Rob Lauber: How Stories Engage Your Audience

Focus on your audience and use stories. That is the key advice from my guest, Rob Lauber. Rob is a career learning and development executive for brands such as McDonald’s, YUM!, and Cingular Wireless. He is also the Founder and CEO of XLO Global where he helps learning teams drive more business value. In this episode we talk about the importance of focusing on your audience, how to use stories to convey your message, and being confident that you don’t know something. I hope you enjoy. Key Points:Importance of Focusing on the Audience [00:01:01] Rob Lauber talks about his 30-year career in learning and development, emphasizing the importance of focusing on the audience and understanding their sentiment.The Power of Storytelling [00:03:43] Rob Lauber and Scott D'Amico discuss the importance of storytelling in communication, and how it can help connect with the audience and convey complex ideas.Using Examples to Connect with the Audience [00:06:00] Scott D'Amico and Rob Lauber discuss how using examples and simple stories can help connect with the audience and convey complex ideas in a relatable way.Importance of relatability in storytelling [00:07:24] Rob and Scott discuss the importance of relatability in storytelling and how it can help connect with the audience.Soft skills in the workplace [00:08:12] Rob shares his insights on the importance of soft skills in the workplace, particularly in the digital communication space.Impact of video in business communication [00:11:54] Scott and Rob discuss the acceleration of people being willing to do business without having met face-to-face, and the impact of video in business communication.Importance of Audience Understanding [00:14:25] The speakers discuss the importance of understanding the audience when communicating, especially in a multi-generational workforce, and how to anticipate pushback.Providing Context during Times of Change [00:15:52] The speakers emphasize the importance of providing context during times of change to avoid lost productivity and uncertainty.Direct Communication and Confidence [00:18:48] The speakers discuss the importance of being concise and direct in communication, as well as being confident in admitting when one does not know something.Leadership and Communication [00:21:45] Scott and Rob discuss the importance of leaders being willing to admit when they don't know something and the benefits of creating a culture where team members can learn from each other.Learning from Communication Experts [00:23:55] Rob shares how he has learned from communication experts throughout his career, and the importance of seeking feedback from them to improve communication skills.Reading for Communication Improvement [00:27:56] Scott and Rob emphasize the importance of reading to improve communication skills, whether it's reading internal company messaging or press releases from other companies.Importance of Face-to-Face and Verbal Communications [00:28:56] Rob Lauber discusses the importance of face-to-face and verbal communications, especially for those coming out of school, and how it is a skill that needs to be honed to be an effective communicator.Adapting to Digital Communication [00:29:47] Rob Lauber talks about the challenge of adapting to digital communication and how it is important to build skills in blogging, writing good posts, and leveraging communication channels like LinkedIn to build customers.Encouraging Face-to-Face Communication [00:31:53] Scott D'Amico and Rob Lauber discuss the importance of face-to-face communication and how it is a skill that needs to be practiced, especially for kids who are often buried in their phones. They encourage taking opportunities to communicate face-to-face with people in higher positions to build communication