In yesterday’s entry, I proposed deploying transmedia storytelling on an individual basis for the purpose of, say, getting a job or attracting clients.

I used a framework suggested by Jeff Gomez, president and CEO of Starlight Runner Entertainment, for looking at individual transmedia storytelling.

Gomez (who very kindly stopped by and commented on yesterday’s entry) also figures prominently in today’s installment, via a blog entry from almost two years ago by transmedia-storytelling expert extraordinaire Christy Dena, Jeff Gomez’s “8 Defining Characteristics of Transmedia Production”.

So let’s look at the 8 characteristics (have these changed at all in two years?). At the same time, let’s take a sample individual/job-seeker. Allison Cody, who commented on yesterday’s entry, briefly noted that individual transmedia storytelling is already in practice. I have no doubt of that, but I have not yet taken the time to research examples. Therefore, the most convenient example to use is myself, although I am an imperfect example.

Let’s say I would like a job teaching at the college level, which coincidentally I would (my current geographic situation makes that notion difficult, but I’d make a kick-butt online teacher).

Here are Gomez’s 8 defining characteristics of a transmedia production, as reported by Dena. I’ve looked at each one in relation to individual/job-seeker/my transmedia storytelling and tried to provide some examples:

1. Content is originated by one or a very few visionaries: Obviously this one works for the individual, who could originate his or her content, perhaps with the assistance of a career coach, branding strategist, or technical guru.
2. Cross-media rollout is planned early in the life of the franchise: Sure. That works. The individual could plan early in, for example, a job search how to roll out the transmedia story.
3. Content is distributed to three or more media platforms: No problem here. I discuss personal example below.
4. Content is unique, adheres to platform-specific strengths, and is not repurposed from one platform to the next: This characteristic should also not be a problem for the individual but requires a new kind of thinking. For example, even if a job-seeker has a presence on several platforms, it’s likely to a very similar presence with a lot of repetition. The job-seeker needs to think outside the box not to simply repurpose the same content from one platform to the next.
5. Content is based on a single vision for the story world: This piece is perhaps the most difficult piece for the individual, who must work at communicating a storied vision of himself or herself. This piece can also be thought of as the individual’s personal brand, or rather his or her storied personal brand. Examples abound of individuals and job-seekers who have promoted themselves across multiple media, but have they done so in a cohesive, storied way?
6. Concerted effort is made to avoid fractures and schisms: I am not 100 percent sure of what this one means, but I think it refers to story discontinuity, illogical leaps that result in cognitive dissonance. The individual would need to ensure that the story flows logically and makes sense.
7. Effort is vertical across company, third parties and licensees: This one is really the only one that doesn’t apply to the individual
8. Rollout features audience participatory elements, including:

• Web portal
• Social networking
• Story-guided user-generated content

The individual can absolutely make these participatory features available. Whether the desired audience would use them is another question.

Now, let’s look more closely at characteristics 3 and 8 — media on which the individual can tell the story and audience participatory elements.

Three or more media platforms are required. What might they be in my case?

1. Slideshow/video on YouTube describing my teaching story — how I got into teaching, what my strengths are, and where I want to go next.
2. Photos showing students working in teams, having meaningful learning experiences. The photos could be on a photo-sharing site like Flickr, or on Facebook, where I really do have a collection of great photos of one of my classes. However, the photos need a storyline. I need better captions and a better overall way of presenting the story of teaching this class.

3. I can think of a number of possibilities for the third (and perhaps subsequent) media, but again I must keep in mind the storytelling aspect. I could make a video of teaching a class on storytelling, or a class in which I tell part of my story, or interweave the stories of my students with mine. I could set up a mini-online teaching platform in which I demonstrate my skills in online teaching but, again must consider how to tell another part of my story in this demo. I could show sample syllabi (again, story, story, story) on the Web.

And now let’s look at possible audience participatory elements:

• Web portal: Check. I could use my personal Web site, my social media resume, my teaching portfolio, or this blog; however only the blog is currently set up for audience participation, and all portals need to do a better, more cohesive job of telling my story.
• Social networking: Check. Probably the No. 1 venue at which I am integrating both my personal and professional stories is Facebook (and many of my Facebook friends are my former students), but perhaps I would want to set up a “Fan” page on Facebook to focus on the professional side. LinkedIn, of course, is a much more professional venue, but there is little opportunity for audience participation. I’ve split my Twitter accounts into personal and professional, but the professional probably needs to be more storied. And this blog can certainly be considered a social-networking venue, is set up for audience participation, and shows my passion and thought-leadership (I would certainly want storytelling to be a major focus of my teaching).
• Story-guided user-generated content: This one is the trickiest for the individual. I could set up some sort of forum with my former students so they could help tell my story by commenting on my teaching. I could have some sort of live chat where employers could ask me questions about my teaching, and I could give storied responses. As already mentioned, I could set up an area to provide interactive samples of online teaching but would have to find a way to advance my story).

The biggest flaw I see in transmedia storytelling for the individual job-seeker is the difficulty in building an audience. Transmedia storytelling in the fictional world of movies generally has a built-in audience that is anticipating a movie’s release. Films that lend themselves to transmedia productions often tend to translate well to videogames that tell a different part of the story and don’t merely repurpose the movie’s plot. Perhaps that’s what I need: Kathy Hansen: The Teaching Videogame.

So, I throw this wacky notion open to you, readers: What examples have you seen of effective transmedia storytelling by individuals/job-seekers? How can an individual attract a reasonably large audience for a transmedia storytelling effort?

Entry by Kathy Hansen. Learn more.

What I’m about to propose here may be wacky, but it’s also timely, given personal-branding guru Dan Schawbel’s blog post yesterday asking readers to predict when traditional resumes will die.

My proposal: Individuals and job-seekers can use transmedia storytelling to tell their personal stories and brand themselves. It’s wacky primarily because transmedia storytelling is usually used for fictional narratives about multiple characters.

I’ve already raised the question of whether individuals can use transmedia storytelling, pointing to the most frequently cited nonfiction example, the Obama presidency.

An interview with Jeff Gomez, producer and Hollywood creative executive, about transmedia storytelling by Vince Thompson on Smartplanet provides a good framework for what I’m talking about.

First, Thompson notes that “Research has shown that when consumers meet their characters in different media contexts their bonds are strengthened.” So what if we plugged a few different but analogous words into that statement: Research has shown that when employers meet candidates in different media contexts their bonds are strengthened. I don’t know if that’s true, but it’s logical.

Next, Gomez’s characterization of how transmedia storytelling works (he’s applying the characterization to movies, typical targets of transmedia storytelling):

“[Transmedia storytelling] would give us different pieces of the narrative on different media platforms, so that we can see the movie and then explore different aspects of the characters and the world in other media. Taken as a whole, it’s a richer, deeper experience that gives us more of what we really want.

OK, so maybe transmedia storyteling, in which an individual or job-seeker gave different pieces of his or her personal/career narrative on different media platforms would give employers (or perhaps customers, clients) a richer, deeper experience that gives us more of what they really want.

I fully admit that not all aspects of fictional transmedia storytelling may work for individuals. For example, Gomez says: “[A]ll you really need as a basis for this form of expression is a story set in a world where the visionary or creators have developed a number of characters and a setting with a past, present and future.” In the individual version, you’d probably just focus on one character, the individual/job-seeker. On the other hand, other characters might be bosses, subordinates, and team members who could be part of a story of how well the protagonist collaborates with others.

Questions Gomez poses about developing the transmedia story could easily apply to an individual/job-seeker:

• What are the building blocks of this narrative?
• What makes the characters and the world unique?
• What is this story trying to tell the world?

In the case of the third question, substitute “employer/client/customer” for “world.”

The next step Gomez details would be a great addition to personal branding/personal story development: “Once we understand [the answers to the three question above], we can set about creating a guidebook to the narrative that we call a Mythology.” This guidebook could provide the individual with direction “for how to best weave the story across multiple media platforms.”

