*a “Skroplap” is Afrikaans slang for the dirtiest dishcloth of them all, the one that is used to clean the messiest mess. I first noticed “Skroplap” as he strolled easily into the MDs office in the middle of our meeting. Skroplap took the contents of the MDs “Out” tray and left as unobtrusively as he had […]
Tag: organizational storytelling
The advertising industry has known for a long time that education (changing behaviour) and entertainment can be combined into a powerful propaganda tool. This is education, not through repetition, but through intensity of experience – not by rote but by rite. Edutainment is a combination of the concepts of education and entertainment. It refers to […]
These Resources are designed to accompany the Storytelling in the Digital Age workshop. How one stupid tweet blew up Justine Sacco’s life http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/magazine/how-one-stupid-tweet-ruined-justine-saccos-life.html?_r=0 The story behind the world’s most expensive skin cream – http://beautystyled.com/2014/08/17/some-thoughts-on-creme-de-la-mer/ General Electric Mission / Vision Statements http://www.strategicmanagementinsight.com/mission-statements/general-electric-mission-statement.html Periodic Table of Storytelling – If you’re feeling a scientific bent and would like […]
All stories have a shelf life, a time beyond which they start to fall apart and forgotten. This is a natural and normal process and applies to all entities that make use of stories. Empires, kingdoms and reputations are all ultimately narrative based; all political and economic power is contained in story. Since all power is story […]
Conversations that Count: In an age where digital monologues, selfies and superficial chats are the norm, the power of conversation is waning. Disconnected in our connected world, text, email and social media exchanges are hardly interactive, let alone conversational. TV, live-streamed and public-event ‘conversations’, from political debates to discussion groups, tend to be immature, combative […]
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Telling a story with impact
What makes a story have the desired effect? Simply, the story must meet certain criteria. The story must be appealing. It must be memorable. It must stimulate the imagination. It must have an element of suspense. It will often involve drama but will also be authentic and make it easy for the listener to identify […]
Stories are used for many different purposes in organisations ranging from literal day-to-day stories through specialised stories designed to stimulate change, develop people and teams and even describe the organisations’ future. Stories as used in organisations can be broken down in three major kinds: Literal Stories – Literal stories appeal to the logical mind and […]