 Live from Mountain View, California, it's theCUBE. Covering DevNet Create 2019, brought to you by Cisco. Hi, welcome back to theCUBE's continuing coverage, day one at Cisco DevNet Create 2019. I'm Lisa Martin with John Furrier. We are at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. We're pleased to welcome to theCUBE Ash Siddique, Strategic Business Consultant and Storytelling Coach. This is an interesting combination, Storytelling Coach with a bunch of developers. So first of all, talk to us about what it is that you, who do you help learn how to tell stories and then what your work is with Cisco? Fantastic, so primarily at Cisco I work with a lot of leaders in a coaching environment where we're really looking at what they are trying to achieve for the organization and how they can articulate that message in an energetic and aspiring way. And we find stories are the best way to engage the audience. I'm working with one leader, he keeps telling me that the last talk he gave, the one thing people remember is the story. So everyone is sort of realizing that if I want to tell them something about how we're transitioning from one technology platform to another, if I can find a metaphor, an analogy, a story, I have a much better luck connecting with them and giving them something that they can remember. Is this a personal story that they need to share and kind of open up some vulnerability or just some other metaphor that everybody would understand? Yes, we actually sometimes use one or the other. Like in one case we're using the car racing metaphor to talk about how teams come together to create amazing results so that in that case, then it's not about just the driver of that car or the team at the pit changing the tires and how fast they do that, but how they collectively then have that success at the end of the race. Or maybe to your point, maybe it's a personal story that then shows them, hey, you know, I went through a lot of challenges and I know as engineers you're going through a lot of challenges and I can see us getting past it. So we also try to tap into what they've been able to achieve in the past. So then he can actually call on their memory, we've been able to produce these products for Cisco. Now the customer expectations are changing and we need to get them out to market sooner. Therefore, we need to figure ways where we can build some high-performing teams and get these products to market much sooner. You know, Ash, what's interesting about your storytelling here on theCUBE, we do a lot of storytelling, is that in the tech world, design thinking has been a big part of the discipline around building products. How has some of the things that you're bringing this kind of design storytelling, kind of ethos and thinking into the storytelling creation process, not just, hey, I got created this thing, now let's go bolt a story onto it. Is there an integration point inside the construction of the creative process that might feed that? Can you take us through the state-of-the-art thinking around this? Absolutely, it's actually, it was very comforting to find that the very first step in design thinking is empathize, which essentially means you have a particular target audience that you're trying to serve with a particular solution. We actually use the word hero to think about that audience, and then we basically say, if she's a mom walking into the hospital lobby with her baby, what is the experience for that mother, right? Can we really empathize? Can we find out what the story is? What's been happening at home, the way she's going to the hospital, and now she's driving into the lobby, how is she's being received in that lobby and the service level? And then we basically describe the story again of where things are today, which we can call experience number one. And then we basically talk then about how can we envision a beautiful, delightful experience for that mom. That becomes experience number two, and we use these stories between one and two to really energize us, to really help people understand we need to come up with a much better solution. I want to get your thoughts on Steve Jobs always said story telling was critical. He had us his mantra before he passed away. I had a chance to interview John Chambers at his house recently. He's got a new book coming out. And he's always been about trends and being on the right wave. So between the two, you had one product leader with Steve Jobs, and you have a trend seer like John Chambers. How much of the DNA of the person you're coaching, that their natural talent shapes how you engage with how they could be a better storyteller? Yeah, what I'm finding a lot, especially also with technical leaders, a lot of the time they are very sort of reserved. They sort of walk in the building and all of a sudden they have this sort of character where I am not as charging ahead as I should be. And a lot of the time I basically say, hey, can we get this voice to have a little bit of character? Can we get some vocal variety in here? Can we actually tell a story? Can you actually get up, stand up, and open up and really tell us something about who you are and why you want to do this project to lead this team forward? So to your point I really helped them find out that they're actually like any other average citizen, they have so much energy and power within them, they just come into the corporate office and think, oh, I need to have a corporate character. Then I come back and say, you know what? I actually need you, I need John to be here, you know, in person, with