The other critical aspect of transmedia storytelling is participation by audience members. Gomez says:

… transmedia narrative by definition has a number of what we call “invitational” components, where audience members are welcomed to participate by commenting on the narrative, by playing established or original characters, or even by contributing creatively to the world and the storyline.

For the individual, having audience members “play” him or her probably would not be desirable, but participating and commenting on the individual’s story would be, and “contributing creatively to the world and the storyline” might be.

Tomorrow in Part 2: What all this might look like for the individual/job-seeker, including how it might align with Christy Dena’s reportage on Gomez’s 8 characteristics of a transmedia production.

Entry by Kathy Hansen. Learn more.

Bernajean Porter, who is kind enough to frequently retweet my entries here on A Storied Career, made a lovely comment on yesterday’s entry. Since comments are a bit obscured here, I thought I’d bring it to the forefront as Bernajean deserves much credit for all she does for storytelling:

I have spent the last three years promoting digital storytelling as a means for educators to learn to read/write multimedia AS WELL as discovering the art of storytelling as powerful communication. See my StoryKeepers Gallery for both adult and student digital storytelling @ www.Digitales.us. Many see digital storytelling as an elementary language arts skills — unserious —extra. However as I facilitate their personal journey in finding and sharing a digital storytelling, no one leaves without deeply appreciating the power of storytelling in changing lives, cultures and experiences. YES to the 21st century skill — and much thanks to this site and others who give me a chance to point to the role of storytelling in the professional world beyond school. thank you thank you

Bernajean’s StoryKeepers Gallery is indeed well worth checking out.

Bernajean also conducts fascinating digital-storytelling teaching in Second Life, something I can barely begin to wrap my head around.

I don’t write as much as I could about digital storytelling here because I feel it’s such an explosive growth field that has many other outlets that cover it better than I could. But it’s important to pay respects to some of the pioneers and leaders of the field, like Bernajean.

I love Bernajean’s words about “the power of storytelling in changing lives, cultures and experiences.

Brava, Bernajean!

Entry by Kathy Hansen. Learn more.

On her Langwitches Blog recently, Silvia Tolisano wrote, “I am intrigued and fascinated by the resurrection and increase in The Need for Storytelling Skills in the 21st century.” In turn, she cited an earlier entry in which she had invoked the likes of Daniel Pink and Jason Ohler in arguing the case for storytelling skills in our times.

Tolisano cites Jennifer New, who says, “Storytelling is a vital skill with seemingly unlimited applications.”

Tolisano is high on storytelling — especially digital storytelling — in education, and her recent piece suggests that storytelling is both a means and an end.

Her passionate argument for storytelling skills echoes that of Lori Silverman. Speaking in her Q&A here on A Storied Career about whether story work is evolving in organizations, Lori said:

The piece that is still missing for me as a strategist is story as an organizational core competency. I’ve yet to find an organization that has systematically thought about how story could be used in all its work processes, both internal and external to the enterprise. It’s my contention that until we change how we talk about this subject — and move from calling it “storytelling” which is a self-limiting term, to calling it “story work,” this broader context for integrating story throughout an organization will be hard pressed to occur.

Similarly, Lori’s frequent professional partner, Karen Dietz, said in her Q&A here: “Personally, my passion is training leaders to become compelling storytellers as an essential leadership and influence skill.”

As someone committed to educating, I am excited by the idea of storytelling as a 21st century skill (and I’d love to teach it.)

What do you think? Should storytelling be a required 21st century skill and how can it best be taught?

Entry by Kathy Hansen. Learn more.

Yep, it’s that time of year. Fall is here, and thoughts turn to the holidays and the next year.

the3six5 is a project that will attempt to “document each day in 2010.”

Participants will write about the events of the day — tell the story of the day — but are also being asked “to dedicate a significant portion of your post to how the events relate to you.” Each day is described not as a news report, but a journal.

Apparently response to the project has been overwhelming. As of 10 days ago, days were still open to be claimed by journalers. The project seeks info on “what unique perspective you could bring to this compilation,” and you can apply or at least see if slots are open by e-mailing.

Entry by Kathy Hansen. Learn more.

My job here at A Storied Career is to curate applied-storytelling resources (yet another tip of the hat to Terrence Gargiulo for that characterization). Time was when I would write a blog entry about every new storytelling resource I came across. It quickly became apparent, though, that so many fabulous resources existed that I could more easily put them out there by listing them on my sidebar than writing an entry about each one. Sometimes I do a “roundup” entry that lists several resources.

But I’ve decided to single out Jawbone.tv because I see the site as sort of a revved-up counterpart to A Storied Career that “covers the methods, mediums and innovations of storytelling.” That “encase[s] and stud[ies] the mechanisms, the narratives, the methods, and the platforms used to tell stories.”

Jawbone.tv’s tagline is “The Evolution of Story.” The site, which calls itself a “portal — part magazine, part blog, part aspiring broadcast network,” covers aspects of storytelling interest me here at A Storied Career but that are a bit beyond my primary interests and scope — film, interactive, animation, for example. The resources covered by Jawbone lean toward fiction. Fiction is not totally outside A Storied Career’s scope, but it’s not as strong a focus as nonfiction.

Looking at Jawbone’s list of Popular Content, we see a mix of fiction and nonfiction, as well as a bit of overlap with stuff I’ve covered here:

• Tales in the Sand: Kseniya Simonova Spellbinds International Audiences
• Scrabble’s ‘the Beautiful Word’ Campaign True Collaborative Undertaking
• 40 Augmented Reality Projects Sure To Blow Your Mind … Or Just Blow
• Ten Trippy Interactive Narratives, Come On Down the Rabbit Hole
• 5D: Building New Worlds and Stories One Event at a Time
• Interactive Film ‘The Outbreak’ Punished by Bandwidth Costs, YouTube Still Best Bet
• ‘FlashForward’ Turning Robert J. Sawyer Into Next Gene Roddenberry?
• The Score on ‘District 9’ — Composer Clinton Shorter Talks Shop
• Acclaimed PBS ‘POV’ Documentary Films Online For All to Enjoy
• The Sancho Plan: “Live, Interactive and Immersive Musical Adventures”

Bottom line: If you like A Storied Career, you will probably like Jawbone.tv.

Entry by Kathy Hansen. Learn more.

Mike Speiser recently wrote on the GigaOM Network that “our short-term memory is widely believed to have a capacity of seven elements, plus or minus two,” which is the reason, Speiser notes, “that U.S. phone numbers have seven digits.”

If you connect items (or data points) together as a story, Speiser writes, you can remember more than the standard seven elements.

As an example, Speiser offers the BBC video below, which shows former memory champion Andi Bell recalling the details of 520 playing cards (10 decks) — every card in its exact position — after reviewing the cards for just 20 minutes.

Bell doesn’t even mention the word “story” in his explanation of his technique, though. He calls it his “location technique.”

But the clip’s narrator points out that “when we commit a fact to memory, we create a neural pathway to it.” Stories are a way to create (enhance? reinforce? I don’t know enough about neuroscience to know exactly the right verb) those neural pathways.

You might not be that interested in learning memory tricks. But let’s say you wanted your audience to remember a number of data points when you deliver a presentation to them. Or let’s say you want an employer to remember the accomplishments and results you’ve achieved when you’re interviewing for a new job.

Storytelling is the way to go.

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Entry by Kathy Hansen. Learn more.

 

In a wonderfully well-articulated recent article on the blog Philantopic, my friend Thaler Pekar (pictured) makes a concise and persuasive argument for “creating a true culture of story sharing within our organizations, especially those that function as hubs of entrepreneurship and innovation, and especially at this uncertain moment” — as opposed to ” myopically focus[ing] on using stories for marketing and fundraising purposes,” an approach that is an unfortunate route to “commodifying” stories in Thaler’s view.

Thaler pithily describes the many uses for story-sharing in organizations (she is a strong advocate for story-sharing versus storytelling, as she explained in her Q&A on A Storied Career).

