Bharat Avalani

At heart I have always been a storyteller. Long before job titles or roles, I was someone who collected moments, memories, and experiences—and tried to make sense of them through stories.

I’ve spent much of my career working as a marketer, facilitator, and communicator, including many years with Unilever, and I’ve been lucky to work with leaders and teams all over the world. What I’ve learned along the way is this: stories do what strategies and presentations can’t. They help people feel, connect, and act. That’s why I believe business storytelling is one of the most important leadership skills of the decade ahead.

It took me a long time to figure out how to do this well. I learned through trial and error, plenty of listening, and a fair few missteps. Today, the thing I enjoy most is watching a leader speak in a way that feels real—and seeing an audience lean forward because they’re genuinely engaged. That moment never gets old. It’s what gets me out of bed in the morning.

My friends like to call me a memory collector. I seek experiences. Every journey feels like a story waiting to be told. I take photographs, but for me they’re less about the image and more about the emotion behind it—another way of telling a story.

I’m the Founder and CEO of Connecting the Dots Consultancy and a Global Partner at Anecdote, the world’s largest business storytelling company. I also serve as Secretary General of the Asian Federation of Advertising Associations (AFAA), sit on the Global Board of the International Advertising Association (IAA), and in 2025, I became Adjunct Faculty at the Asia School of Business, in collaboration with MIT Sloan.

At the end of the day, my work is about helping people engage, influence and inspire with more authenticity, humanity, and impact—one story at a time.