife and I were hosting dinner at our house with a few guests, including my sister and my wife’s mother, Jeannie. And as cliché as it may be, before the meal had even been served, I had already had enough of my mother-in-law’s company. Out on the back patio, I complained…

Would you rather be the head of a dog, or the tail of a lion?
There’s an ancient Chinese saying that it’s “better to be the head of a dog than the tail of a lion.” Read how that value has played out in the life and career of the CEO of a Nissan-Mitsubishi joint venture, then you decide. See full story here.

The Family Focus Blog: Using Stories to Teach and Inspire Your Children
The Family Focus Blog IDs the top 3 barriers (and solutions!) to using more stories to teach character lessons to your kids. Check it out here.

Not sure you're doing this right (Response to the Hemingway 6-word challenge)
I recently came across an online article inviting a group of business storytellers to take up the Hemingway 6-word challenge — that is to write their own story in only six words. [When he was challenged to do so, Hemingway famously responded: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”] I read further to see almost one hundred…

The story that can literally save your life, IF you tell it to the right person
http://traffic.libsyn.com/leadwithastory/PWAS_007.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download | EmbedSubscribe: RSShttp://traffic.libsyn.com/leadwithastory/PWAS_007.mp3Podcast (parenting-with-a-story-podcast-series): Play in new window | Download | EmbedSubscribe: RSSIf you don’t have your health, nothing else in life seems to matter much. But when we do have our health—or at least think we do—it’s often easy to neglect it and take that good health for…

Book Report: What I learned from Lead with a Story
A particularly insightful report from blogger Jill Kuehnert: “I sat down to read Lead with a Story early last week, armed with a pad of blue sticky notes. When I finished it a few days later, the book was stuffed with blue — quotes, key points, book recommendations and ideas for my own stories that…