Episode 78 | Help Your Team Harness the "Wow": An Interview with Harris III

It's in the nature of leaders to have vision, to see a preferred future and a path to get there. If we're not careful, though, we can lose touch with the sense of wonder and curiosity that ignited the leadership journey in us to begin with. In this conversation with entrepreneur, consultant, story-maker and illusionist Harris III, Jenni and Harris discuss the ways that wonder and story shape our leadership and our teams.

In this episode you'll learn:

• Why cultivating a sense of wonder matters for your leadership
• When to say "wow" and when to ask "how"
• how to move your team from an old story to a new story
• why every problem is a story-telling problem
• the difference between story-telling and story-making

Harris' book: The Wonder Switch

About Harris:

Harris started performing magic as a kid and traveled the world performing in his 20s. He earned his first million at 21, was bankrupt by 22 and had to recalibrate his life. Reclaiming wonder made all the difference. He kickstarted a decade-long journey to understand the stories we tell ourselves and how they drive all human behavior. Armed with a unique perspective, his career re-exploded as a world-renowned storyteller whose live experiences, trainings, and consulting. 

At the age of 25, Harris was named by Catalyst as one of America’s “most influential young leaders.” His expertise at crafting transformative learning experiences has since drawn the attention of creative leaders and executives at global brands like Apple, Disney, Nike and many more, along with some of the most innovative non-profit organizations and government agencies worldwide--even NASA. 

In 2016, Harris founded the Istoria Collective, a consultancy and innovation lab. Whether he and his team are consulting with prestigious private foundations to shape needed policy changes or perform important humanitarian work, or he’s helping the next generation of creative leaders build the future at tech companies like Google or Microsoft, Harris’s leadership isn’t just having a ripple effect around the world--it’s beginning to make waves. Armed with the belief that every problem is a storytelling problem, he is proving through his work and narrative intelligence that storytellers really are the architects of culture.

He is also the visionary entrepreneur and curator behind STORY, the world’s premier gathering for artists, creators and storytellers. He is a sought after coach, creative consultant and experience designer, and a quiet producer behind a diverse slate of TV and film projects, backed by a 7-figure development fund. In 2019, he founded the STORY Foundation, a non-profit focused on raising up and empowering the next generation of storytellers to change the future.

Connect with Harris:
harrisiii.com
@harrisiii

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