Keeper of the Flame… Conversation on Video with Nancy Duarte

By Nilofer Merchant on December 12, 2012 in Talks

Whenever I give an interview, I ask the conversation partner to not tell me any of the questions because I really want it to be a conversation — not some rehearsed packaging of ideas. Sometimes, this comes out well, and sometimes not. The combination of factors affects it — the questions themselves, the community that is there, and certainly the interviewer. It is inherently social and I get to think aloud with someone.

A few weeks back, Nancy Duarte — three-time bestseller on the power of persuasion, resonance, and story — and I got together to talk about the #SocialEra. (Direct link to video, here)

Besides being a notable author, Nancy is the successful CEO of her own firm, Duarte Design.

It’s incredibly well recognized and she as its leader. Not only did she did the slides for Al Gore’s film, an inconvenient Truth (The only set of slides ever to win an Oscar!) … she loves to help people tell their story.

We talked about the counterintuitive nature of the ideas in Social Era and you’ll see by her face that she’s just as scared as anyone. But she’s also courageous to face into it. (As I hope you are) As she and I talked about the shifts that the book raises, we dug into what it means for leadership.
As you listen to it, I suggest you listen for “keeper of the flame” as a way to think about what is shifting. Leaders no longer need to know all the answers (The Chief of Answers is what I called it in the first book, The New How), leaders can shift to being a “Keeper of the flame”.

P.s. Nancy Duarte’s latest book is an HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations. I am probably going to through and read it again, over the holidays as I think about some presentations I have planned for 2013. I highly recommend her ideas and I’m grateful we had a chance to talk together on film about Leadership in the Social Era.