Podcasts

Last Thursday, something subtle—but powerful—happened in our Narativ Inc Leadership Story Talks Live session. My co-host Jerome Deroy and I didn’t treat it like a performance. We didn’t hide the audience in the dark.

Instead, we did something different: We made listening visible. The storytellers could see each other. They could feel the presence of the audience.

And something shifted.
The stories changed. Not because the words were different…but because the listening was.

What struck us most across all three stories is this:
– We spend so much time trying to get better at what to say
– But almost no time practicing how to listen

And yet, everything starts there. The quality of our listening shapes:
– the stories people tell us
– the trust they place in us
– and ultimately, how we lead

#Findyourgift #authenticity #leadership #coaching #storytelling #courage

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Jerome & Julienne Discuss Values, Story Discovery & Finding the Treasures Already Around You

In this debrief, Jerome and Julienne reflect on their conversation with Brad Farris and the powerful link between values and storytelling. Brad’s insight sparks a broader discussion about why organizational values often remain abstract—printed on walls, mentioned during onboarding, but rarely translated into everyday behavior.

#Findyourgift #authenticity #leadership #coaching #storytelling #courage

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Jerome & Julienne Discuss Values, Story Discovery & Finding the Treasures Already Around You

#Findyourgift #authenticity #leadership #coaching #storytelling #courage

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The Gift of Cultural Differences with Dean Foster

“Instead of seeing cultural differences as a problem to overcome, we should see them as the gift they really are.”

In this episode, Jerome and Julienne welcome intercultural expert Dean Foster, whose decades of global work helping organizations operate across cultures inspired his book Business Beyond Borders.

Drawing on experiences from around the world—from negotiating in Russia to navigating everyday moments in Brazil—Dean explores how culture shapes the way people build trust, make decisions, and communicate. What emerges is a powerful reminder: even when we use the same words, we often mean very different things.

https://www.amazon.com/Business-Beyond-Borders-Stories-Cultures/dp/B0DTQBZBQT

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Our In Person Performance Experience!
In this special episode, Jerome and Julienne reflect on what it’s really like to step onto a live stage — in two different cities, on the same night — without planning it together.

From a Duke City Story Slam in New Mexico to a Moth event in New York City, both hosts independently chose to put themselves in front of a live audience just days before launching their own Leadership Story Talks LIVE event. What followed was a powerful reminder of why we practice what we teach: structure creates safety, breathing creates connection, and showing up matters.

This episode explores what presenting live teaches us about leadership, community, and the courage to own your story.

You’ll Hear:
• Why creating guidelines and structure makes live storytelling safer and more powerful

• How pushing yourself to show up builds confidence and credibility

• The difference between virtual presentation and feeling a room breathe, laugh, and clap in real time

• Simple grounding tools before speaking

• Why you can’t “get it wrong” when you’re telling your own lived experience

• How community storytelling combats loneliness and creates genuine connection of leadership through presence, listening, and love.

#Liveperformances #storytelling #authenticiiy #courage

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In our recent podcast episode, Jerome and JI sit down with Nicolas Darveau-Garneau — former Google Chief Evangelist, growth strategist, and author of Sequoia, Not Bonsai: The Seven Growth Secrets of the World’s Most Successful Companies.

Drawing on his experience advising more than 1,000 CEOs and CMOs, Nick shares what truly differentiates the top 5% of companies. The answer isn’t complexity — it’s alignment. Alignment between strategy and execution. Alignment between customer value and internal KPIs. Alignment between culture, experimentation, and long-term profitability.

This conversation explores why profitable growth requires openness, disciplined testing, and leadership that paints a compelling future — especially in the age of AI.
Scroll down to the comments to listen to the entire episode

#storytelling #Alignment #Leadership #AI #podcast

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In this special Valentine’s Day reflection, Jerome and Julienne step away from frameworks and techniques to explore a living example of leadership through presence, listening, and love.

Inspired by the journey of Buddhist monks walking from Texas to Washington, DC, the episode invites listeners to reconsider what it means to show up for others—quietly, intentionally, and without agenda.

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‘ #listening #walkforpeace #valentinesday 3lessonslearned #keepitauthentic #storytelling #listening

In this episode of Leadership Story Talks, Jerome Deroy and Julienne Ryan sit down with Jim O’Gorman to explore how formative leadership experiences—both painful and inspiring—shape the way we show up for others at work.

Jim opens with a candid story from early in his career: working for a deeply toxic boss and the toll it took on his confidence, health, and sense of self. That experience became a defining catalyst, ultimately guiding him toward a career dedicated to people strategy, trust, and humane leadership.