Best of all, she tells how to elicit stories in the organization:

Share your own stories and listen to the stories of others. Ask questions such as, “Tell me about a time when you have felt most engaged with your work?” Then, sit back and listen. After the story has been shared, ask others who are present, “Does that remind you of anything?” Stories beget stories, which beget even more stories. (Everyone possesses the natural ability to participate in story sharing.) Create the time and space for such exchanges to occur. Once you ignite the spark, many recollections will follow. Listen for the patterns among them and allow for connections to be made.

She also kicks off the article with the powerful prompt: “Tell me about the time you felt most connected to the mission of our organization.”

Anyone involved in the employment scene and behavioral interviewing will recall that prompts beginning with phrases like “Tell me about a time …”, Describe a situation …”, Recall a time …” are excallent ways to draw out examples and stories.

Entry by Kathy Hansen. Learn more.

Storytelling in the job search is my crusade, one that I am joined in by a small band of folks on the job-seeker-advocacy side of the desk: Terrence Gargiulo, Rob Sullivan, and Judy Rosemarin among the most prominent of them.

I am also quick to pick up hints and glimpses of employers and recruiters who seem to be yearning to learn more about candidates’ stories. Before today, I had not heard of any who were explicit in using the word “story” with respect to the way they evaluate candidates.

In Kennedy Information’s Recruiting Trends newsletter, Barbara Poole reports on an executive VP of human resources from a Fortune 50 company who, in the current economy, “now looks and listens intently for the candidate’s ‘story.’ And it is that story that very often makes the hiring decision for her.” Previously, this executive would have judged by the job-seeker’s resume that if he or she had held many positions of short duration, the candidate was a “job hopper.”

Poole writes about how the conversation with the HR exec sparked her thinking:

I got to thinking about the interview as drama. We all have watched a play, read a book, or have been hooked on a TV series (anyone for Mad Men?) where there was more to the story than what was happening on the stage at the moment. For every role that the character plays so brilliantly (or not) there is a back story that fills in the blanks in a most compelling way. Little by little that story evolves as does the character. So much so, that it makes each subsequent action predictable, because we know the character so well. … The back story, we are learning now, is as valid a quantifier of success as is what’s on the resume.

In his book, Making Stories, Terrence Gargiulo wrote about hiring decision-makers using their “story minds” in evaluating candidates, as I wrote in my dissertation and have repeated in this space more than once:

Gargiulo (2002, p. 43-44) … proposed that human resource managers prepare to interview candidates by reading resumes with their “story mind.” He advocated using the information in the resume to “construct a story and image of the person.” Commenting on a sample resume he has provided in his book, Gargiulo wrote, “On the surface, this resume appears to be dry and straightforward. Hidden in the details, however, are dozens of interesting stories.”

Poole offers some ways those on the employer side can engage their story minds (see fuller elaborations on these suggestions in her article):

• Acknowledge interest in the story
• Train interviewers to include questions that bring out the story, beyond what’s just on the resume.
• Quantify the results.

As Terrence and I work on research into the concept of the “story resume,” he has helped me to realize that job-seekers will likely not succeed in deploying explicitly story-based job-search communications unless employers are convinced of the value of storied communications. Poole’s article is a terrific step toward selling the concept.

Entry by Kathy Hansen. Learn more.

I’m a little surprised not to have known about Business Innovation Factory’s Collaborative Innovation Summit before this year, given that the fifth one is happening Oct. 7-8.

For this is a conference not of speakers, but of stories, as Saul Kaplan describes it:

No PowerPoint presentations, no matrix, just stories. One glorious story after another in no particular order, from storytellers (not speakers) sharing personal and raw insights about what innovation means to them. After about four to five stories back to back with no boring Q&A to break the rhythm we take a long break where all of the storytellers and participants can interact, connect, and share their own innovation stories and experiences. No breakouts, flip charts, or prescriptive assignments.

Naturally there’s a story behind how this storied conference came about:

I will never forget meeting with my friend and mentor Richard Saul Wurman (RSW) to get his advice prior to our first summit five years ago. As an innovation junkie it doesn’t get any better than having RSW as a mentor. … I went to the meeting prepared with an approach that I had worked on for weeks. As an MBA, of course I had a matrix, with speakers organized by theme. RSW heard me out and could only shake his head saying, Saul you have a lot to learn about how to create an emotional connection with an audience. He patiently told me to throw away the matrix. He said it was as simple as inviting people to a dinner party. Ask speakers that you want to have dinner with to share a personal story that you are selfishly interested in and invite others to listen in. RSW has been a storyteller at every summit we have hosted.

As blogger Denise Graveline points out, the well-known TED (technology, entertainment, design) conference also emphasizes storytelling. It’s not surprising that TED’s founder was Richard Saul Wurman.

Wouldn’t it be great if all conferences were storied and all presenters storytellers?

Entry by Kathy Hansen. Learn more.

I’ve been rummaging through my A Storied Career files, not because I need material (I always have far more than then I know what to do with), but just to make sure I don’t overlook some really good stuff, and a piece by Chris Brogan from more than a year ago caught my eye.

“Brands can be stories, and thus, you are a living story,” Brogan writes. Some of my colleagues who work consistently with branding and storytelling would likely go farther and say not that brands can be stories, but that brands are stories.

Brogan says you should “tell the story you told your audience you’re going to tell.” He means that if you brand yourself with a given story, you must consistently tell that story whether your “audience” is the readers of your online content, people who see your social-media profiles and comments, people you connect with face-to-face, individuals listening to you deliver a presentation, employers considering hiring you, and more.

Brogan tells how he brands himself:

I tell people daily that I’m here to help you understand how these tools develop community, improve your communications, and do a host of other things better than previous tools were doing them. I promise through my stories that you, too, can figure out how to build influence, develop relationships, and be more useful to your organization (be that a business, a nonprofit, or a circle of friends).

“If I let you down, I’m not keeping the promise of my story,” he says.

Here’s where the idea of “promise” comes into branding: My partner, Randall S. Hansen, has written: “Branding is best defined as a promise of the value of the product… a promise that the product is better than all the competing products… a promise that must be delivered to be successful. Branding is the combination of tangible and intangible characteristics that make a brand unique.”

And Brogan connects “promise” with “story” when he refers back to a piece from three years ago, about The Storyteller’s Promise. The piece relates specifically to delivering presentations, but we can relate his concepts to the broader picture of personal branding to a wider audience.

First, here’s what he says about presenting and storytelling:

As a presenter, you are a storyteller. If you don’t agree, you’ve already failed. … if you agree with this premise that you are telling a story via your materials and your presence before an audience, you have some responsibilities.

Here, I will adapt some of Brogan’s storyteller’s responsibilities to the broader idea of personal branding:

What is the purpose of your branding? Brogan asks: “What do you want from me?” (meaning what do you want from your audience?). When I was a speechwriter, I learned that a speech should always have a content goal and a feeling goal. What do you want your wider audience to know and what do you want them to feel? Your personal branding story should answer those questions.

What concise statement can you use to encapsulate your brand? Brogan talks about titles for presentations: “Give up ‘clever.’ Go instead for short, impactful titles.” The same applies to a branding statement about yourself — a concise, impactful statement supported by a story. See an example here of my partner’s pithy, story-supported branding statement.

How can you convey enthusiasm for your brand, especially in the first elements of your branding that your audience hears or sees? For example, how might you enthusiastically convey your brand story in a cover letter or in your opening words in a job interview?

What explicit promises will you make about yourself? For instance, in the branding I’m currently using about myself on LinkedIn, “Creative, energetic, intuitive wordsmith who helps students, careerists, and organizations tell their stories,” I make the promise that I’m creative, energetic, and enthusiastic.