all the stories that you can tell. And I tell them, go back into your own childhood and let's figure out some of those stories so that when you're talking about those stories, you remember the excitement, you remember the people that were there, and then all of a sudden there's a bit of life in them, you know, so that's what I helped them discover is that actually they have these stories and they are engaging, they are inspiring, if they actually let them come out. I imagine that's got to be easier with some guys and girls than others, some of those who really maybe don't like public speaking or having to explain something that can be quite as a character in audiences. What are some of the things that you've learned about working with some of these technologists that have helped kind of refine your methodology for cracking that surface and unleashing this energy and this sort of natural passion that's hidden inside? Absolutely, and you know what's happening here at Cisco, especially at Cisco, where you see technology being used to do a lot of communication, a lot of them are realizing, if I don't articulate my message, I'm not going to get the funding, I'm not going to get the best resources. So they realize that communication became part of how do I influence up and make sure that my stakeholders understand that we have a critical project. So there is part of it where they know that there's a lot on the line if they don't speak up. And then they come to someone like me and say, Ash, how can we do this? So we then talk through, what are you trying to accomplish with this team? What's that vision? And how can we build a case for change? And that becomes the thing that energizes them first and then we energize their teams and we think about how do you take this message to executives that can give you the funding that you're looking for? So you talked about, before we went live, this program at Cisco, this sort of shark tank-like program where you're working with very technical men and women who might have a brilliant idea, but in terms of articulating that to be able to get, like you said before, get funding or sponsorship for programs. Can you give us maybe one of your favorite examples of a, when you started with experience one or phase one, where it took you about a half an hour to figure out that's the goal to getting to the, ah, there's the story. Tell us something that really sticks with you. Great question. So the program is called Hack it IT and it's an incubator program, as I mentioned. And one example, a team in China actually was working on the idea of how do we reduce the number of customers that could be thinking about walking away from Cisco? So the technical term for that is customer churn. So I got on the phone with them and of course there are some challenges when it comes to speaking English by a lot of our Chinese colleagues, but then I listened in and I paid attention and then I started asking them, what got you interested in this idea? We started to really kind of break down the fact that they have figured out that there is a way to listen into the data within Cisco and figure out that once they actually identify certain signals, they can help the sales teams realize they need to go talk to John because John, if he doesn't have someone talking to him very soon, he or she might actually shift and go to another company. And then I said, well, what percentage do you think that churn is right now? And we found out that it may be like about 7% and with the technology they are building, we can bring it down to 3%. I was like ding, ding, ding, earnings per share, number of customers, dollars per quarter, it was just an amazing opportunity. And once they came out and communicated clearly, it was the winning idea at the end of the day. So you're helping take these technical folks sort to understand the business impact. Absolutely, yeah. And communicate in a very different way, right? And how big it is. That can be pretty transformative for I think anybody in any field, right? And I remember on the call, I said, did we guys, did we take a look at the industry averages on the churn? You know, what's the situation at Juniper? What's the situation at HPE? How does Cisco compare? How can we make sure that Cisco is much better off? Phenomenal opportunity for Cisco to listen in and catch things before they happen. What would be your advice to folks watching around? How to be a better storyteller? Because you can really reel people in, get their attention, and then deliver the payload, whether it's venture funding, or getting a project funded inside a corporation. There's always people interested in how they could be better storytellers. What's your playbook? Absolutely. I talk about what I do is I really help people become chief excitement officers, which means we need to find the excitement. Once we find the excitement, it's like finding gold in a very, very tough mountain. And once we find the gold, then we can extract it out, and then we can showcase it, right? So I think a lot of the time we're having difficulty finding out where the gold is. And that's one of the things that I help them with. But if they sit with their teams and really bring a storm, what opportunities do we have? What are the sizes? How can we build some of these ideas out? Then all of a sudden, that idea, that gold starts to show up, and they are much more equipped to talk about it. And I have on the executive greatness.com slash storytelling, there is a nice cheat sheet that people can download and use to start really crafting