Our holiday continues, moving on from the tall temples of Tamil Nadu to the serene rice terraces of Ubud in Bali.

Plus, Bali's got some gorgeous architecture. Their temples (and even houses) look straight out of an exotic Hindu-oriental fairy tale.

Do make a plan to visit this lovely island if you haven't been here yet!

And now, on to the newsletter.

Welcome to the one hundred and eleventh edition of '3-2-1 by Story Rules'.

A newsletter recommending good examples of storytelling across:

3 tweets
2 articles, and
1 long-form content piece

Let's dive in.

𝕏 3 Tweets of the week

Solid advice from Wes Kao. Get your thinking clear, the words will follow.

I hope everyone is doing ok after the stock market crash the last week!

Ouch, that picture speaks thousands of words. (They missed Asia though)

📄 2 Articles of the week

a. 'You're More Persuadable Than You Think' by Will Storr

Will Storr's latest book (A Story is a Deal) is a great read on the fundamental power of stories in our lives. In this article he writes about the persuasive power of stories.

Storr talks about the power of group identity for humans:

You cannot understand humans without understanding our groupish instincts, and the incredibly powerful hold they have over our thinking. When we identify with a group, and join it, we allow it to possess a corner of our mind, or more.

Storr writes that identity changes our perception of reality:

As we journey through our days, and in and out of our various groups, our perception of reality changes, depending on which social identity we happen to be plugged into. When we ‘identify’ with a group, and then connect with it, it’s not that we just start doing things in its company. Something far more profound takes place. Our perception of reality, and our idea of who we should be within it, merges with that of the group.

Storr gives examples of six ways in which our group identity influences our reality. Here's an example:

In a study of sports enthusiasts, when participants adopted their ‘fan’ identity, they became less conscientious, more disagreeable and more extraverted. Their personalities changed, and they changed in sync, so the group’s members all became more similar to each other.

And if you think you are immune, you're not:

It can be tempting to read studies like these and think, ‘yes, but not me’. But it is you. It’s me as well. The uncomfortable truth is that our personality changes – and our tastes, opinions, perception of value, pleasure, space, size, threat, political beliefs, our morality – all change too, depending on which identities we have absorbed into our own.

b. Lost in translation: How does the IPL overcome its many language barriers?

This is a lovely article on ESPNCricinfo about how players manage lingustic differences in the Indian Premier League.

Ex-cricketer Piyush Chawla speaks about the issues he faced when he didn't know much English:

The first dressing room he joined, Kings XI Punjab, featured a strong Australian contingent, including Brett Lee, Shaun Marsh, and head coach Tom Moody. "English wasn't the problem. The accent was the problem," Chawla says, laughing. He relied on team-mates - like captain Yuvraj Singh - to act as translators: "I used to ask Yuvi all the time: 'What did he just say?'"

Many of the coaching and support staff become translators too:

In many cases, multilingual players and support staff find themselves acting as translators. "Whenever new domestic players come into the IPL, you have to be aware of it," says Mike Hesson, who spent five years working at Kings XI Punjab and Royal Challengers Bengaluru after coaching his native New Zealand. "You might need to deliver a message across a number of different mediums."

This is a hilarious incident about the limitations of communicating with gestures:

David Warner, Sunrisers' captain, would converse with Mustafizur primarily using body language, and once described pointing to his head at mid-off in an attempt to tell his young fast bowler to use his head. Mustafizur appeared to take it on board, but then ran in and bowled a bouncer: he had interpreted the message to mean he should aim at the batter's head.

It looks like the IPL has found its balance in managing the lingustic divides. It would be a great case study for someone studying organisational culture:

Gradually, most franchises have employed more local backroom and support staff. "It was quite organic," Moody says. "We found that our staff covered a number of different areas organically, and between us could speak English, Hindi, Tamil… It became a bit of a melting pot of players and staff that could all contribute to the central cause."

📖 1 long-form read of the week

a. 'A Gentleman in Moscow' by Amor Towles

After ages, I started reading fiction - with this highly acclaimed book. And it's been a great read so far!

I've just completed about 15% of the book, but have been struck by many lovely sentences already.

He uses this lovely chiasmus here:

...if a man does not master his circumstances then he is bound to be mastered by them.

Such a gentle and warm way of saying that a book is difficult to read:

The books the bellhops had lugged to the attic had been his father’s and, devoted as they were to studies of rational philosophy and the science of modern agriculture, each promised heft and threatened impenetrability.

Tell: "He had long fingers".

Show:

...his most distinguishing feature was not his looks, his height, or his hair. It was his hands. Pale and well manicured, his fingers were half an inch longer than the fingers of most men his height. Had he been a pianist, Andrey could easily have straddled a twelfth. Had he been a puppeteer, he could have performed the sword fight between Macbeth and Macduff as all three witches looked on.

Boring way: "The clock struck twelve noon". The poetic way:

Until, suddenly, that long-strided watchman of the minutes caught up with his bowlegged brother at the top of the dial. As the two embraced, the springs within the clock’s casing loosened, the wheels spun, and the miniature hammer fell, setting off the first of those dulcet tones that signaled the arrival of noon.

And there is much wisdom hiding in simple sentences:

...pomp is a tenacious force. And a wily one too. How humbly it bows its head as the emperor is dragged down the steps and tossed in the street. But then, having quietly bided its time, while helping the newly appointed leader on with his jacket, it compliments his appearance and suggests the wearing of a medal or two.

I'd recommend the book if you haven't read it yet!

That's all from this week's edition.

Ravi

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Ravishankar Iyer

Extracts from an Acclaimed Novel (3-2-1 by Story Rules #111)

𝕏 3 Tweets of the week

📄 2 Articles of the week

📖 1 long-form read of the week

Why the Indus Valley Report is so Popular (3-2-1 by Story Rules #113)

What Bali can Teach the World (3-2-1 by Story Rules #112)

How Different Countries Communicate (3-2-1 by Story Rules #110)