A Storied Career
Kathy Hansen's Blog to explore traditional and postmodern forms/uses of storytelling.
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Q&A with a Story Guru: Steve Spalding: From Electrical Engineering to Storytelling
Steve Spalding, who calls himself “chief storyteller” at his firm, initially caught my eye because he’s based in one of my all-time favorite cities, Gainesville, FL, where I met my husband, married him, and had my first child. Then I became intrigued with the work he’s doing in digital storytelling, Web design, branding/imaging, social-media strategy, advertising management, SEO, and education/coaching, as well as his interesting blog, How to Split an Atom. Finally, I... |
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Six-Word 'Stories' from Tony Nominees
I have faithfully watched the Tony Awards for as long as I can remember. Like most viewers (I’m guessing), my experience with seeing Broadway shows in the flesh is quite limited. My dad, who was living in the Big Apple in the 70s, once treated me to a glorious weekend of seeing two Broadway and two off-Broadway shows. But I love the Tonys because, for one night, they transport me to The Great White Way (just got curious about the derivation of that term. Wikipedia says: “a mile of... |
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Fund-raising Discourse is Story-Deficient, Research Finds
Storytelling is a hot topic in fund-raising and philanthropy. Andy Goodman is arguably the leading evangelist for storytelling in fund-raising; the folks at NTEN (membership organization of nonprofit professionals who put technology to use for their causes) regularly hold storytelling webinars; and my friend Thaler Pekar consults with nonprofits about storytelling and writes about story on PhilanTopic. Thus, you might think that discourse about fund-raising is story-laden. Not so, says Frank... |
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Q&A with a Story Guru: Steve Krizman: Integrating Storytelling with Internal Communications, Marketing, PR, and Multimedia Relations
See a photo of Steve, his bio, Part 1 of this Q&A, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4. Q&A with Steve Krizman, Question 5: Q: In your LinkedIn profile, you note that in your current job, you “direct a team that integrates storytelling, internal communications, marketing, public relations and multi-media relations.” Can you offer an example or two of how you integrate storytelling into this work? A: I direct integrated communications for the Colorado region of Kaiser Permanente,... |
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Q&A with a Story Guru: Steve Krizman: Visual Storytelling Moves to the Forefront
See a photo of Steve, his bio, Part 1 of this Q&A, Part 2, and Part 3. Q&A with Steve Krizman, Question 4: Q: What future trends or directions to do foresee for story/storytelling/narrative? What’s next for the discipline? What future aspirations do you personally have for your own story work? What would you like to do in the story world that you haven’t yet done? A: There already is greater emphasis on visual storytelling in organizational communication. The sensational... |
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Q&A with a Story Guru: Steve Krizman: Social Media = Storytelling, Real-Time Anthropology
See a photo of Steve, his bio, Part 1 of this Q&A, and Part 2. Q&A with Steve Krizman, Question 3: Q: The culture is abuzz about Web 2.0 and social media. To what extent do you participate in social media (such as through LinkedIn, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Second Life, blogs, etc.)? To what extent and in what ways do you feel these venues are storytelling media? A: I am an early and enthusiastic adopter of social media. I have written several blogs (currently Tropes),... |
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Q&A with a Story Guru: Steve Krizman: Strong Story Needed to Make Broken Health-Care System More Real
See a photo of Steve, his bio, and Part 1 of this Q&A. Q&A with Steve Krizman, Question 2: Q: If you could identify a person or organization who desperately needs to tell a better story, who or what would it be? A: We need a strong story - or stories — to make our broken health-care system more real to more of us. Facts: The United States pays more per capita on health care than any other country, yet our quality of care is among the worst in the industrialized world. Despite... |
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Q&A with a Story Guru: Steve Krizman: Leaders Need Analogies to Help Explain Complex Ideas
I believe it was through a comment to this blog that I first learned of Steve Krizman. We share common roots in journalism. I’m so pleased to present his Q&A over the next five days. If you are squeamish and/or an animal lover, brace yourself for his first paragraph below. Bio: [From Steve’s LinkedIn profile]: “I enjoy using my communication and team-building skills to bring people together in common cause for the betterment of our world. I currently lead the Integrated... |
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My Phone-Phobia Story
One of my occasional forays into my own story… I am extremely uncomfortable — nay, phobic — when it comes to talking on the phone. I dread making phone calls and very rarely answer the phone. Many people find my problem very weird. Some even disdain me. I don’t think my issue is any stranger than the phobia my mother and sister have about driving over bridges. (Neither can do so, and they have to plot out intricate routes when they drive to ensure they won’t encounter... |
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Creating a Culture of Storytelling
Steve Denning published a blog entry last month on an important but often overlooked topic in organizational storytelling — how to create a culture of storytelling within the organization. He offers six steps for doing so. Though grounded in Denning’s earlier work in storytelling, the steps seem very much tied to his more recent work for his upcoming book, The Leader’s Guide to Radical Management. If I ever have the opportunity to teach again, I would consider implementing... |
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How Is Your Organization Using Video Storytelling? New Survey Will Uncover Best Practices
The Society for New Communications Research, which I mentioned way back in the second year of this blog, is conducting research on how organizations use video storytelling. Here’s what the organization is looking for: Every organization has stories designed to communicate who they are to both external and internal audiences. Stories are a powerful force for internal innovation and external customer connection. The results of this study will yield insight into best practices for organizations... |
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Those Unattached to Their Interior Story Get Addicted to Feedback
One of the recent podcast interviews in Michael Margolis’s The New Storytellers series featured the wonderful Christina Baldwin, author of one of the seminal books in the current storytelling movement, Storycatcher. I was particularly fascinated by the part of the conversation about introverted vs. extroverted storytelling. Storytelling on social-media venues like Facebook is an example of extroverted storytelling, Baldwin says, and it’s often incomplete and unsatisfying storytelling.... |
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Could We Be at the End of the Storytelling Bubble?