From there, the conversation moves into Jim’s time on the Obama campaign, where he witnessed firsthand the power of authentic storytelling—not as persuasion, but as connection. That experience continues to influence how he thinks about leadership, values, and culture today.

As Chief People Officer at Included Health, Jim shares how storytelling, vulnerability, and values-based decision-making aren’t “nice to haves,” but core leadership competencies—especially when trust, safety, and belonging are on the line.

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#podcast #toxicbosses #communications #listening # leadership #coaching #communication challenges

What begins as a humorous debrief conversation about a technical glitch during a live event quickly becomes a deeper exploration of trust, vulnerability, leadership, and what it really means to “show up” when things don’t go according to plan. A brief moment of on-air chaos—barely two minutes in real time—felt enormous in the moment, yet invisible to much of the audience. That contrast becomes a powerful lesson in perception, presence, and resilience.

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#humor #liveevent #livestream #lessonslearned #keepitauthentic #storytelling #listening

Ready to level up your communication game? On this episode of Narrative North, host Catherine Cioffi chats with dynamic speaker, facilitator, and author Julienne B. Ryan, the brain behind The Learned-It-In Queens Communication Playbook – Winning Against Digital Distraction.

Julienne is on a mission to help you become a better communicator—whether it’s connecting with your team, building relationships, or mastering the art of storytelling. Packed with humor, practical tips, and her signature energy, she shows how to navigate the chaos of digital life without losing your mind—or your messages.

Tune in for laughs, insights, and maybe a few “aha” moments that will transform the way you communicate—online and off!

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#humor #communications #listening #digitallife #buildingrelationships #communication challenges

In this debrief episode, Jerome and Julienne reflect on a powerful insight sparked by their conversation with Lata Hamilton: sometimes the problem isn’t you—it’s the environment you’re in. And recognizing that truth takes courage, honesty, and deep listening.

Lata’s story becomes a springboard for a wider conversation about energy, fit, and the quiet signals that tell us when a story we’ve been living no longer serves us. Jerome and Julienne explore what happens when capable, vibrant people begin to shrink—not because they lack skill or value, but because they’re trying to survive in spaces that slowly diminish their spirit.

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#Leadership #Resilience #Coourage #Grief #Empowerment

Jerome Deroy and Julienne Ryan introduce a new, recurring format: Leadership Story Talks LIVE! — a bi-monthly, interactive storytelling experience designed to bring listening and telling into the same virtual space.

Rather than a traditional interview or panel, this live gathering centers on short, true stories told by experienced leaders and practitioners, followed by reflection and shared insight. As Jerome and Julienne note, storytelling isn’t about performance — it’s about presence. And listening is what allows meaning to emerge.

For this inaugural session, the invitation was simple:
Tell us a story about an experience that shaped who you are today.

What followed were three distinct stories — personal, specific, and deeply human — that revealed how leadership is formed not through theory, but through lived experience.

Guest Story Sharers -Cecelia Loving, Lisa Hope Tilstra and Charles Bernard

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In this end-of-year special episode of Leadership Story Talks, hosts Jerome Deroy and Julienne Ryan pause to reflect on the year behind them—and the deeper themes that have emerged through hundreds of conversations, stories, and moments of listening.

Rather than focusing on achievements or milestones, the conversation centers on something more enduring: connection, community, and curiosity. As the calendar turns toward 2026, Jerome and Julienne offer a thoughtful reminder that storytelling isn’t just about being heard—it’s about taking the time to truly listen.

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In this episode of Leadership Story Talks, hosts Jerome Deroy and Julienne Ryan are joined by leadership coach and advisor Brad Farris, who works with creative service firm founders whose businesses have outgrown the way they’re leading.

Brad shares a defining leadership experience from early in his career—stepping into a general manager role and realizing, in real time, that “acting like a leader” often means pretending to have answers you don’t yet have. That moment becomes the starting point for a wide-ranging conversation about impostor syndrome, authenticity, and the evolution leaders must make as their organizations grow.

You’ll Hear:
– The Cost of “Faking It” — Brad reflects on how early leadership roles can condition leaders to perform certainty, and how that pattern quietly reinforces impostor syndrome and isolation.

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In this special edition of Leadership Story Talks, Jerome and Julienne look back on their experience presenting at the international Storytelling Symposium organized by Dr. Anja Timmermann—a gathering of scientists, researchers, and practitioners exploring the role of narrative in making complex work more human and accessible.

Julienne shares the vulnerability of telling a deeply personal childhood story to a global, largely unseen crowd, and the surprising lessons that emerged from stepping into the “void” of Zoom with nothing but her voice, intentions, and commitment to authenticity.

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