The StoryBank

Indranil Chakraborty (IC)
  • 5.0 (1)
  • MANAGEMENT
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY

Stories have impact. When we use them in our business conversations, they make our messages clear and memorable. We are all great storytellers, but we can't be a one-story wonder. This podcast is designed to help you build your story collection.

  1. Episode 149 – The Doctor Who Prescribed Parakeets – Purpose Changes Behaviour

    1D AGO

    Episode 149 – The Doctor Who Prescribed Parakeets – Purpose Changes Behaviour

    Send us Fan Mail During my years in the corporate world, a question that had often been on my mind was what makes people want to bring more of themselves to work? Disengagement at work does not always look dramatic. People do not always rebel. They do not argue. They do not resign in protest. More often, they simply retreat into the minimum. They do what is required, avoid what is optional, and leave the rest of themselves outside the workplace. Many leaders respond to this with tighter reviews, sharper targets, better dashboards, and more frequent check-ins. All of which may have a role, but they alone don’t solve the problem. What does? Purpose. But not the kind that fits on a strategy slide. The kind that makes someone feel that showing up today matters — to something larger than a quarterly number, and larger than themselves. I came across a story recently, set in a nursing home of all places, that is the most vivid illustration of this I’ve ever found. A leader walked into a broken system, tried the conventional fix, watched it fail, and then did something so unconventional that management asked him if he’d lost his mind. What followed was one of the more remarkable turnarounds I’ve encountered in years of collecting leadership stories. If you lead a team, at any level, I think you’ll find it worth 6:32 minutes of your time. For more #storiesatwork do have a look the playlists of stories on our website - https://bit.ly/SW_Stories Your friends and family can join our WhatsApp group to get copies of our videos. https://bit.ly/SW_WA_11 Our website has a video version of this story.  https://storyworks.in/storybanks/ Follow me on LinkedIn -->linkedin.com/in/i-am-ic

    6 min
  2. Episode 148 – The Meter in the Basement – What Gets Measured Gets Managed

    MAR 23

    Episode 148 – The Meter in the Basement – What Gets Measured Gets Managed

    Send us Fan Mail “What gets measured gets managed”, has been one of my steadfast beliefs in both my personal and professional life. Good intentions and goals are not enough on their own. They have to be measured regularly to see if we are indeed on track to deliver. Today’s story is a beautiful illustration of what happens when we not only measure, but make the measure visible on a regular basis. One caveat though, we must make sure that we are measuring the right thing. Let me know what you think. For more #storiesatwork do have a look the playlists of stories on our website - https://bit.ly/SW_Stories Your friends and family can join our WhatsApp group to get copies of our videos. https://bit.ly/SW_WA_11 Our website has a video version of this story.  https://storyworks.in/storybanks/ Follow me on LinkedIn -->linkedin.com/in/i-am-ic

    6 min
  3. Episode 147 – Zoom In. Zoom Out. – When Details Aren’t Enough

    MAR 16

    Episode 147 – Zoom In. Zoom Out. – When Details Aren’t Enough

    Send us Fan Mail When people ask me about my success mantras, my answer is simple: luck, discipline, hard work and attention to detail. Attention to detail is a strength I have always been proud of. But early in my career, a boss gave me a piece of advice that stayed with me. During an annual feedback session he said, “I really admire your attention to detail. But I want you to develop another skill.” He called it “hand in the mud and head in the clouds.” The image instantly made me smile. But over the years I have realised how important and how elusive that skill really is. Because leadership often demands two very different abilities at the same time: to dive deep into the details and to step back and see the bigger picture. Today’s story is a powerful reminder of why we need both. For more #storiesatwork do have a look the playlists of stories on our website - https://bit.ly/SW_Stories Your friends and family can join our WhatsApp group to get copies of our videos. https://bit.ly/SW_WA_11 Our website has a video version of this story.  https://storyworks.in/storybanks/ Follow me on LinkedIn -->linkedin.com/in/i-am-ic

    6 min
  4. Episode 146 - Six Feet of Land – The Wisdom of Knowing When to Stop

    MAR 9

    Episode 146 - Six Feet of Land – The Wisdom of Knowing When to Stop

    Send us Fan Mail Sometimes hidden behind the cloak of ambition is something we rarely name, and that is greed. A goalpost that keeps shifting. Because if we can achieve more, then why not? That's when the team stops celebrating wins and starts dreading anything less than the last record they broke. And somewhere in that cycle of achievement, a quiet question stops getting asked: Is this still worth it? Not "can we do it?" because that's never been the problem. The problem is forgetting to ask whether you should. The best leaders understand something counterintuitive: enough is a strategy. Knowing when to stop pushing, not from weakness but from wisdom, is what separates sustainable excellence from burnout dressed up as ambition. Today's story can teach us that lesson. For more #storiesatwork do have a look the playlists of stories on our website - https://bit.ly/SW_Stories Your friends and family can join our WhatsApp group to get copies of our videos. https://bit.ly/SW_WA_11 Our website has a video version of this story.  https://storyworks.in/storybanks/ Follow me on LinkedIn -->linkedin.com/in/i-am-ic

