My friend Michael Margolis has a brand new book out: Believe Me: Why Your Vision, Brand, and Leadership Need a Bigger Story, and I’ll be writing more about it as soon as I get my copy. In the meantime, readers can download a free excerpt right now. Says Michael: Believe … Continue reading
Author Archives: KatHansen
Rakontu: A New, Safe Space for Groups to Share and Work with Stories
Last year, I noted that Cynthia Kurtz and other story practitioners sought grant support for a story-sharing application, Rakontu. Rakontu has now come to fruition, and Cynthia seeks to gather some beta test groups to start using it. From the site: Rakontu is a free and open-source web application that … Continue reading
Does Public Expectation for Dramatic Story Arcs Spark Balloon-Boy Media Frenzies?
A blog entry I read by Derek Sivers describes a talk he once attended by the late Kurt Vonnegut in which the author detailed common story arcs. Vonnegut compared Cinderalla stories, common disaster stories, and real life, as seen in the illustrations at the bottom of this entry — from … Continue reading
With More Storytelling, Maybe Diagnoses Wouldn’t Be Such a Mystery
One of my favorite guilty pleasures is the TV show “Mystery Diagnosis” on Discovery Health. The true stories in the shows follow a pretty standard format. The patient starts out normally, but somewhere along the way, a weird symptom emerges, usually followed by more bizarre symptoms. Sometimes a seemingly irrelevant … Continue reading
No. 3(+) Entry in Raf Stevens Great Storytelling Challenge: Superb Audio Stories
Continuing to rise to reader Raf Stevens’ challenge to present and characterize examples of excellent storytelling …. Yesterday, while riding in an RV across the beautiful breadth of Washington state for 10 hours, I listened to 19 podcasts from The Moth’s podcast series. As a subscriber to the free podcast, … Continue reading
Smart Business Authors Know Story Bolsters Message Buy-in
A convergence of books reminded me of my interest in the genre known as the “business novel.” When Jon Stewart interviewed Jennifer Burns last week, Burns, author of Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right, noted that Rand sought to evangelize her message promoting capitalism, individual freedom, … Continue reading
Kettle Falls 2009 Chapter of My Story Comes to a Close
Another one of my occasional forays into my own story: Those who follow this blog know that after almost 17 years in Central Florida, I have been in Kettle Falls, WA, since early May. Randall and I bought land here last fall and have been building a house here. The … Continue reading
Storytelling and Haiku
sit in a circle gather your friends around you listen to stories My Facebook friend Kim Pearson (pictured), who has written one haiku a day for 20-some years, runs a haiku contest every Friday on a particular theme. Today’s theme is storytelling. Check it out.
Blog Action Day’s Stunning Participation Includes Heads of State
I’m delighted to have participated in yesterday’s Blog Action Day 09 (thanks to guest writer Cathryn Wellner), joining 13,222 blogs from 155 countries with more than 17 million readers. Also blogging were the governments of the United Kingdom and Spain along with The White House. From a roundup post toward … Continue reading
Blog Action Day: Climate Change Myths and the Actions That Follow
A Guest Entry for Blog Action Day 09 by Cathryn Wellner Blog Action Day is an annual event on Oct. 15 that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day. This year the issue is climate change. The aim is to raise awareness and … Continue reading