I love Madelyn Blair. I have experienced her twice — at the 2005 and 2007 Storytelling Weekends in Washington, DC, and corresponded with her via e-mail. She is warm, funny, inspirational, and a strong voice of leadership in the organizational storytelling movement. Madelyn has gone way above and beyond what I’ve asked of my Q&A interviewees. I’ve asked them to respond to five questions out of an assortment of about a dozen; Madelyn responded to almost all of them. Her Q&A will appear over the next six days.

Bio of Madelyn Blair: Madelyn Blair, Ph.D., is the founder of Pelerei (a consulting firm that provide innovative management solutions to help organizations transform themselves) and has been its president since its inception in1988. Dr. Blair brings extensive line-management experience. She is expert in the fields of organizational development, knowledge management, instructional design, and research technique. Dr. Blair is an early advocate and practitioner of Appreciative Inquiry.  She developed the first content analysis of written performance evaluations. She designed and created the methodology of Information Flow Analysis, which Pelerei has used to create information strategies that are understandable, workable, and efficiently developed. She has designed and conducted custom-designed courses and other learning opportunities in such topics as leadership, gender, organizational change, knowledge management, communication, problem solving, and research design. She has done so for the classroom and for distance learning. She has extensive background and experience in the area of gender in the workplace and has worked with more than 20 organizations in developing programs to address the needs of women and men working together.

Most recently, she has become a national leader in the area of using storytelling in organizations. As a founding member of one of the leading organizations in this field, she is called upon to speak about how this powerful tool can be used in many different organizational and social settings.

She brings a practical approach to addressing business needs, often creating solutions with minimal resources by harnessing the energy of client teams. Dr. Blair has published extensively and is a popular speaker. She also loves climbing mountains.

Q&A with Madelyn Blair (Questions 1 and 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: About 10 years ago Seth Kahan arranged for me to be invited to a brain-trust session on story in business. What I found was a group of about 30 people who seemed to understand that story was an important vehicle for communication that could be employed successfully in the business community. As I listened to their ideas, my understanding of story expanded, and I could see that I had been using story for a long time in my own work without knowing that was what I was doing. It was familiar to me, and as I learned more and more, I discovered the power of story in so many areas — direct communication of ideas, team building, understanding culture — all very useful to an organizational developer. After this brain-trust event, I began using story more consciously. As I used story more in my work, I became aware of the efficiency of story to convey ideas and concepts; the effectiveness of story to build solid, trusting relationships; the pleasure of story to engage audiences. It seemed that no matter what I was doing, when I could bring in story, my work was made easier. What’s not to love?

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: Life in the 21st century has begun to embrace the true complexity of life and the challenges that emerge from such complexity. Having been introduced to chaos theory, the world no longer sees itself the same. Problems no longer have smooth, clean edges, and trying to understand these more complex problems taxes the mind to just get the whole problem in the mind at one time. As one aspect of the problem enters the mind, another aspect leaves consciousness. At a time when the problems of the age are completely overwhelming, having a means to at least take the problem into the mind is essential.

Story has the wonderful ability to capture great complexity into a simple form, allowing listeners to take in the concepts, ideas, challenges, without feeling overwhelmed. From this first step, the mind has the opportunity to explore the apparent ambiguities, the natural linkages, the interactions, and more by exploring the story. Because the story holds the problem in a container that can reside in the mind in its entirety, the mind is never turned off by the enormity of the problem. Partitioning of large, complex problems was the manner in which such problems were dealt with in the past. This partitioning is no longer possible if the problem is to be properly dealt with. Thus, being able to hold the problem in the mind all at one time is a breakthrough. Often unconsciously but not always, I feel that people appreciate this ability of story to help them deal with the complex issues of life.

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. This has been helpful as well, and one can never ignore this work. But in the end, it is the ability of story to capture the enormity of life’s issues and our nascent understanding of the complexity of the universe that has come together. Oddly enough, early civilizations and cultures saw and used the same power of story to capture and hold great truths in the simple container of the story. Just check out any of the great Greek myths.

It’s an extraordinary privilege to present the tenth installment in this series of interviews with some of the gurus of both performance and applied storytelling. This interview is with Stephanie West Allen. I encountered Stephanie through her many valuable contributions to the Working Stories online discussion group — and am especially grateful for the many, many suggestions she’s made of story-related material to blog about here. Learn more about Stephanie under her photo.