How will you stay on track? Brogan talks about avoiding going off on tangents in presentations. When you are focused on your brand/promise/story, be sure you are consistent with your branded message and not wandering off that message. Think about the consistency of your branded message with every piece of communication you put out there — your networking conversations, your Web site, blog, resume, cover letter, job-interview responses, presentations, social-media interactions, and more. While you may want to have both a social brand and a professional brand, be aware that your communications are probably in the public eye more than you realize, and you still need a consistent brand message/promise/story even in social situations.

Entry by Kathy Hansen. Learn more.

[Thanks to Thaler Pekar for alerting me to this one.]

Did you know that toilets get Tweeted about on Twitter nearly 750 times weekly?

I have bad dreams about this sort of thing, but the “Tell Us Your Best Toilet Story” contest from American Standard is the chance to win the best toilet for the best toilet story. Simply submit a paragraph or two about a memorable toilet experience on this Facebook Fan Page between September 9 and October 9, and members of the page will vote for their favorites through October 12. The grand prize of a Champion 4 toilet, complete with installation and the Champion 4 Slow Close toilet seat will be awarded to the story that receives the highest number of “thumbs up” from readers. Four additional top vote-getters will be awarded a free Champion® 4 Toilet with Champion 4 Slow Close toilet seat.

“Everyone uses toilets, so nearly everyone has a toilet story,” said Jeannette Long, American Standard general manager of e-business. “Tell people you work for a plumbing company, and you hear them all: the one about the overflow during the big party or the one about what the kids have tried to flush.

“We figured the best story deserved the best toilet.”

Members will vote for the story they are most likely to repeat to friends and family. There is no purchase necessary to enter or to join the voting. If not a Facebook account holder, there is no fee or charge to become a registered Facebook member. Contest rules are available on American Standard’s website.

Entry by Kathy Hansen. Learn more.

Quintessential Careers, the parent site of A Storied Career, marks the second annual Job Action Day worldwide on Nov. 2 — a day for job-seekers and workers to confront the recession head-on and take action steps to bolster their careers.

I want to run at least one positive story on this blog that day about landing a green/clean-energy job, “stimulus” job, or federal job; starting a entrepreneurial venture after losing a job; or landing a job using a cutting-edge technique — a technique you would not have used a year ago. E-mail me if you have a story to share.

Here’s more information about Job Action Day 2009:

(QUINTESSENTIAL CAREERS: DeLand, FL) — To encourage and motivate workers and job-seekers through flickers of hope amid the current recession, Quintessential Careers will for the second year spearhead Job Action Day on the first Monday in November — Nov. 2. Like the successful Job Action Day 2008, the 2009 event aims to empower workers and job-seekers to take proactive steps to shore up their job and career outlook, said Quintessential Careers Founder and Publisher Dr. Randall S. Hansen.

“While much doom and gloom still pervades the employment scene,” Hansen said, “hopeful signs of recovery should spur workers and job-seekers to adapt to the ‘new normal’ and develop career and job-search plans that work in a changed economy.”

Hansen points to employment leaders like ExecuNet’s president and chief economist Mark Anderson who recently declared “the question is no longer about when will there be a recovery, but how big it will be.” A new study by Deloitte (“Here today. Where tomorrow? Taking action in uncertain times”) notes that most executives feel a rebound will appear in the first or second quarter of 2010. Just a minimal part of the federal government’s massive recovery spending program has been spent so far, suggesting significant future opportunities. “That’s why job-seekers must gear up now,” Hansen said.

While the 2008 event focused on taking action in the face of a sudden economic meltdown, Job Action Day 2009 will examine such New Economy opportunities as green/clean-energy jobs, “stimulus” jobs, federal jobs, entrepreneurship opportunities motivated by unemployment, and “new normal” job-search advice.

“Job Action Day 2009 is a day to strategize plans for developing new-economy job and career options and devising new and better ways to track down job leads and position yourself for emerging opportunities,” Hansen said. “It’s a day to take stock of careers and develop a plan for next career steps.”

Quintessential Careers will mark Job Action Day 2009 with service-oriented articles introduced in a special Job Action Day edition of Quintessential Careers’ newsletter, QuintZine, to provide workers and job-seekers with information, ideas, and concrete steps to secure their futures in a changed economy.

The Quintessential Careers family of blogs, including this one, will feature Job Action Day entries and, as in 2008, will be joined by a cadre of career and job-search bloggers in blogging about the event.

Job Action Day is intended to empower workers and job-seekers to confront both a dismal economic climate and an upcoming recovery by taking control for a brighter career future, Hansen said.

Entry by Kathy Hansen. Learn more.

My intuition that The Help by Kathryn Stockett would be Oprah’s next book-club selection did not pan out, but at least her pick features stories: Say You’re One of Them is a collection of short stories by Uwem Akpan about the plight of children in modern-day Africa.

Entry by Kathy Hansen. Learn more.

I was listening to the novel, The Help, by Kathryn Stockett, the other day when I felt an overwhelming hunch that this book would be Oprah’s next book-club selection.

Oprah announces her next book tomorrow, so we’ll see if I’m right. Although I consider myself very intuitive, many of my hunches have been wrong. I was absolutely, 100 percent sure, for example, that Al Gore would win the 2000 election. I did see over on the Oprah site that a few others are hoping and intuiting that The Help will be the selection.

I first encountered The Help through my Audible.com book club. The audio version is said to be the mostly highly rated (by listeners) book in Audible’s collection. I can see why; the book is told in the voices of three female characters, and the Audible version uses a different reader for each part, making the book almost more like a movie or play than a book. (Actually, there are four readers for the book. I have not finished the book, so I don’t know what role the fourth reader plays.)

Despite the strong reviews, I wasn’t totally sold on the book until my friend Craig DeLarge noted on Facebook that he has absolutely riveted by it (also the audio version).

Extremely timely in light of the current vitriol about racism, The Help is Stockett’s first novel and is set in the deep South in the early 1960s. It’s all about what happens when a young white woman begins to gather the stories of black maids and the way the maids are treated by their white employers.

What struck me immediately was that the book is as much about the cathartic effect of storytelling as it is about race.

Telling stories about raising and loving white babies while being mistreated by their mothers is as transformative for the maids who tell the stories as it is for “Miss Skeeter,” the aspiring journalist who records them.

“I don’t want anybody to know how much I need those Skeeter stories,” says sassy maid Minny. “… I am not saying the Miss Skeeter meetings are fun. Every time we meet, I complain. I moan. I get mad and throw a hot potato fit. But here’s the thing: I like telling my stories. It feels like I’m doing something about it. When I leave, the concrete in my chest has loosened, melted down so I can breathe for a few days.”

At first, the maids fear telling their stories. But as despicable violence is perpetrated against blacks in their Jackson, MS, community, they become more willing to step forward and tell their tales. The murder of Medgar Evers particularly galvanizes the maids to become storytellers.

We are “doing something about it” when we get stories of injustice off our chests, especially when we educate those who have been living in the bliss of ignorance.

I don’t yet know whether storytelling will precipitate real change in The Help. I can’t wait to find out. Nor can I wait to find out if my hunch is right about Oprah’s book-club selection.

Entry by Kathy Hansen. Learn more.

SMITH Magazine and PBS FRONTLINE/Digital Nation want to hear your stories about life in the digital age. In six words, the sponsors would like to know how the web and digital technology are changing how you think, work, live, or love. Has something you’ve posted online come back to haunt you? Would you “Friend” your kid on Facebook? Whether you’ve done things unimaginable just a few years ago (“I have even Twittered during sex”) or are trying to make sense of how rapidly the world is changing (“Dull persona. Second Life ego enormous”), we want to hear who you are, in your digital life, in six well-chosen words. You could win a DVD collection of FRONTLINE films.

Details and story-collection point here.

Entry by Kathy Hansen. Learn more.

Today, as promised, I’m responding to Cathryn Wellner’s response to my 9/11 blog entry about how that tragic day contributed to a societal need to connect through stories.

