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CORPORATE STORYTELLING:
Discovering Fire for the Second Time
Vol. 6 Number 2 2006
Publisher: Evelyn Clark
evelyn@corpstory.com http://www.corpstory.com
(c) Clark & Company 2006
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"McKee believes that executives can engage listeners
on a whole new level if they toss their PowerPoint slides and learn
to tell good stories instead."
--Harvard Business Review
about Screenwriter and Corporate Consultant Robert McKee
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IN THIS ISSUE
1. Stories as Hallmarks of Great Organizations
2. Personal Stories to Enhance Negotiations
3. Corporate Stories in India
4. Storytelling Critical for IT
5. Corporate Storytelling Live
1. Stories as Hallmarks of Great Organizations
"Stories about shared hardships as well as shared successes
are the hallmarks of great organizations," says author and
leadership consultant John Baldoni. "Good communication, especially
in the form of stories about people who have overcome obstacles,
is vital to achieving inspired results."
Agreeing with many other management experts who believe that "good
leaders are good storytellers," Baldoni profiles several well-known
leaders in his latest book, How Great Leaders Achieve Great Results.
The leaders he features have used their communication skills "to
connect with their people in ways that make what needs to be done
accessible and achievable," says Baldoni, a leadership consultant
for more than 20 years and author of six books.
To read this entire article go to http://www.prleap.com/pr/22834/
2. Personal Stories to Enhance Negotiations
When you negotiate with your boss, clients, business associates—or
even your teenagers—do you think of them as natives of a distant
land? Perhaps you should. In his book, The Negotiation Fieldbook,
Grande Lum relates how cross-cultural negotiation techniques—especially
personal storytelling—can prevent miscommunications and misunderstandings.
Think about it. When you travel to a foreign country, you accept
that you don't know everything. You ask more questions and follow
up to make sure you understand the locals correctly. You are more
sensitive as to how you may be coming across to someone of another
cultural background. But, "in everyday negotiations at home,
you are more likely to sense you are right and the other party is,
well, not as right," Lum says. Instead, if you use the mind-set
of a tourist, you will become a more successful negotiator in your
own backyard. And a very important negotiating tool is storytelling.
"Help the other party by sharing your story, what is important
to you, and how you have become the negotiator you are," Lum
advises. Then listen to the other person's story. Ask questions.
By sharing stories, you will see each other as individuals whose
needs and views are just as important as your own.
To read this article in its entirety, go to http://www.expresscomputeronline.com/20051128/technologylife02.shtml
3. Corporate Stories in India
In an article for The Hindu Business Line, Sashi Ravichandran
reports on his company's storytelling practices, which demonstrate
that the "narrative craft can be effectively used in companies
to transmit core values and build a strong corporate culture." The
management team at the multi-national corporation sponsors theme
weeks, during which storytelling is used to communicate its core
company values to the staff. As Ravichandran explains, "A theme
week is a week dedicated to engaging the staff in a core corporate
message through challenging and creative activities, posters, e-mails
and presentations."
During one theme week, the company's designated corporate
storyteller, Vinitha, told a group of new trainees a simple story
about a recent company fundraiser. It was a real story that detailed "a
momentous company event, the passionate engagement of staff and their
unified effort towards an eminent official visit." The story
had the trainees spellbound -- and left them motivated.
A member of the company's leadership team, Vinitha has been consistently
using corporate anecdotes to inspire a sense of belonging in her
team. She uses stories to "inspire, spark action, build collaborative
teams, give employees a vison for the future and transmit core company
values to build a strong corporate culture," demonstrating
that "well-told stories excite the imagination of the listener
and spark a state of active thinking."
To read Vinitha's story in greater detail and learn more about the
art of good storytelling, go to http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/life/2005/12/30/stories/2005123000110200.htm
4. Storytelling Critical for IT
Technologies of storytelling and persuasion are "most critical
to the IT industry in the coming year," according to Thornton
A. May, a management consultant and Computerworld columnist, says
in the latest issue of the magazine. "In 2006, we stand on
the cusp of an amazing technology renaissance. We have three-plus
years of accumulated tech innovation champing at the bit waiting
to be let out and generate value." May says.
"IT professionals are going to have to open the gates. To
do this they must paint -- via simulation, process visualization
and financial modeling what the future could look like. Picture painting/persuading
will need to be linked with portfolio management and project management
tools."
For more on this and other predictions for the coming year, go to http://www.computerworld.com/networkingtopics/networking/story/0,10801,107251,00.html
5. Corporate Storytelling Live
Evelyn's interview on the Jim Blasingame show, "The
Small Business Advocate," is now posted on the Web for your
listening pleasure. To hear the entire conversation, based on Evelyn's
book, Around the Corporate Campfire: How Great Leaders Use Stories
to Inspire Success," go to
http://www.jimblasingame.com/cgi-bin/archivesbybtsub.cgi?bt=-1&sub=3
and scroll down to Evelyn's listing, then click on "click
to listen."
To subscribe to this e-zine, either complete the
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Need help with your brand messaging? Bring the power
of story to your company, or to your organization's next conference
or retreat. Book The Corporate Storyteller now. Call 1-866-818-8079.
Evelyn Clark, The Corporate Storyteller
Author, Around the Corporate Campfire
t. 425-827-3998 (Seattle area)
e. evelyn@corpstory.com
w. www.corpstory.com
To subscribe to this e-zine, either complete the short form on any
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