Start In The Middle: neuemotion’s Ted Harrison on Crafting Stories, Creative Rubric & Career Advice

In our pre-show series for Future of Finance Marketing, we go behind the scenes with speakers and partners to learn more about each person’s creative process, tools, and career—the stuff we don’t get to talk about on stage.In this episode, Ted Harrison Founder of neuemotion, dives into science-backed creative ideas, the power of nonlinear storytelling, and leveraging AI to discover unique trends. Plus, he shares career advice for anyone ready to advance. Below are some key takeaways—play the full episode for more insights.Do You Even Want To Do This?In Ted’s book Entrepreneurial Creative, he shares a seven-question rubric for validating ideas, asking questions like, "Is the process by which this idea is going to come alive scalable?" and "Do I even want to do this?" This ensures ideas are both feasible and aligned with the team's goals.Start in the Middle to Boost EngagementNonlinear storytelling is the opportunity area right now. Ted explains, "We don't know when our audience is jumping into the story, so how can we tell a part that is just interesting enough at any insertion point for them to want to find out the rest?" Craft narratives that intrigue viewers at any entry point. Watch Christopher Nolan films to see this in action (e.g., Oppenheimer, Interstellar).Feeding AI for Better InsightsTed uses AI tools like ChatGPT to process large volumes of data and uncover unique trends. He explains, "I've been downloading every trends report that comes out and feeding it constantly into AI to understand holistically what everyone is saying... and asking, what are the outliers here?"Perception is the Reality For Your CareerReflecting on advice that transformed his career: "The perception of you is the reality of where you're at in your career." Ted explains how this pushed him to transition from being seen as someone detail-oriented who executes to a broader thought leader: "You need to pull yourself out, provide some thought leadership... and communicate more broadly."Tune into the full episode for more, including why Ted doesn’t disregard people who have been wrong about trends (and what we can learn from them). Plus, what today’s digital footprints might mean for the future.Follow neuemotion on social to stay up-to-date with Ted’s work.See You At The SummitUpgrade for On-Demand access here and rewatch all the sessions.We’re proud to partner with neuemotion to bring you this training. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit futureoffinancemarketing.com/subscribe