I will first respond to what Cathryn found most disturbing about my post — my failure to acknowledge the terrible price at which the post-9/11 societal transformation has come, in part, “the isolationism and paranoia of leaders who should have taken a moral high road instead of squandering the outpouring of sympathy and good will from around the world.” I cannot disagree with anything Cathryn says here. I completely agree that much of our nation’s post-9/11 response has been inappropriate. It was not, however, my intent, nor did I feel it was my role, to delve into the politics of the years since 9/11. I wanted only to look at the event’s effect on storytelling.

Cathryn writes, “I’m not sure people back home are aware (or care) that America has lost ground in the eyes of the world because of the way the country responded to 9/11.”

We are aware and we do care. If we didn’t, we would not have elected Barack Obama.

Cathryn raises the myth that the 9/11 terrorists entered the US through Canada (hence the requirement now for passports at the US-Canadian border). Yes, we need to expose the myths of 9/11 that have altered this country so dramatically (remember that myth about Saddam Hussein having some connection to 9/11?). I thank Cathryn for exposing the myth about terrorists entering the US through our northern border.

Cathryn concludes her piece, in part, by saying she “hope[s] one day new stories will be told, stories that honor the victims of a terrible tragedy but no longer define either America or the world as pre- and post-9/11.”

Here’s where I have mixed feelings. I think it is inevitable for historians and sociologists to examine pre- and post- eras: pre- and post-World War II, pre- and post-Vietnam, pre- and post-JFK assassination, pre- and post-election of Barack Obama. An event that shifts the cultural landscape and national/international psyche as cataclysmically as any of those changes history.

And I ask: Isn’t possible to both honor the victims’ stories but recognize that we live in a different era than we did on Sept. 10, 2001?

Finally, I respond to Cathryn’s assertion that “The division of story interest into pre- and post-9/11 would come as a surprise to generations of tellers and listeners.”

First, I identify 9/11 as only one influence in what I have referred to as today’s “explosion” of storytelling interest. The practitioners I interviewed over the last year discuss other influences here.

Next, I fully acknowledge that I’m a relative newbie to the world of storytelling. When I first learned about the discipline of organizational storytelling in 2004, I was drawn to it as a field meant to be my passion — but I was wide-eyed and unknowledgeable.

I also believe it is impossible for anyone passionate about storytelling to evaluate the field from a historical perspective because we are so attuned to the idea of storytelling. Cathryn says, “I have been involved in storytelling since the early 1980s. I traveled as a storyteller for a decade, then turned it into a consulting career and have worked primarily with health-related groups ever since.” Just as I have been all-storytelling-all-the-time since 2004, so has Cathryn been since the early 80s. Others would say they have been since, say, the early 70s. The first National Storytelling Festival in 1973 is often cited as the real jumping off point for our era’s interest in storytelling. Still others would say storytelling is an ancient art that has always been huge.

I stand by my belief, however, that 9/11 increased our need for connection with others and inspired us to cherish each others’ stories more than ever.

Entry by Kathy Hansen. Learn more.

Cathryn Wellner wrote to me this weekend with a response to my 9/11 blog entry. With her permission, I wanted to post her response as a comment to that entry, but my comment function seems to be malfunctioning, so Cathryn gave me permission to post her words as today’s entry. I will post my response to this piece tomorrow and in the meantime invite your thoughts.

I love the regular infusion of story culture that comes into my inbox through A Storied Career. You bring your readers insight, keen observations, inspirational examples, and more — all of which I appreciate.

So I’m hesitant to make my first response to your good work be a reflection on 9/11, but your column touched a nerve. I have been involved in storytelling since the early 1980s. I traveled as a storyteller for a decade, then turned it into a consulting career and have worked primarily with health-related groups ever since. It’s from that perspective, and as an American who’s lived outside the U.S. since 1990, that I found the essay troubling.

The division of story interest into pre- and post-9/11 would come as a surprise to generations of tellers and listeners. The art is ancient, at the core of humanity. Every great religious leader, from the dawn of time, has understood this. So have politicians, some with the good of their constituents in mind, others for less noble reasons. Advertisers, journalists, film makers, teachers, painters … the list of story makers is endless. The U.S.’s National Storytelling Association predates that horrific event by more than a generation, and it was a latecomer on the storytelling scene. So I would argue that the hunger for stories is universal, its origins lost in time, and not a result of 9/11.

But that’s not really what troubled me about your well written essay. Rather, I shudder each time the country of my birth commemorates 9/11 as a transforming event without acknowledging that the transformation has exacted a terrible price. The security industry has benefited. So has the military-industrial complex. But Americans are not not made safer by a Patriot Act that erodes civil liberties and demands concessions from other countries, nor by the war in Iraq. And the risk of a car crash or diabetes still far outweighs the threat of a terrorist attack.

Those who died or whose lives were shattered by 9/11 deserve a better memorial than the isolationism and paranoia of leaders who should have taken a moral high road instead of squandering the outpouring of sympathy and good will from around the world. And that means telling all the stories of that tragic occasion and its impact on the U.S.

Recently a CBC reporter traveled to Maine to ask Americans how they felt about the U.S.’s imposition of tighter border restrictions, requiring Canadians to show a passport when entering the U.S. Without exception, people favored the move because, after all, the 9/11 terrorists entered the U.S. from Canada.

Now there’s a story for you, though not a true one. The terrorists entered the U.S. through U.S. customs, not Canadian. But the story stands because another story is stronger, the story that America is still under threat, that all other nations — including friendly neighbors to the north — are Other and cannot really be trusted.

I’m not sure people back home are aware (or care) that America has lost ground in the eyes of the world because of the way the country responded to 9/11. Those of us who live without the buffer of being surrounded by other Americans are constantly reminded.

I love my motherland, but I weep for it and hope one day new stories will be told, stories that honor the victims of a terrible tragedy but no longer define either America or the world as pre- and post-9/11, that no longer define America or the countries outside its borders as Us and Them.

Entry by Kathy Hansen. Learn more.

A couple of weeks ago, Dave Pollard on the blog How to Save the World quoted his own earlier article in which he said:

I am coming to believe that all stories, … [lots of descriptive stuff here trashing various types of stories] … are propaganda.

Why?

Because stories, Pollard says, “distract us from discovering what is really going on in this world.”

Really?

Rationalizing what he calls “Pollard’s Law,” Pollard writes:

Stories, whether they appeal to the intellect or to the emotions, rarely alter behaviour… Stories just don’t have that much power. They don’t precipitate real change, only (at best) changes in beliefs and attitudes.

How can you precipitate real change without changing beliefs and attitudes?

I’m short-changing Pollard in the following. He gives a bulleted list of his beliefs about stories and offers a paragraph for each one to justify his beliefs. You can read his reasons for yourself:

• Stories are addictive.
• Stories are manipulative.
• Stories give us false hope.
• Stories lead us to live inside our heads instead of in the real world.
• Stories are excuses for inaction.
• Stories are only stories.

Some of these, I actually believe (like “stories are addictive”) — but I don’t see them as negative. “Stories are manipulative” reminds me of Stephane Dangel’s characterization of France’s perception of storytelling: “There is only one and major book dedicated to storytelling in French, and it has been written by a man who hates storytelling (Christian Salmon: Storytelling)! His message is very raw: ‘storytelling = fiction = manipulation.’”

Pollard undermines his thesis with the way he ends it: a bulleted list of all the things that we need to change in the world. Arguably, he tells a story with every one of those bullet points.

Story practitioners, how would you convince Pollard that stories really do have power and can inspire change?

Entry by Kathy Hansen. Learn more.

My friend, “Jane Bergen” (a pseudonym) has been toying for a while with telling the story of the massive stroke she suffered last year. Even though Jane has had a remarkable recovery, she was afraid of coming off whiney or victim-y.

My gut reaction was that baby boomers need to hear Jane’s story. We are the generation that refuses to get old. The thought of a crippling affliction like a stroke or cancer unhinges us. I am am particularly terrified of anything — like Alzheimer’s — that would impair my cognitive abilities. We need to hear that the ailments and medical traumas we associate with old age can be overcome.

