Not long ago, I wrote about Smith magazine’s collection of 6-word stories. I thought the Facebook application Just Three Words had halved the Smith story length but realized that stories in this game simply start out as three words, but then friends add to the story in three-word increments (I … Continue reading
Author Archives: KatHansen
Storytelling to Transmit Values
I do a storytelling exercise with my students in which they are asked to name the 7 values of the university. Unless they have been trained as resident assistants or orientation leaders or are in student government, they usually have no clue what the values are. Message: Perhaps the university … Continue reading
Change the Story, Change Your Life/Career
I continue to be fascinated by the idea of various forms of narrative therapy and using narrative to change our lives. In an unattributed article (which may or may not be intended as a review of or excerpt from the book Narrative Therapy by Freedman and Combs) here, narrative therapy … Continue reading
World Storytelling Day Today
I’d like to think I keep up with the world of storytelling, but this one sneaked up on me. Apparently, the vernal equinox each year (here in the northern hemisphere) is also World Storytelling Day. Who knew? Here’s what Wikipedia says about the day: World Storytelling Day is a global … Continue reading
Applying Brand Story Criteria to Personal Branding Stories
The consulting firm Thirsty Fish offers a Brand Story Audit with 13 criteria to assess “how an organization’s story ‘measures up’ as a cohesive brand narrative.” Do the same criteria apply to the personal branding story, discussed in this chapter of my book, Tell Me About Yourself: Storytelling that Propels … Continue reading
How Do You Know When Your Interest is Passionate?
… when you tend to tell stories about it. So contends Don Cohen on BabsonKnowledge.org in writing about NASA’s use of storytelling for knowledge management at its Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the story overseer there, Theresa Bailey. Writes Cohen: … the benefits of telling a story can be profound. Shaping … Continue reading
Smith: A Cornucopia of Stories
I’ve been wanting to blog about the site/magazine Smith for a while now because it’s just such a cool collection of story stuff. Can’t remember exactly how I stumbled upon it, but I know it was quite by accident.Oh yes, I believe I saw a widget for it on Widgetbox … Continue reading
When Quality is a Given, Tell a Story
In his Build a Better Box blog, Steve Lovelace makes a point about marketing/advertising/promotion that easily applies to job-seekers: When a company says, “We provide an excellent product at a reasonable price with expert-level service”, they are talking about things that should almost go without saying. Would we buy from … Continue reading
Story Prompts
Recent discussion on the Working Stories discussion group (Stephanie West Allen points out in her comment that all Working Stories postings can be read in its archives) has focused on how to elicit stories from people who are not accustomed to telling their stories.
Group members have made these suggestions:
Seth Kahan suggests the JumpStart storytelling process he developed.
Alex Linkser of Organizational Democracy says: “My favorite way to get people to express themselves in an interesting way is to ask them, ‘What actions are you great at, and also excite you?'”
Victoria Ward suggests asking people to “imagine a photograph of a moment when and describe the photograph.” She added: “I’ve always liked objects, too. People can tell a story through an object (prop, image, symbol, piece of autobiography, Linus blanket) with more ease and confidence often.”
Carol Mon notes that it’s helpful to give people “a very definite time frame in which to answer … “You must show them that you are timing them. If they respond in 2 minutes or under it gives you as the listener and opportunity to follow up with questions to extract more information and the feelings. This puts people a bit more at ease because it then becomes a conversation not a monologue.”
GoldenFleece Day 2008
Speaking of Working Stories, here’s the annual event of Golden Fleece, the group behind Working Stories. I’ve attended twice, and it is just the best. The Story Moment: Where Narrative Leads to Innovation 7th Golden Fleece International Organizational Storytelling Conference National 4-H Youth Conference Center, Washington DC, May 10 2008, … Continue reading