Storytelling and the Death of Newspapers

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I am a newspaper reader and have been since I was 7 years old (I learned a certain sad truth about Santa Claus by reading Dear Abby).

I intend to be a newspaper reader until the day I die. I am old enough that I believe newspapers will still be around until at least that point, though they certainly would seem to be in their death throes.

The newspaper I have read for the last 16 years, the Orlando Sentinel, has undergone a number of cost-cutting ravagings of its size and scope, all in the guise of “re-designs” that purport to make the paper better. Of course, they do not. They reduce it to a shadow of its former self. At the same time, newspapers like the Sentinel attempt to drive readers to their online version. I rarely seek news online unless some breaking story catches my attention through Twitter tweets. One effect has been that I also watch a lot less television than I used to because the Sentinel puts most of its TV reviews online, where I don’t read them.

In retrospect, I realize that my lifelong attraction to newspapers relates directly to my passion for storytelling.

As Jack Lail reported recently, Howard Weaver, McClatchy VP for News, told the Associated Press Managing Editors conference that “doing everything incrementally worse is a death spiral.”

The Orlando Sentinel — and most newspapers — are doing everything incrementally worse. As I write this entry, I am in Wilbur, WA, about an hour outside Spokane, the daily paper of which (The Spokesman-Review) just announced 60 job cuts and the editor’s resignation. I can’t really blame newspapers for their cutbacks. Newspapering in the 21st century is a Catch-22; fewer and fewer people are newspaper readers like me, so circulation is declining, advertising revenues are sinking, cost-cutting measures are making newspapers do everything incrementally worse, which means fewer and fewer people are newspaper readers. I am always astonished that people for whom I have enormous respect don’t read newspapers.

At the same time, newspaper publishers and journalists are learning to tell better stories online. The Readership Institute recently ran a piece on “Improving your visual storytelling on the Web,” with lots of graphic examples, and the site Interactive Narratives “capture[s] the best of online visual storytelling as practiced by online and print journalists from around the country and the world.” The site’s goal “is to highlight rich-media content, engaging storytelling, and eye-popping design in an environment that fosters interaction, discussion, and learning.”

I suppose improving journalistic storytelling online is a good thing, and reading online journalism is better than reading no journalism. I should never say never about becoming a reader of online news.

But as Howard Weaver also said, print journalism is about great storytelling and staying mission-focused on the communities newspapers serve, Lail reported.

Yes, it’s about the storytelling. For me, that means in print — newsprint.

I am a dying breed. I am a newspaper reader.

Using Story to Analogize a Complex Entrepreneurial Concept

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A venture capitalist named Josh recently told a long but interesting story of Francis Bates (read more on page 1014 of this PDF download), who invented the flags that come on mailboxes to indicate that there’s mail in the box.

The story is an analogy for a company that Josh’s company has invested in, Gnip. I definitely do not understand what Gnip does simply by visiting its Web site. But Josh’s story, equating Gnip to the mailbox flag does help a little. 

Real Women’s Stories of Success and Inspiration

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The Forté Foundation is a consortium of major corporations and top business schools that has become a powerful change agent in educating and directing talented women toward leadership roles in business. Forte’s mission is to substantially increase the number of women business leaders by increasing the flow of women into key educational gateways and business networks. One way Forte does that is through “Real Women, Real Stories” on its Web site.

Story categories include:

  • experiences, goals, and advice from female MBA candidates who have demonstrated significant leadership potential and won Forte Foundation Scholarships.
  • women discussing the choices they made and how business knowledge enhanced their academic background while positioning them for success in a variety of industries.
  • leading businesswomen sharing their experience and insights on how women are changing the face of business, for the better.
  • inspiring stories about women who followed their ambition and found personal and professional success.
  • stories of high-ranking women at the companies that comprise Forté’s corporate sponsors.
  • stories of today’s most influential women as voted by Forté Foundation and PINK Magazine.

Pitch Wizard Helps You Write Quick Elevator Pitch

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Here’s kind of a nifty tool if you’d like the beginnings of a “pitch” to sell yourself to employers or clients. In my book, Tell Me About Yourself, I argue that the best elevator pitches are supported by a story. Still, the Pitch Wizard at 15-Second Pitch provides an easy way to begin a pitch. First, it has you list your name, title, and contact info.

Next, you fill in these blanks with very short phrases:

I am a(n)… (e.g., “superhero”)

specializing in… (e.g., “saving the world”)

Then, you write a single sentence that specifically describes what you do and provides insight into both your approach and the type of value you deliver.

Next, you write a single sentence that describes why you are the best at what you do, such as a technique you’ve developed, your specific experience, or even your personality that sets you apart. What makes you so special?

Finally, you write a single sentence that describes your call to action – what you want people to do as a result of hearing your pitch.

The Pitch Wizard then puts it all together for you.

Of course, you don’t need the Pitch Wizard to do the same thing on your own, but it’s still a nice tool.

I would add that one more step is to develop a story that exemplifies what you do best, as described beginning here.

Coming Tardily to the Scientific American Storytelling Article

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While the goal of bloggers is often to virally spread breaking news, I find myself resisting blogging about the most current happenings in the storytelling world because, for better or worse, I dislike blogging about what everyone else is blogging about (such as the YouTube videos of Ira Glass on storytelling that I’ve seen quoted in a billion blogs). Jeremy Hsu’s August article about storytelling in Scientific American Mind is one of those pieces that every blogger who has anything to do with storytelling has written about.

My style is to wait till the viral wave subsides before blogging.

