A Potpourri of Vestiges Feature
Editor-in-chief, A Potpourri of Vestiges, Murtaza Ali Khan, recently caught up with Dr Amit Nagpal, PhD, who is one of the pioneers of digital storytelling in India. After working for more than two decades in academics, and corporate (including publishing, television and digital marketing), he realized teaching is meditation and storytelling is his Nirvana. He is also Chief Inspirational Storyteller at AL Services. AL Services has co-created stories of some of the most inspiring people in India and abroad. Dr. Nagpal is the author of the book ‘Personal Branding, Storytelling And Beyond’. He tweets at @DrAmitInspires.
Here is a summary of the Q&A session we had with the esteemed author:
Murtaza:
Congratulations, Dr. Nagpal, for your book, ‘Personal Branding, Storytelling
And Beyond’!
Dr. Nagpal: Many thanks
Murtaza for your warm wishes. The book has been No 1 on Amazon for past 4
months in personal branding category. It is also available on most of the
online platforms like Flipkart, Paytm, Snapdeal etc and also in major book
store chains across India.
Murtaza: ‘Personal
Branding, Storytelling And Beyond’ has been receiving positive reviews all over.
Tell us about your book and what inspired you to write it?
Dr. Nagpal: My journey in
personal branding and storytelling is six year old now. I wanted to share my
experiences and learning of this journey with the readers.
The book also takes the reader on a journey viz from base
feeling to higher emotions, from branding to bonding, from self promotion to
inspirational storytelling, making it an interesting journey of evolution and
learning.
Social media tools have made it easier to build a personal brand
online and network with people across the world and both working professionals
and entrepreneurs can take advantage of the low cost brand building process.
Social media also requires a new mindset of collaboration, creativity and open
mindedness to new ideas /cultures.
Murtaza: You
have written this book in collaboration with Dr. Prakash Hindustani. Tell us
about your collaboration with Dr. Hindustani and what are the biggest
challenges while coauthoring a book?
Dr. Nagpal: The
co-authors need to have complementary skills and their thinking patterns and
ideologies need to match. While Dr Prakash is a mass media expert, my expertise
lies in social media. We have presented our book to many celebrities and
leaders including Governor of Harayana Prof Kaptan Singh and CM of Chattisgarh
Dr Raman Singh.
We are based in 2 different cities, so coordination over phone
and email was required. Since we have known each other for nearly 15 years,
coordination was not a problem.
Murtaza: What
is the importance of digital storytelling and branding in today’s competitive
age? What role can social media play in this?
Dr. Nagpal: Storytelling
is the most powerful branding tool, be it organizations, startups, products or
people. Earlier branding was done only
through mass media which was expensive and out of reach of SMEs and
professionals. Social media is a game changer in that sense. Digital
storytelling has a variety of formats ranging from text to visual, from PPT to
podcast besides video of course.
Social media is slightly biased towards people branding, because
people want to converse and build relationships with people and not
organizations. In fact people prefer to read people stories vis-à-vis
organizational stories.
Organisational stories have to be interwoven with people stories
to make them more effective and catchy to read.
Murtaza: Tell
us about your journey as a motivational writer, storyteller and an author. How
did it all start?
Dr. Nagpal: My first book
(From News to Infotainment to Tamasha) was based on my PhD thesis and my second
book (The 7 Joys of Life) has inspiring stories from my life.
As a child I had been fond of creative writing, though I used to
write poetry mostly and less of prose. I began writing management articles
around 2001 and blogs around 2010.
In the next 6 years, three books followed.
Murtaza: The
youth in today’s age has to be deal with endless competition. The expectations
of family and friends are sky high. How can he/she increase his/her chances of
success?
Dr. Nagpal: I recommend a
three step route to success. First step needs to be to discover our deep or
sustainable passion. Second step needs to be building relevant skills and
attitude. Third step is to build ‘Brand You’.
Only if one has deep passion, one is able to win against odds
and have devilish persistence. One is also able to enjoy the journey rather
than being focused on a mirage of a destination.
Murtaza: Writing is often described
as a painstaking process. How do you see it? What would be your advice to
aspiring writers?
Dr. Nagpal: Writing is painstaking as one need to sculpt words.
One needs to rewrite and edit at least 2-3 times to create good content. To
create great content, one may needs 5 or more rounds of editing and word
sculpting.
I learnt ‘Word sculpting’ from Dr Janet Smith Warfield, a well known author based in Florida, USA. It requires cutting the flab or removing unnecessary words, adding the drama, rewriting, to make it more impactful by adding emphasis and so on.
I learnt ‘Word sculpting’ from Dr Janet Smith Warfield, a well known author based in Florida, USA. It requires cutting the flab or removing unnecessary words, adding the drama, rewriting, to make it more impactful by adding emphasis and so on.
You can order your copy of ‘Personal Branding, Storytelling And Beyond’ at:
Readers, please feel free to share your opinion by leaving your comments. As always your valuable thoughts are highly appreciated!
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