these stories. By first, using a template in the beginning, and then once they do it once, twice, three times, it gets easier and better. And if they can build a culture around storytelling, it makes life so much easier. So you've got the, yeah, I think you've entered, but if they want to make sure our view we're starting at the Executive Greatness Institute as something that you've created, and that people can go to that and find that template that you were just mentioning. Exactly, so executivegreatness.com slash storytelling, and they can download that template. It should be a very easy fill-in process in the beginning, and it's a fantastic experience to really get that very efficient story. Find that gold, make some fine jewelry, make some bars, and, you know. It's amazing, there's so much potential because- It just must be for anybody, sorry, to interrupt, in any industry. Anybody who can learn how to find a way to connect with whomever, whatever, but it sounds like a lot of kind of horizontal benefits for anybody. And any level of their career. Totally, because what we're finding is the clarity of the message. Once people get it, then you can actually ask them to do things for you or with you. But until then, there's a huge divide. People sit in these all-hands meetings, the executive speaks, he or she speaks, they're not really catching on. You know, it's not so clear. It's about connecting. It's about connecting. Clarity is the passage, and story becomes the fantastic bridge to really do that connection. And really making it about being part of the same story. Exactly. That connection creates more retention. Absolutely. Success, one proposal versus the other. Exactly. Could be a swing, the swing could be the story. Yes, exactly. When we were working with these teams, we found out that if they can't communicate it, we could be losing out on a multi-billion dollar idea. You know, one of the things I want to give you are thoughts on while you're here, because this is how I'm feeling like I'm in the counseling session, because all we try to do is figure out how to tell our story better, and our customers who come on theCUBE, they have social media channels, they have more channels. The story's broken down into little highlights and small video clips. So companies are challenged, not just individuals, to have a brand. Exactly. And social media, how do you take the goal, that excitement and break it up? Yes. And share the story in all channels possible. Absolutely. Do you have any opinion on that? It's a lot of tough work, but to your point, we need to find what that brand's story is, and make sure that everybody's actually clear on it, because a lot of the time, to your point, when you bring them together, each one has a different story. Absolutely. You know? So I think part of it is to really come together and say, let's create the story, let's honor it by then spreading it across the organization. And when we used on the website, we used in our marketing and our sales conversations, and if you start with that story with customers, you have something that's a whole lot more engaging than anything else. Get that story out there in a digital footprint. Exactly, yeah. Exactly. Awesome. I wonder if even what you're talking about in terms of, you're right, it's about connection. It's even more important as the world gets more and more and more connected with devices, and we get so focused on talking to a device, we've got to kind of come back to it, you're sort of bringing people back to the basic communication. Exactly, which is, thankfully, still needed. And to your point, I think what you were able to show your customers is a tremendous business impact. That this connection, this basic human connection and storytelling can make. Absolutely. And the fact that you're really talking about human beings at the end, those experiences at the very end are touching somebody, and we need to get excited. We basically, one of the executives from GE basically said we need people who can go to the future and then get so excited and then come back, kind of keep that excitement on their face, and walk around the organization, keep telling them. You know, when we get to Yosemite, you're going to see these waterfalls. The fresh air is amazing. I've been there, I saw it. I can't wait to get you guys there. And that's what they do on a daily basis. They're just walking around with that bug inside of them, they can see what it's like, and they can't wait to get everybody there. This is also something that can really breed and foster cultural transformation within a GE, an organization that has been around on so many moving parts. Cultural transformation is essential for any company to transform digitally, and that's a hard thing to do. Exactly, exactly. But it sounds like, you know, I like Chief Excitement Officer. I think my dog is my Chief Excitement Officer, but being able to maintain that and sustain it from a cultural transformation perspective is huge. Absolutely. Because all the digital transformation efforts are about that vision of the future, whether it's healthcare to your point or automotive industry or any other industry. It's about what kind of experience, much better experience that we're going to create. Ash, great talking with you, exciting topic. Thank you for giving some time to John and me today at DevNet. Absolutely, thank you so much. We appreciate it. We appreciate it. Thank you so much. For John Farrier, I'm Lisa Martin. You're watching theCUBE live at Cisco DevNet Create 2019. Thanks for watching.