And a week ago Jane sent me a story that is anything but whiney and victim-y. It’s a positive message of hope, recovery, and creating a different — but in some ways, better — life following a health calamity.

Back in May 2008, like the subject herself, I took some heat for blogging about Jill Bolte Taylor, whose TED Talk and book titled A Stroke of Insight, have been criticized for promulgating “bad science.” The controversy came in when Taylor claimed to have experienced an amazing burst of creativity in one side of her brain as a result of her stroke. Putting science aside, Taylor’s message of amazing recovery is very much like Jane’s.

Here’s Jane’s story, one that baby boomers like me need to hear:

Whether Disabled or Not, Keep Your Spirits Up

By Jane Bergen

I am a person to be envied. If you were me, you would be envied too. Why envied? Well:

• I always get the best parking space, right by the door.
• I lost 30 pounds and shop the lower sizes of the racks, wearing clothes that haven’t fit me for 20 years.
• I take nothing for granted and am fueled by gratitude.
• I have no stress and sleep like a baby.
• I am finally “good enough” and have a great self-concept because it is so easy to outdo people’s low estimation of my capabilities.
• I am rich in friends. I have an organized address book that lists 350 people, 30 of whom check in on me regularly.
• People show me their “kind” side every day.
• I have a great marriage. Indeed, husband and friends say they would love me even if I stayed as I was.
• Instead of coming to a funeral, everyone I know has contacted me personally in the last year.
• I am constantly challenged, told how to do it, and it works! I see achievement every day.

Surprise! I am Disabled!

I’m a former recruiter and career coach who became permanently disabled with an out-of-the-blue cerebellar stroke last year.

Nothing I did caused this. I had a birth defect, a darn AVM — tangled plumbing in my head [pictured], that got old and leaked, causing the stroke. Being a disabled person was to be part of my life.

So I could be pissy about this or I could see the bright side. What I’ve learned is that life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent what you do with it; that people have busy lives and forget you if you forget them; and that everyone has problems, so why are yours so special? Sincerely being interested in others makes people interested in you. They call and you feel good that you have been of service.

People tend to be nice to you, but some of their behavior may be out of fear. They are afraid of doing the wrong thing or becoming sick like you. Your job is to educate them. It is not your fault you are like this. It is not their fault they don’t know what to do. I explain a deal with my friends. True, I talk funny, I acknowledge. If I talk as well as I can for them and they try as hard as they can to understand, we’ve done our best. No shame! I’ll email or write something down to get my point across. So I don’t stop trying to deal with normal people: they are so affirming when I do the smallest thing because they expect me to be ashamed, blue, and depressed. Well, not! I believe that if you quit trying, you cheat yourself. Be affirmed that your friend cared enough to try to understand, rather than the fact that he or she failed.

Oh yeah, a year ago, they also thought I had cancer, and I might not have the stamina, post-stroke, to endure. I truly thought I was going to die. And I am a baby boomer who turned against the church years ago, having been raised fundamentalist Southern Methodist and having gone to church every week of my life until age 20-something. So I hated the hypocrisy of the church, which talks of God, but was created by Man with all his foibles.

So when I thought I was going to die, well, then I realized that money really doesn’t matter much. I could have won the lottery and it would not have changed a thing. You think about the plight of your fellow human, the suffering that is life, and wonder if you have the stamina to die, and then what? Buddhism promises to provide panaceas for fear of death. But Jesus and all the dogma I was brought up with? What does that have to do with my current world? His message seemed to be “give all your cares to me, and I will suffer for you.” I really wasn’t looking for a scapegoat. My friends, doctors, and husband all wanted me to get better, they expected me to overcome and be happy. Could Jesus help me with that? You think about stuff like this when you think your goose is cooked.

I realized my first life had been all about the usual trials I see my friends going through - seeking food and shelter, suffering through a job to pay for it, not ever having enough money or time to pay for it, struggling to lose weight, stay sexy and young, keep health intact, raise kids, and trying to meet all obligations. The usual rat race. My first life is gone. I had so much, so many gifts, like speech and walking, but I was not happy. I always desired more.

I woke up the morning of the stroke not able to walk. My vision was blurry, and I talked like a drunk, when I could talk. Swallowing was awkward. I was told I had a one in 10 chance of a full recovery (and God willing, I will be that one in 10 yet), that strokes take years to recover from, and I had a 50 percent chance of becoming seriously depressed within one year. One in two people who have strokes become depressed because of changes in lifestyle (no social life and not working), isolation, and financial ruin.

I decided I could beat my body with exercise and doing what therapy told me to do. But fighting my own head — a 50 percent chance? Dear God, my head has such a good imagination about negative things. I was going to have to improve my spirituality to avoid this depression debacle. Truly, in all cases, depression is worse than stroke.

If you have not had a stroke, you are still a candidate for depression. I have learned that these things will help you avoid this all-to-common malady that doctors are so willing to give your pills to cure (don’t do it — it just masks the cause)

Read Jane’s advice on avoiding depression in the extended entry.

Entry by Kathy Hansen. Learn more.

In my teleseminar this week, I talked about 9-11 and the post-9-11 culture as one of the pivotal influences in society’s need to connect through stories.

Back in February, I read a blog entry about the popular storytelling venue The Moth. The blogger, my Twitter friend Will Coley, wrote: “[People] wonder if something is going on in our culture right now; something about sharing heartfelt stories and reconnecting with each other.”

I believe the event that sparked that need happened eight years ago today.

I believe that 9-11 impressed on all of us how precious each life — each story — is, yet how fleeting. You can probably all recall how that terrible event made everyone reach out for connection with both loved ones and strangers. The day itself is something that anyone who lived through it will always have stories about.

In the past few years, my husband and I have established a tradition of watching the movie Love Actually every Christmas Eve. I think of that film as the quintessential post-9/11 movie, and it’s a collection of stories about people who are all connected. The movie also references 9-11.

I continue to be fascinated, perhaps morbidly, by the idea of a post-9/11 culture, a notion first suggested to me by an art historian speculating about what would come after postmodernism.

First came the stories told on that horrific day … the story told by Jeff Jarvis, whom I knew for a couple of years as a child … the story told by a former student of mine, who was in one of the Twin Towers for training for his first job after college graduation. Here’s a small bit of his story:

What you saw on TV does not give you a very good description of what I saw when I looked up. I was so amazed, shocked, and scared, it is hard to describe. As I was walking away with the crowd a girl next to me started to cry uncontrollably, and I looked to my right to see what was wrong. A sight I wish to never see again and that I hope none of you ever have to see was the large pool of deep red blood in the road with ladies’ shoes all over the place.

I truly believe that day triggered a need to tell our stories. To matter. To make a difference. To share the human experience. A year before 9-11, Mark Hansen wrote: “Only by preserving the value of our short-term human perspective will we retain the ability to invest our lives with significance,” but the words take on even more meaning post-9-11.

“Like just about everything else,” noted Mallory Jensen in 2003, “blogging changed forever on September 11, 2001. The destruction of the World Trade Center and the attack on the Pentagon created a huge appetite on the part of the public to be part of The Conversation, to vent and analyze and publicly ponder or mourn. Many, too, were unsatisfied with what they read and saw in the mainstream media.”

Today, I see that many folks on Facebook are sharing their stories about this day. That probably happened in years past, but I don’t remember such a proliferation of stories and reverent remembrances.

And the National September 11 Memorial & Museum site, Make History, is collecting stories, videos, and photos submitted by people who experienced 9/11 with the added dimension of Google Street View.

What is your 9-11 story?

Entry by Kathy Hansen. Learn more.

My free 88-page, illustrated e-book, Storied Careers: 40+ Story Practitioners Talk about Applied Storytelling, is now available.

I’ve been gratified by many positive comments from the 43 contributors who reviewed a beta release of the book over the past week.

Please go to this page from which you can directly download your free copy of the book..

