Conversation Agent - Valeria Maltoni

The Connection Between Narrative and Culture

“Economics has re-discovered the power of folklore: the themes in world folktales are linked to current culture.” Professor Ethan Mollick shared a recent study that exemplified this core concept. Cultures with stories where tricksters are punished are trusting; stories where men dominate have more gender bias; stories of risk rewarded have more entrepreneurship. These are the findings of a working paper by Stelios Michalopoulos and Melanie Meng Xue. They found that those patterns hold across groups, countries, and second-generation immigrants. The myths at the origin of the collective imagination are at the root cause of success or failure. It makes... Read more →

What Kind of Problem is it?

John Bernoff received an inquiry for help with Slack writing. As he describes, “the director of engineering for a major technology company” reached out to inquire about doing a workshop. I do different kind of work, so my answer would have been different. I agree that Slack is not technically just about writing. Josh suggests someone who is both versed in communication and the use of Slack for the job. There's value in working with someone who has experience in a tool. They might be be able to suggest technical ways to help. How people use communication as a tool... Read more →

Has Your Business Language Lost its Commercial Roots?

When I came across “in my neck of the woods” in Richard Brautigan's The Revenge of the Lawn, I was intrigued. Do woods have necks? I filed the expression right next to “being on top of things.” This evoked images of a person sitting on the very top of a pile of stuff. At the time, I was working as simultaneous interpreter and translator for a center that focused on neurological and early child development. And completing my degree at the University of Bologna from the U.S. Not an easy commute. Professors almost never approved translations as theses. They made... Read more →

The Story of High Performance

Deep involvement, presence, when you're fully engaged with something. That's performance. Jonny Wilkinson played rugby for Newcastle Falcons and Toulon and represented England and the British and Irish Lions. “All of me in every moment, and that's performance.” In a podcast I discovered via Rachel Botsman, Wilkinson talks about breaking the ambivalence and conflict within. On the other side of ambivalence and fear is flow. All the grace, intuition, and possibility are there. This is the fight, isn't it? Wilkinson was a relentlessly driven, ultra competitive, hard-nosed winner. He “lived between the whistles.” He “survived” a stellar career. And since... Read more →

Why we Need More of the Right Kind of Books

I love books. The ones I've read, and the ones I'd love to read. Reading is a form of freedom. Libraries and bookstores are some of my favorite places in the world. Growing up, we had a library of 5,000 books in the house—so much possibility. Right at a point in my life when I also had the time. Though there's always time for good books. Lately, I started reaching out to people who I think should write one. Because we seem to miss the books we could really use. Whenever I come across a substantive body of thought—usually in... Read more →

Mistakes, in Music as in Life, are Development Opportunities

Acknowledging a mistake is the first step in taking the power to do something about it. Accountability is power. But we can go a bit further. And become curious about what's happening in the dissonant note. Curiosity turns an actor into an agent. How you frame situations changes what happens next. It's possible to pick from a spectrum of choices. Many corporate environments could use more fun and engaging relationships. In many command-and-control cultures perfection is the only option. Mistakes do happen, but they get papered over You never hear from the company, ghosted. Or excused out, “I'm sorry you... Read more →