Ep 43 | Storytelling, Arts, and Science with Speaker Sriram Emani

Check out Sriram's Keynotes at www.audacityspeakers.comOr invite him to speak - [email protected] TO EPISODE 43Storytelling is at the heart of everything we do - it's how we communicate, it's how we build relationships, and most importantly, it's how we entertain each other. Of late, business teams are starting to understand the power of this art to try to bridge this distinction between arts and management. In this episode of the Advance Podcast, Mike interviews Sriram Emani, Founder of IndianRaga, one of the largest global social media platforms for Indian Performing Arts. He is a 2015 Global Fellow with the International Society for the Performing Arts (ISPA), where he was the only Indian out of 52 Fellows from across the world!Sriram shares his thoughts on arts and science and how they work in unison to create better things for society. He also talks about his passion for storytelling, the value points from his Ted Talk about the importance of being imprecise, his thoughts on uniting different cultures, the challenges faced, and how to use art to power innovation.EPISODE 43 SUMMARY & HIGHLIGHTSHow do you differentiate art and science?4:34When you have an established practice, a protocol, process, or formula, you call it science, but when it's still new, and there are different interpretations possible, you call it art. Art gives us a multitude of perspectives and backgrounds for us to learn from. What are your lessons from doing things nobody has ever done before (like living as a nomad with 50 families)?7:11While I was doing my MBA from MIT, I kept hearing people talk about market research. I learned that people might give you answers, but they don’t always know what they want. So even if you ask a lot of questions, you get stereotypical answers, and that's detrimental to innovation because you're not really getting what you want. Over the years, I’ve also learned what globalization of culture really means. It's a way of really one generation talking to another or expressing. Where do you think storytelling holds the most significance today?14:05Storytelling holds significance almost everywhere. It doesn't matter if it's a data analytics company, entertainment company, consulting firm, finance company - metaphors, analogies, and stories are the most powerful tools to convince and analyze your audience. It helps you engage with your audience and build a connection with them. Why do you think traditional boxes are important?17:12I learned that there always is a role and will be a role for history in our lives. It can help you draw a parallel between the then and now. Traditional boxes are essential because sometimes you want to build on a body of work. And for that, you need all individual boxes and components that you can draw from to get to a certain level. Then you build on top of that. So you need all of the innovation and creativity that come in from these individual boxes - they're always going to be very important.What do you think the Eastern and Western civilizations can learn from each other? What can the audience learn from the integration of those?24:54Can you give us a snapshot of your Ted talk where you talk about the value of being imprecise?30:20(FULL SHOW NOTES FOR FREE:  https://connect.stepstoadvance.com)KEY QUOTES:3:31-3:545:30-5:3617:12-17:41CONNECT WITH SRIRAMLinkedIn CONNECT WITH MIKELinkedIn