To learn more about the book and and also download a free copy, go here. Please feel free to tweet and spread the word.

Here’s the table of contents:

• INTRODUCTION
• CHAPTER 1: Defining Story
• CHAPTER 2: Origins of Storytelling Passions
• CHAPTER 3: Storytelling Influences
• CHAPTER 4: An Explosion of Storytelling?
• CHAPTER 5: Social-media Storytelling
• CHAPTER 6: Troubling Uses of Storytelling
• CHAPTER 7: Transformational Storytelling
• CHAPTER 8: Storytelling Advice
• CHAPTER 9: Change Your Story, Change Your Life
• CHAPTER 10: Storytelling in Relationships, Teams, and Community
• CHAPTER 11: Story Techniques and Tools
• CHAPTER 12: Unexpected Applications of Storytelling
• CHAPTER 13: Storytelling in Organizations
• CHAPTER 14: Getting Buy-In for Storytelling
• CHAPTER 15: Personal Storytelling, Lifewriting, and Memoir
• CHAPTER 16: The Practice of Storytelling
• CHAPTER 17: Storytelling in Marketing, Sales, and Branding
• CHAPTER 18: Storytelling and Career
• CHAPTER 19: Storytelling in Writing and Communication
• CHAPTER 20: The Future of Storytelling
• Directory of Practitioners: Photos and Contact Info

Entry by Kathy Hansen. Learn more.

This is a page to accompany a Worldwide Story Work Teleseminar I’m hosting today, Sept. 9, 4 pm EDST, entitled:

Register for the teleseminar here (you may need to become a member of Worldwide Story Work to register).

Or simply call this number on Sept. 9, 4 pm EDST: 1-218-936-4700 — Access Code 710691

For the past year interviewees on A Storied Career have shared their theories about why storytelling resonates now. Let’s discuss your speculations. Are we in fact in the Golden Age of Storytelling?

Speculations from Practitioners:
For the past year in the Q&A series on my blog, A Storied Career, I have asked story practitioners: “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?” Here’s what they said:

• As a planet, we are in a place we never imagined and we yearn for comfort, understanding, reason, and most of all HOPE. Stories give us all of that and more, allowing us to reflect on the past, imagine the future, and accept the changes brought about by the challenges of today. — Susan Luke
• Families are spread across the country; we communicate via email, text messaging, and quick hellos as we pass in halls, shops, or even the home because of busy schedules. All very impersonal, yet as humans we crave and, according to some studies, thrive on contact and interaction with others. Stories connect us and ground us. — Carol Mon
• The implications of Web 2.0 and technological innovation on humankind are staggering. As I like to describe it, “the means of story production have become democratized”. … In a complex, interdependent world where worldviews and value systems collide, we naturally turn to storytelling as our most basic coping mechanism for making sense and meaning of everything around us. — Michael Margolis
• I think that our feelings of alienation from core human experiences arise from too much “virtual” reality and not enough real reality … Story reintroduces intimacy and emotions to communications between people. … The business interest in storytelling is riding this “crave wave” as well as a parallel realization that designing messages that create emotions like desire, craving, and/or trust toward a product requires that the message tells a story. — Annette Simmons
• Connections between people [have been] breaking down, and their souls [have been] suffering. I think people are hungry to rebuild this sense of connection, and we are doing this through the medium of stories, whether oral or written. — Sharon Lippincott
• The development of technologies like PowerPoint has inadvertently pushed the effort to bring back more stories. What seemed like a great communication tool has been overused and abused. — Carol Mon
• Savvy media gurus have come to realize that storytelling is the quickest and most relevant way to share information… everything is speeding up… In today’s faster paced time, storytelling is essential because captures the listener. — Annie Hart
• As storytelling is already deeply anchored into each of us, it’s a relatively low-cost solution to engage [in the] sense[-making] quest. — Stephane Dangel
• With the advent of so many electronic communications, people are just growing more aware of their need for deeper communication and connectedness. — Sean Buvala
• Now that we have such powerful communications tools, [storytelling] is still as important, but more massive that we can digest. So, we find those areas that we can relate to. — Katie Snapp
• It’s about finding ways to connect. — Whitney Quesenbery
• In our world of 24/7 news feeds, social media, etc., we are trying to drink from a firehose of information, and we’re finding ourselves bowled over yet still thirsty. … The storytelling movement is about restoring — “re-story-ing” if you will — a more authentic means of learning from each other and drawing meaning from our own experiences. — Sarah White
• The one thing that everyone can do regardless of where or how they work is create and tell stories. — David Vanadia
• • We’ve taken process improvement about as far as it can go. … it is time to seek new tools. And narrative is a perfect tool to help shed light on complex questions. — John Caddell
• People are inundated with information. … The very good leaders will help people make sense of the information, and story can help them do that. … [Gen Y] … really wants to be inspired, challenged, and motivated and again it is through story you can achieve this … — Gabrielle Dolan
• • Mostly I think the reason is the control people are exercising over selecting what information they spend their time with. There are more choices than ever before, people are busier with limited time, so why would they choose to spend that time on things that don’t meet their needs? The more personalized and relevant information is to the person presented with it, the more engagement is possible. Storytelling is in our genes. — Ardath Albee
• Story has the wonderful ability to capture [the] great complexity [of 21st century life] into a simple form, allowing listeners to take in the concepts, ideas, challenges, without feeling overwhelmed. … One could also say that story resonates because there has been a confluence of authors (Annette Simmons, Steve Denning, Rick Stone) and others (Karen Dietz, Seth Kahan, Victoria Ward) who have begun to articulate the power of story, offering ways and means of using story. — Madelyn Blair
• Leaders are looking for new ways to understand what’s really happening in their organization. They are looking for better ways to engage and better ways motivate people. Stories are integral to the new ways of working in complex environments. — Shawn Callahan
• Given the unfathomable sea of information afforded us through the Internet, storytelling is an invaluable resource as it provides the means for delivering substance and meaning in a form that can be readily grasped by the masses. — Jon Hansen
• I remember sitting in a class and hearing Dr. Joseph Sobol say, “Anthropologists say storytellers arise when the society has lost its way.” Wow, that resonated in every part of my body. — Molly Catron

• Are we, in fact, in a Golden Age of Storytelling?
• Or are we, as story practitioners and “fans” just much more attuned to storytelling than others are?
• For those who’ve been involved in storytelling for a significant period — do you feel that you are hearing more now about storytelling then you were a few years ago?
• Can you identify any single event, publication, person, etc., that seemed to trigger greater interest in storytelling?
• Do you hear more about people who are starting story-related businesses/practices?
• Could the perceived explosion in storytelling be because people are more broadly (too broadly?) defining “storytelling?”
• In April, I asked the question referenced above in a different way: “Are we in the Golden Age of Storytelling? Why or why not?” The respondents answered that we are not (yet) in a golden age — or we don’t yet know if we are (see http://astoriedcareer.com/2009/04/survey-says-were-not-in-the-go.html). The comment that most struck me was from Michael Margolis: “To debate when we might enter a so-called ‘golden age,’ is just another attempt to separate and fragment ourselves from the wholeness that already exists, if we just open our eyes to it. Instead of waiting for some moment to arrive, why not step into that larger story right now?” Your thoughts?
• To what extent do you think social media contributes to an explosion in storytelling?

Entry by Kathy Hansen. Learn more.

Big doings this week:

I will host a Worldwide Story Work Teleseminar tomorrow, Wed., Sept. 9, 4 pm EDST, entitled: The Golden Age of Storytelling: Why Is Story Exploding? What Does It Means for Practitioners?

If you’re thinking of attending, please access the handout I prepared for the teleseminar — to grease the wheels, get the thoughts flowing. You can download and read this PDF handout: Sept9TelesemWWSWGoldenAgeHansen.pdf.

Another option is to read this page (same content as handout) before the teleseminar or have it in front of you during the event.