Stephanie’s bio (from the About Me page of her blog, Idealawg):

Stephanie West Allen, JD, practiced law in California for several years, held offices in local bar associations, and wrote chapters for California Continuing Education of the Bar. While in CA, Stephanie completed several five-day mediation training programs with the Center for Mediation in Law, as well as a two-year intensive with Center co-founder Gary Friedman. She has been a mediator for over two and one-half decades.

She is the author of Creating Your Own Funeral or Memorial Service: A Workbook and many articles on workplace and professional issues for such publications as Lawyer Hiring and Training Report, Colorado Nurse, The Complete Lawyer, National Law Journal, Of Counsel, Law Practice and Denver Business Journal.

Stephanie writes “The Human Factor,” a column on alternative dispute resolution for The Complete Lawyer. The column is written with three other lawyer-mediators.

She has coauthored a number of articles with Dr. Jeffrey M. Schwartz.

She has designed and taught courses at such institutions as Hastings College of the Law, University of Colorado-Denver, and Regis University (Denver).

Stephanie has developed a ground-breaking mediation model that utilizes the latest findings in neuroscience to facilitate resolution of conflict.

She is certified to administer and interpret the Highlands Assessment Battery and uses this tool with both individuals and groups in the areas of business development, client relations, and team development.

Her two blogs are idealawg and Brains On Purpose™.

Q&A with Stephanie West Allen:

Q: How did you initially become involved with story/storytelling/narrative?
What attracted you to this field? What do you love about it?

A: I first became a big proponent of storytelling when I became a mediator decades ago. I saw the power of telling one’s story and hearing the stories of others in resolving disputes. To me, storytelling is a critical part of any effective and lasting conflict resolution. I have seen the “magic” of the telling and hearing too many times to not be convinced of story’s integral role in creating collaboration and cooperation. Plus I am lucky to have two friends who are both non-practicing lawyers and storytellers; listening to them has also shown me story’s essential role in the practice of law, whether in alternative dispute resolution or the adversarial process.

Q: How important is it to you and your work to function within the framework of a particular definition of “story?” (i.e., What is a story?) What definition do you espouse?

A: I don’t really have a definition. It is the flesh on the skeleton of the conflict. The meat; the heart; the blood, sweat, and tears. How did each of us get here? Where do we want to go now? The paths we have taken and the roads we want to follow.

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 think the generations need to tell each other their stories. I saw a speaker, Morris Massey, tell the story of each living generation a few years back, and it was marvelous. What each childhood and later stages of life were like, the concerns and cares, the delights and beliefs, the music and food, a complete picture. I will never forget the presentation and the resulting understanding. At the end, we all sang “Teach Your Children”and in the room, there were few dry eyes.

Q: Are there any current uses of storytelling that repel you or that you feel are inappropriate?

A: Many that don’t come from the heart. When you ask yourself, “Wonder what book on storytelling he/she read to prepare this?” Lots of the stories the stories used by motivational speakers. Stories that lead with the desire to manipulate. Getting someone to do something is often a good time for a story but if that is the only motivation and the teller lacks the connection factor, I tune — or walk out.

Q: How did you get interested in writing Creating Your Own Funeral or Memorial Service: A Workbook? Does the book advocate storytelling? Does it include any stories?

A: I wrote the book after I saw a close friend try to figure out what his mother would have wanted for her memorial service. He was grieving and had to guess. I thought it would be a nice gift if people would leave behind their wishes. Back then in 1998, the concept of designing your own end-of-life event was odd. Now not a week goes by that I don’t hear or read about people doing this creating. The boomers change any ritual they encounter from wedding to births to, now, the last ritual. There are no stories in the book, but there is a section on life storytelling and its importance to one’s memorial service and legacy.

One last rambling musing: I notice that these days people are holding memorial services for their pets. For a while, I have been thinking it would be fun to teach a course on writing your pet’s life story just as I have taught life story writing in the past. Why not? Animals have stories, too, but can’t tell them. I guess I think the stories of all things are important. Maybe I will write the stories of my plants; they have seen a lot. Now if my car could talk . . . I will have to write its story, too. Fun ideas, hmmm? But springing from how deeply I honor and value story as part of a thing’s or being’s existence.

It’s a very special treat to present the ninth installment in this series of interviews with some of the gurus of both performance and applied storytelling. This interview is with Shawn Callahan, founder of Anecdote, described as the leading business narrative services firm in Australia, “renowned for its work in knowledge management, collaboration, leadership development and facilitating complex change initiatives.” Learn more about Shawn under his photo.

