Meet the team: Hari
Our Lead Trainer, Hari, has been catching up with our Projects Delivery team to learn more about them and the magic they bring to 13 Times. The tables have now turned, and Hari has answered her very own questions…
Where are you and what’s your time zone?
London, UK. Mostly GMT but I’ve trained classes at 6am and 8pm when needed.
How did you get involved in Storytelling?
Accidentally! I have a master's degree in feature film screenplay, and I harboured a desire to write movies and TV for years. I never got beyond the low budget beginner level in that, but I found that my knowledge of storytelling and pitching came in very handy in my day job, working in digital teams.
After I joined Accenture in 2015 I learned design thinking and recognised the power of strong narrative in general communications and presentations skills. Luckily the stars aligned and I was able to take an internal role as the UKI Storytelling coach for Accenture, where I wrote my first ever training course. And I was hooked!
Ever since then I've taught storytelling, presentation and facilitation skills - first in house at Accenture and since 2020 as the lead trainer of 13 Times, the training brand of Patience Davies Consulting Ltd.
Why is storytelling important to you?
Storytelling helps me make sense of the world. When I’ve gone through tough times, reading stories of people who’ve experienced the same has helped me overcome and heal. When I’ve needed to explain something complex, analogies and anecdotes help me view things in a new light.
I’m neuro-diverse and it’s clear that Storytelling is my special interest. I’ve always been fascinated by stories, and now I get to share that fascination with others in a way that helps them improve their communication skills and confidence. It’s pretty much a dream job.
Name your superpower!
Apart from deep storytelling knowledge I’m also very good at pub quizzes. Lots of random knowledge circulates in my brain and I’ve always been great at making connections and drawing lots of different bits of info together to form a deeper analysis. That helps a lot when planning effective training content and workshops.
Tell us your best training story…
Once upon a time, I was teaching a facilitation excellence class in Krakow and we got to the “what to do if it all goes wrong” part of the class. At which point, the fire alarm went off! Only for a minute, we didn’t even make it to the fire exit before we turned around and went back to the classroom. I’d just started teaching again, when my laptop randomly turned itself off and started installing updates!
I was well prepared so I was able to keep teaching despite losing the slides, but no one believed that I hadn’t set it up as a practical demonstration of what to do when everything goes wrong.
Share one thing everyone should try!
The thing you’ve always secretly wanted to do but haven’t because it scares you.
At the beginning of my career I wanted to be good at public speaking, but it scared me. I’ve had some terrible stage fright over the years - but I kept on trying and standing up to speak and now I teach other people how to do it well.
Now I need to do the next thing, which is to give a speech or teach a class in another language. That’s going to be a big challenge for me!
Hari hosts a free, monthly online session for anyone struggling with stage fright. You can find the latest date on our Resources page.