You can register for the teleseminar here (you may need to become a member of Worldwide Story Work to register); however, I don’t believe registration is required, and you can simply call this number on Sept. 9, 4 pm EDST: 1-218-936-4700 — Access Code 710691

My free e-book, Storied Careers: 40+ Story Practitioners Talk about Applied Storytelling, will be released Thursday, Sept. 10 (barring unforeseen circumstances).

Thanks for your patience.

Click here to e-mail me to be notified when the book is ready for free download.

Entry by Kathy Hansen. Learn more.

Cathie Dodd’s Storytelling Twitterthon begins at 6 am PST Labor Fay, Sept. 7.

Says Cathie:

Start sharing sharing your personal stories. It will be going all day,so whenever you have a moment stop by and be apart of it. Some have already started sharing their stories. Just go to Twitter and when you update your status you write your story and put this in the as the hash tag to type #TOJStory. If you want to see what everyone is writing , search the hash tag.

Entry by Kathy Hansen. Learn more.

Continuing to update some entries from the early years of A Storied Career while I finalize my e-book, Storied Careers and prepare for hosting a teleseminar on 09-09-09. New entries will resume Tuesday, Sept. 8.

Over the years of this blog, and in my book Tell Me About Yourself:, I’ve talked extensively about story formulas that can be used in job-seach communication.

Typical formulas (represented by acronyms) include PAR, SAR, and CAR: Problem • Action • Result; Situation • Action • Result; and Challenge • Action • Result.

Steve Denning suggests a different formula: “I noted that persuading people to change required a shift from the conventional approach to communications of problem • analysis • solution, must be set aside in favor of a very different triad: get attention • stimulate desire • reinforce with reasons.

Denning touches on this concept and gives storied examples in the first chapter of chapter of his , The Secret Language of Leadership (starting on page 27).

Looking back three years I first wrote about Denning’s formula, I can clear see how well it works for cover letters.

Job-seekers can use the formula like this in a cover letter:

Get attention by describing a problem the prospective employer has or a need to organization needs to fill. It must be a problem or need the employer has acknowledged — say, in a job posting or in a networking conversation.

Stimulate desire by telling how you can solve the problem or meet the need for the employer.

Reinforce with reasons by telling a story about how you solved a similar problem or met a similar need for a past employer. This technique works because employers know that past behavior is the best predictor of future performance.

Entry by Kathy Hansen. Learn more.

Continuing to look back at the early years of A Storied Career while I finalize my e-book, Storied Careers and prepare for hosting a teleseminar on 09-09-09. New entries will resume soon.

Career coach Wendy J. Terwelp touts the value of story, or case studies, in the job search, noting that job-seekers can the same strategy that marketers use in promoting products “to promote what you can do for a company — without sounding like an infomercial.” It really works, Terwelp proclaims, continuing:

This strategy helps demonstrate your expertise during — and after — an interview. Develop at least three case studies that demonstrate your expertise. Keep each study to one page per study, if possible. Name it something exciting, such as: “New Web Strategy Tripled Sales for X Marks the Spot Marketing.” Avoid too much jargon to make it an easy read. For example, if you are a web designer, provide the Challenge encountered when developing a particular website. Perhaps it was capturing the company’s personality in an exciting way or creating an exciting e-commerce solution that would triple online business in the first six months. Provide the Action steps you took to achieve the Results. This can include the way you developed the web concept and marketing plan, structured the site, researched effective keywords, partnered with outside resources, etc. Then describe the Results. What happened with the project? If you have stats that demonstrate the amount of hits increased combined with a sales increase, these are hard facts that prove you can do the job.

Entry by Kathy Hansen. Learn more.

Cathie Dodd, one of the subjects of my Q&A series is trying a storytelling Twitterthon on Monday, September 7, Labor Day in the US, from 6:00 am - 9:00 pm PDT.

You can RSVP and see more info here on Facebook. Looks like you need to friend Cathie on Facebook or follow her on Twitter to participate.

Here’s how she describes it:

This is an experiment I want to do with all my contacts on Facebook and Twitter. I am creating a storytelling Twitterthon. It will be all day Monday. Since most of you are off of work, maybe you can stop by tweet on twitter and tell us a short story about yourself.

This is how it works. Put in the hash tag before your tweet : #TOJStory and then with the rest of the 140 characters share one story, or a number of stories about yourself.

For those who take part in the twitterthon, I will be printing all the replies on my website next week. I will post the link in my group. You can also read the stories submitted by searching the hash tag on Twitter

For those unfamiliar with hash tags just remember that before you write in the twitter box, you write #TOJStory to be considered part of the Twitterthon.

Cathie Dodd AKA twitter name: @Tearsofjoy

Entry by Kathy Hansen. Learn more.

Continuing to look back four years ago to the first year of A Storied Career while I finalize my e-book, Storied Careers and prepare for hosting a teleseminar on 09-09-09. It’s interesting to look back at that first year. My entries were a lot shorter (I could learn from my more concise self) and rather self-conscious. I talked a lot about my PhD program and blogging as a subset of storytelling. I’m updating a few of my first-year entries and will resume new entries soon.

Even in this blog’s first year, 2005, an article I cited by, Penelope Trunk was two years old. But its storied advice about networking — telling your story when you meet someone new still hold up six years after Penelope wrote it. In fact, as I wrote about here, Marcos Salazar gave much the same advice just a month or so ago:

“When someone asks ‘What do you do?’ a one-word answer will put your career on ice. You need to have a story. When you want to establish a connection with someone, a story provides social glue.

“When you want to impress someone, a story is more memorable than a list of achievements.”

She goes on to tell a great story of the story she told in a successful job interview.

Entry by Kathy Hansen. Learn more.

While I’m working on finalizing my e-book, Storied Careers and preparing for hosting a teleseminar a week from today, I’m republishing an updated “classic” entry from the first year of A Storied Career. These two examples of “story resumes” never fail to make me smile.

Alexandre Gueniot explains that he created his animated, musical resume in 2004, had a huge response from it, and accepted a job at Microsoft as a result of it. I suspect the words fit the music better in Gueniot’s native French (and the French version also is available), but it’s really well done and shows a great sense of humor. It’s certainly one prototype of a “story” resume. It’s unquestionably a resume that tells a story.

Here’s another one of a different ilk that equally shows a great sense of humor.

Entry by Kathy Hansen. Learn more.

Spinning a bit off a comment by Paul Furiga in the recent Q&A with him and his partner, John Durante, I’m thinking that as technical capabilities become every more mind-boggling and jaw-dropping, we need to beware of labeling every technologically stunning multimedia presentation as storytelling.

Last week, a Twitterer sang the storytelling praises of this presentation from Waterlife about dwindling water resources and the fact that water is now polluted with pharmaceutical toxins.

I will grant that this is beautifully done presentation. But I don’t see it as much beyond a very technically advanced PowerPoint presentation with facts and figures.

I don’t see it as storytelling. Do you?

The Tweeter referred to the presentation as “Database Storytelling,” which was a new one on me. I Googled the term, looked it up on Wikipedia, and asked the Tweeter for a definition but could not learn what “database storytelling” is. Do you know what database storytelling is? If so, please share.

I was similarly flummoxed by this piece, also touted in the Twitterverse as storytelling. At first I saw it as a poem, but later I realized it’s apparently some sort of game, an “unidentified game object.” I couldn’t get too far into it because the music drove me insane (I suppose I could have turned off the sound). OK, I can sort of see the game aspect, but can someone explain the storytelling to me?

Entry by Kathy Hansen. Learn more.

My target date for releasing my free e-book, Storied Careers: 40+ Story Practitioners Talk about Applied Storytelling, was tomorrow, Sept. 2, the anniversary of my first Q&A publication.

I’m not quite going to make that target date. I’m putting finishing touches on the book, proofing, and editing. I do expect to send out a beta release to contributors this week.

But the actual release looks to be the middle of next week. Thanks for your patience.

Click here to e-mail me to be notified when the book is ready for free download.

Entry by Kathy Hansen. Learn more.