Reaching a zenith in 2008 and 2009, a steady stream of new Web sites to facilitate online storytelling seemed to pop up regularly. I list many of these sites here and here. Not only am I seeing a dramatic drop in announcements of new online storytelling venues, but I recently received notice of the impending closure (on June 30) of one such site, Tokoni, the interface of which is shown below. Perhaps there’s nothing to read into the demise of this site. Perhaps storytelling sites have... |
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Social-Security Stories Sought for Program's 75th Anniversary
The Social Security Stories Project is a newly launched effort to gather stories about the importance of Social Security in our society, says a press release. The Social Security Stories Project is seeking story submissions from the public, with a goal of receiving 1,000 stories by the end of July. The stories will then be reviewed for possible inclusion in a new book to be published in honor of the 75th anniversary of Social Security on Aug. 14, 2010. ... |
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Q&A with a Story Guru: Gregg Morris: Inciting Incidents Drive the Best Stories
See a photo of Gregg, his bio, Part 1 of this Q&A, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, and Part 6 Q&A with Gregg Morris, Question 7: Q: You write that your site, What’s Your Story?, is “about stories and storytelling and how to use and tell those as you go about reinventing yourself and your business in light of the revolutionary changes going on in our society.” Without revealing all your trade secrets, can you talk a bit about how people can use storytelling... |
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Q&A with a Story Guru: Gregg Morris: The Better We Listen, the Better Our Storytelling Becomes
See a photo of Gregg, his bio, Part 1 of this Q&A, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5. Q&A with Gregg Morris, Question 6: Q: If you could share just one piece of advice or wisdom about story/storytelling/narrative with readers, what would it be? A: Work on your listening skills. Grow bigger ears. In my experience, the better we listen the better our storytelling becomes. We seem to have entered an age of conversational storytelling. An age where we are being encouraged... |
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Q&A with a Story Guru: Gregg Morris: BP, Catholic Church Need Better Stories
See a photo of Gregg, his bio, Part 1 of this Q&A, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 3, and Part 4. Q&A with Gregg Morris, Question 5: Q: If you could identify a person or organization who desperately needs to tell a better story, who or what would it be? A: I can’t pass this question up. I suppose at the moment BP would be first on just about everyone’s list but, hands down, I think it’s the Roman Catholic Church. Maybe it’s because I was raised a Catholic, was an... |
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Q&A with a Story Guru: Gregg Morris: Inspired by the 'Solar System of Story'
See a photo of Gregg, his bio, Part 1 of this Q&A, Part 2, and Part 3. Q&A with Gregg Morris, Question 4: Q: What people or entities have been most influential to you in your story work and why? A: I had been reading Annette Simmons’ books during the last year of my time in the C-suite, and as I started to investigate and research the world of storytelling I found the pioneering work of folks like you, Doug Lipman, Steve Denning, Rolf Jensen, Thaler Pekar, Sean Buvala, Jim... |
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Q&A with a Story Guru: Gregg Morris: We Need to Tell Stories to Connect to Our Emotional Worlds and to Each Other
See a photo of Gregg, his bio, Part 1 of this Q&A, and Part 2. Q&A with Gregg Morris, Question 3: Q: The storytelling movement seems to be growing explosively. Why now? What is it about this moment in human history and culture that makes storytelling so resonant with so many people right now? A: This question fascinates me, and I could talk your ear off about it for quite some time. I think that the movement toward storytelling has been gaining momentum since the mid 1990s. Digital... |
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Q&A with a Story Guru: Gregg Morris: Business Growth Requires Stories That Resonate Emotionally with Customers
See a photo of Gregg, his bio, and Part 1 of this Q&A. Q&A with Gregg Morris, Question 2: Q: How did you initially become involved with story/storytelling/narrative? What attracted you to this field? What do you love about it? A: My earliest memories are story-related, so I guess I’ve been involved in it since I was a young boy. My parents got married quite young, and we lived with my maternal grandmother when I was growing up. In effect, since both of my folks were working... |