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************************************************** CORPORATE STORYTELLING: Discovering Fire for the Second Time Vol. 4 Number 4 2004 Publisher: Evelyn Clark (c) Clark & Company 2004 "If, at the end of your life, you don’t have stories, what have you got?” --Syd Lieberman, Storyteller (quoting a woman in nursing home) 2003 National Storytelling Network Conference You are receiving this e-mail because you expressed interest in Corporate Storytelling and/or requested that you be included on the mailing list. Please forward this E-Zine to anyone you know who is interested in becoming a more effective communicator, or who may want to learn how to supercharge their business/career. PRIVACY STATEMENT: We will not share your address with anyone. Period. =============================================== 1. Special Offer Extended through Sept. 22 2. Recruit, Inspire and Retain 3. Storytelling for Leaders Article 4. This Month's Featured Corporate Story 5. Corporate Storytelling Live =============================================== So we've extended our offer until next Wednesday, Sept. 22. You have two extra days to take advantage of a red-hot price on these three valuable storytelling tools: *An e-book version of Evelyn's new book, Around The Corporate Campfire: How Great Leaders Use Stories To Inspire Success so you can start reading it right away (normally $14.95) *The hard copy of the book (priced at $19.95) *A white paper on Corporate Storytelling (normally $10.97) You'll get all three--a $45.87 value--all for just $26.97! That's a savings of nearly $20 just by ordering between now and September 22. Learn how some of America's top companies are using stories to convey values, vision, and desired behavior. Become a better leader by modeling your communication after the CEOs and executives of companies such as FedEx, Nike, Costco Wholesale, Mary Kay, and The Container Store. Order your storytelling bundle now and save. Click on this link to the special offer for subscribers only and take advantage of this package today: http://www.corpstory.com/cmd.cgi?cmd=adtrack&adid=95953 =============================================== To read the excerpt, which was followed by a recommendation of Around the Corporate Campfire), go to http://www.trainingsys.com/rir/rir0804.htm#IDEAS%20TO%20INSPIRE =============================================== Telecommuting and home-based businesses add to our isolation because growing numbers of us have no one to interact with. Even in offices filled with people, we are so busy that the daily rituals of our past—sharing a coffee break, chatting at the water cooler, taking a few minutes to greet each other before a meeting—have been lost. Joseph Campbell reminds us in The Power of Myth, “When you lose rituals, you lose a sense of civilization; that’s why our society is so out of kilter.” To read the full article, go to http://www.marketingprofs.com/4/clark1.asp =============================================== An opera singer who has appeared all over the world with stars such as Kathleen Battle, Lawrence finds stories to be especially helpful when choir members, many of whom have little musical education or knowledge, don't understand how a particular passage should be sung. " If I if want them to sing through a sound, I ask them to make it more“ blue” instead of being so “red,” or stark," he explains. "I use the imagery of light, too, and if I want them to go from loud to soft, I ask them to imagine how they would feel if they ran up to the throne of God, then, upon seeing him, reacted humbly and backed off. That's storytelling." Lawrence says storytelling is applied regularly as a management tool as well as an element of worship at the 6,000-member church. He credits former senior pastor Walt Gerber, who retired in 2002, with instituting the practice. “Walt’s personal style was to tell us what he’s learned in life, not what he knows,” Lawrence says. “We’re all skeptical when others tell us what they know, but if they tell us what they’ve learned, we have to let them own that. You can’t critique someone else’s experiences, and that leaves you open to hearing their message. "At weekly staff meetings, the question is asked, ‘Did you catch anyone doing something right this week?’ We assume people have been good to others all week, but noticing someone being especially helpful when they didn’t know you were looking really makes the point about the type of behavior we expect in a Christian community. We share those stories all the time.” At Menlo Park member stories also re shared during worship to help people connect with one another on a personal level. Nearly every week someone shares an experience about being overwhelmed with life's challenges and tells how one of the church's ministries made a difference. "The people listening appreciate the individual's willingness to be vulnerable, and the example of how one of our programs helped him or her endorses all the other ministries along with it. That is the single most effective use of stories on the campus," Lawrence says. That practice clearly has helped to attract people to the church. While many mainline churches are struggling to survive, Menlo Park is among those that are not only growing but thriving. "People want an experience, they want to feel something, " Lawrence says. "Knowing things hasn’t fixed anything. We need to understand. My job is not to educate people; it’s to help them get the Gospel message and be transformed by it." Note: Menlo Park's experience with story is related in the "Not for Corporations Only" chapter of Around The Corporate Campfire: How Great Leaders Use Stories To Inspire Success. Go to www.corpstory.com to get your copy--and the special storytelling bundle--copy now. =============================================== Follow-up: Successes at the National Storytelling Conference Evelyn's two programs at the National Storytelling ere both hits! The panel discussion that featured executives from the companies in her book attracted more than twice the number of people who attended the special pre-conference program last year, and several speakers during the rest of the conference--including a keynoter-- referred to insights gained during the discussion. One of Evelyn's colleagues commented that the panel was the most valuable part of the Storytelling in Organizations program because the stories shared gave him hope. "It's great to know that so many companies are doing things right," he said. Thanks to the terrific panelists for their articulate discussion and for
generating a lot of buzz for the rest of the week: And our condolences to Nike's Nelson Farris (whose new title is Global HR Director, Employee Development). Nelson was scheduled to participate in the panel but was unable to because of a death in the family. Our condolences to Nelson and his loved ones. Evelyn's presentation on "Passing the Torch: How Great Leaders Impart Mission, Vision, and Values Through Storytelling" drew an SRO crowd (who actually sat on the floor!) and earned enthusiastic reviews. The entire conference featured accomplished performance storytellers as well as leaders in the field of organizational storytelling. All in all a terrific week! To bring the power of story to your company, or to your organization's
next conference or retreat, book The Corporate Storyteller now. =============================================== =============================================== Evelyn Clark, The Corporate Storyteller t. (Seattle area) 425-827-3998 This article may be republished electronically. Please ensure the following resource box is maintained in tact. © Evelyn Clark, The Corporate Storyteller, is president of Clark & Company, a marketing communication firm in the Seattle area. A public relations practitioner with more than 20 years experience, she was accredited by the Public Relations Society of America in 1986. Her firm's services include facilitation of retreats and communication workshops, marketing and communication management, media relations strategy development, and media training. http://www.CorpStory.com All Content © Clark & Company 1993-2004 (unless otherwise indicated). All rights reserved. |
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