Shawn’s bio from the bio page at Anecdote:

Before starting Anecdote I was the knowledge-management practice leader for IBM Australia and regional leader of IBM’s Cynefin Centre. I’ve been working as a consultant and researcher for more than 15 years now, and have undertaken a wide variety of projects–including community-of-practice development, knowledge-mapping, knowledge strategy, and using narrative techniques to tackle seemingly intractable issues (such as trust, cash economy, and workplace safety).

In 1999 I co-founded the ACT Knowledge Management Forum (now known as ActKM), an international community of practice for knowledge management in the public sector, and helped to develop the group from eight members to more than a thousand. I now have a new community project underway, a small group interested in applying complexity theory to management practices.

As a teenager, I once played Wally Masur (once Australia’s Davis Cup coach) in a tennis match and was thoroughly trounced, winning only two points in eight games. This spelt the end of my tennis career, but other sports, such as basketball and golf, have provided many years of pleasure.

Q&A with Shawn Callahan:

Q: How did you initially become involved with story/storytelling/narrative? What attracted you to this field? What do you love about it?

A: In 1999 I joined IBM in Australia to lead the knowledge management practice and the first thing I wanted to organise for my clients was an interesting seminar on the current state of knowledge management. I figured there must be a KM thought leader in IBM and in my search I found Dave Snowden. We was renowned for a unique and provocative perspective on knowledge management and was an entertaining speaker. But he was based in the UK so I emailed him and asked whether he had a video of any of his KM talks I could show my clients. Dave said he could do much better. He was coming to Australia and would be happy to give a one-day workshop. I organised the event at Old Parliament House in Canberra, and I was mesmerised by Dave’s ideas on complexity, business narrative and the way he told stories that captured the imagination of everyone in the audience. That’s when I said to myself, “I’m going to do that.” Eventually Dave and I worked together in IBM’s Cynefin Centre for Organisational Complexity where we had fours years together with a handful of other inspirational people applying our ideas with IBM’s clients around the world. It was a terrific experience.

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: Businesses have made tremendous progress in the past by dealing with their organisation as if it were a machine. It was all about making the parts more efficient, oiling the cogs, turbo charging the processes and pulling the right levers. But things are getting more complex and the old ways of dealing with problems seem to be losing traction. People, particularly professionals (and there many more professionals in the workforce these days) hate to be told what to do. Consequently leaders are looking for new ways to understand what’s really happening in their organisation, they looking for better ways to engage and better ways motivate people. Stories are integral to the new ways of working in complex environments. They are effective as a way to work out what’s happening. In our work we call this story listening. It’s a kind of anthropological application of narrative. Then there is the skill of telling stories, which seems to have a tremendous effect in motivating people to take action. Business people are recognising the utility of stories.

Q: You started Anecdote just a few years ago — in August 2004. What has been the biggest surprise since you’ve been running Anecdote? At what point did you feel the company was a success?

A: Probably my biggest surprise is the fact that we have convinced some of the largest corporations in Australia and the world to adopt narrative approaches to things like change management, leadership development, collaboration and learning. When we started we would often get cock-eyed grimaces when we mentioned stories but today people seek us out for our business narrative experience. It doesn’t hurt that popular management books like A Whole New Mind, Made to Stick, Influencer, and a myriad of others feature stories and storytelling as key capabilities for the future.

I would say we turned a corner and really felt we could make Anecdote a successful business when we started getting people finding us on the web and wanting to engage our services. We still have a long way to go because there are so many things we would like to do including running more of our workshops in the US and UK and helping more people understand that narrative work is much more that helping people tell better stories.

Q: You created Worldwide Story Work, a Ning social network. What was your motivation in creating it? Has it lived up to your expectations, and if not, what has to occur to enable the network to align with your vision?

A: In 1998 Kate Muir and I started the A.C.T. Knowledge Management Forum. We started with a handful of members in Canberra and met monthly to learn about knowledge management. We also linked everyone together on an email list. Today ActKM (as it is now known) has over 1,000 members and is arguably the most active and influential online knowledge management community in the world. We learned a lot about online communities with ActKM so Madelyn Blair (the co-coordinator of WWSW) and I thought we could take these learnings and our other community building experiences and build something useful for story practitioners.

I expect WWSW to develop slowly and gradually find its feet, so it’s living up to my expectations. It will be interesting to see how the culture of the community emerges. I’m keen for it to be a friendly place where everyone feels they can ask questions and they will get answers.