    6 min
  5. Episode 145 – The Dunning-Kruger Effect – Unskilled, and unaware of it

    MAR 2

    Episode 145 – The Dunning-Kruger Effect – Unskilled, and unaware of it

    Send us Fan Mail What if you're too incompetent to realise your incompetence? We explore this in today's story. We now live in a world where crafting a question takes much longer than getting an answer. You type a prompt and get a polished answer. If it all ended there then all would be good. But it doesn't. You often walk away feeling like you have learnt something, you are now more knowledgable. But have you really? Or are we borrowing someone else's fluency and calling it your own. I often ask myself, when using Al to generate an answer, whether I am falling into the Dunning-Kruger trap. In today's story | talk about the Dunning-Kruger effect - a cognitive bias where people who are very bad at something are often too bad at it to realise they are bad at it. To know that you're making mistakes, you need enough knowledge to recognise what a mistake looks like. The everyday version of this is that friend who took one economics class and now has strong opinions about monetary policy, while your friend with an actual holds a PhD in economics says "it's complicated" to everything. The issue isn't Al itself, it's how we engage with it. Learning to recognise the distance between feeling knowledgeable and actually being knowledgeable, maybe one of the most valuable skills we can develop, especially in this age of Al. For more #storiesatwork do have a look the  playlists of stories on our website - https://bit.ly/SW_Stories  Your friends and family can join our WhatsApp group to get copies of our videos. https://bit.ly/SW_WA_11 Our website has a video version of this story.  https://storyworks.in/storybanks/ Follow me on LinkedIn -->linkedin.com/in/i-am-ic

    7 min
  6. Episode 144 – Upstream

    MAR 2

    Episode 144 – Upstream

    Send us Fan Mail Have you been in a situation where after tirelessly trying to address a crisis you realised that you were addressing the symptoms rather than the problem itself? In today’s episode I will move away from my usual approach of sharing a real story to sharing a parable that has a significant lesson for both business and life. I first read this story in the book ‘Upstream’ by Dan Heath. Dan Heath along with his brother Chip wrote my all-time favourite book on communication - ‘Made to Stick.’ Listen here… For more #storiesatwork do subscribe to our YouTube channel which has two playlists - #StoryBank https://bit.ly/WStoryB and #LeaderSpeak https://bit.ly/WLeaderS You can also join our WhatsApp group to get copies of our videos. https://bit.ly/SW_WA_11 Our website has a video version of this story.  https://storyworks.in/storybanks/ Follow me on LinkedIn -->linkedin.com/in/i-am-ic

    3 min
  7. Episode 143 – The Woodcutter – When to sharpen the Axe

    MAR 2

    Episode 143 – The Woodcutter – When to sharpen the Axe

    Send us Fan Mail Have you ever been under so much pressure that time available seemed to be inadequate? What was your solution? For many people, the answer will be to work longer and harder. But is that always the right answer. Isn’t that mistaking effort for result. Listen on…… For more #storiesatwork do subscribe to our YouTube channel which has two playlists - #StoryBank https://bit.ly/WStoryB and #LeaderSpeak https://bit.ly/WLeaderS You can also join our WhatsApp group to get a copy of this video. https://bit.ly/SW_WA_11 Our website has a video version of this story.  https://storyworks.in/storybanks/ Follow me on LinkedIn -->linkedin.com/in/i-am-ic

    4 min
  8. Episode 142 - The Two Monks

    MAR 2

    Episode 142 - The Two Monks

    Send us Fan Mail Sometimes we end up holding onto things for far longer than they need to be held on to. And it may need an outsider looking in to identify that.  This story talks about one such perspective that can be used when one needs to show another how it is of no use holding on when moving on is the right way forward. Listen on. For more #storiesatwork do subscribe to our YouTube channel which has two playlists -  #StoryBank https://bit.ly/WStoryB and  #LeaderSpeak https://bit.ly/WLeaderS You can also join our WhatsApp group to get copies of our videos. https://bit.ly/SW_WA_11 Our website has a video version of this story.  https://storyworks.in/storybanks/ Follow me on LinkedIn -->linkedin.com/in/i-am-ic

    4 min
See All (148)

Ratings & Reviews

About

Stories have impact. When we use them in our business conversations, they make our messages clear and memorable. We are all great storytellers, but we can't be a one-story wonder. This podcast is designed to help you build your story collection.

Information

  • Creator
    Indranil Chakraborty (IC)
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    148
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The StoryBank
  • Show Website
    The StoryBank