Here are some (many!) bullet points representing what I found most interesting in the Scientific American article (all of these represent quotes or paraphrases of Jeremy Hsu’s writing):

  • We tell stories about other people and for other people. Stories help us to keep tabs on what is happening in our communities. The safe, imaginary world of a story may be a kind of training ground, where we can practice interacting with others and learn the customs and rules of society. And stories have a unique power to persuade and motivate, because they appeal to our emotions and capacity for empathy.
  • Storytelling is one of the few human traits that are truly universal across culture and through all of known history. People in societies of all types weave narratives… And when a characteristic behavior shows up in so many different societies, researchers pay attention: its roots may tell us something about our evolutionary past.
  • A definition of storytelling can prove tricky. “Because there are so many diverse forms, scholars often define story structure, known as narrative, by explaining what it is not. Exposition contrasts with narrative by being a simple, straightforward explanation, such as a list of facts or an encyclopedia entry. Another standard approach defines narrative as a series of causally linked events that unfold over time. A third definition hinges on the typical narrative’s subject matter: the interactions of intentional agents–characters with minds–who possess various motivations.”
  • People know [storytelling] when they feel it. Whether fiction or nonfiction, a narrative engages its audience through psychological realism–recognizable emotions and believable interactions among characters.
  • Immersion [in stories] is a state psychologists call ‘narrative transport.’
  • [Through story] … we can attribute mental states–awareness, intent–to another entity. Theory of mind, as this trait is known, is crucial to social interaction and communal living–and to understanding stories.
  • Perhaps because theory of mind is so vital to social living, once we possess it we tend to imagine minds everywhere, making stories out of everything.
  • … Steven Pinker, a Harvard University evolutionary psychologist, in the April 2007 issue of Philosophy and Literature… posit[s] that stories are an important tool for learning and for developing relationships with others in one’s social group. And most scientists are starting to agree: stories have such a powerful and universal appeal that the neurological roots of both telling tales and enjoying them are probably tied to crucial parts of our social cognition.
  • … people spend most of their conversations telling personal stories and gossiping.
  • Anthropologists note that storytelling could have also persisted in human culture because it promotes social cohesion among groups and serves as a valuable method to pass on knowledge to future generations.
  • … some psychologists are starting to believe that stories have an important effect on individuals as well–the imaginary world may serve as a proving ground for vital social skills.
  • Preliminary research by Oatley and Mar suggests that stories may act as ‘flight simulators’ for social life.
  • … researchers have begun examining the themes and character types that appear consistently in narratives from all cultures. Their work is revealing universal similarities that may reflect a shared, evolved human psyche.
  • … depictions of romantic love in folktales [have been found] scattered across space and time.
  • “literary Darwinists,” are scholars “”who assert that story themes do not simply spring from each specific culture. Instead the literary Darwinists propose that stories from around the world have universal themes reflecting our common underlying biology.
  • Some scholars note that stories “reveal a persistent mind-set regarding gender roles… overwhelmingly similar gender depictions emphasizing strong male protagonists and female beauty.
  • ‘Narrative involves agents pursuing some goal,’ says Patrick Colm Hogan, professor of English and comparative literature at the University of Connecticut. “The standard goals are partially a result of how our emotion systems are set up.”
  • As many as two thirds of the most respected stories in narrative traditions seem to be variations on three narrative patterns, or prototypes, according to Hogan. The two more common prototypes are romantic and heroic scenarios…
  • Narrative is also a potent persuasive tool, according to Hogan and other researchers, and it has the ability to shape beliefs and change minds.
  • A 2007 study by marketing researcher Jennifer Edson Escalas of Vanderbilt University found that a test audience responded more positively to advertisements in narrative form as compared with straightforward ads that encouraged viewers to think about the arguments for a product.
  • … stories can have applications in promoting positive health messages. [See this recent entry on preventing a flu pandemic through story.]

Q&A with a Story Guru: John Caddell

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I’m so happy to present the eighth installment in this series of interviews with some of the gurus of both performance and applied storytelling. This interview is with John Caddell, who founded the Ning social networking group The Mistake Bank, “a place to share stories of mistakes people have made in their lives and careers.” Learn more about John from the link under his photo.

Learn more about John on his Profile page on The Mistake Bank.

Q&A with John Caddell;:

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: I’m a business consultant, so I take this question from a business perspective. There has been an immense amount of investment in the last 20 years in business-process re-engineering and process standardization and in IT systems and to support those initiatives. We’ve taken process improvement about as far as it can go.

In fact, we’ve taken it a bit too far. With companies applying Six Sigma to things like sales processes (???), and not surprisingly achieving poor results, it is time to seek new tools.

And narrative is a perfect tool to help shed light on complex questions (is our reorganization helping the company to perform better? Is this a good or lousy place to work? Why aren’t people buying our new product?).

Businesspeople are finally realizing that this “soft” tool actually has very practical and useful applications.

A separate but important benefit of storytelling in the workplace is that it helps bring the whole person into the office. For most of history work and personal lives were completely separate, not to be intermingled. Now, with telecommuting, flextime, job sharing, anywhere-anytime communication and global organizations, it’s dysfunctional to keep work and home separated by a firewall. Storytelling, then, allows us to communicate who we are to our co-workers and managers, what we need, and how we can be more successful — not just more productive.

Q: The culture is abuzz about Web 2.0 and social media. To what extent do you participate in social media (such as through LinkedIn, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Second Life, blogs, etc.)? To what extent and in what ways do you feel these venues are storytelling media?

A: I participate in all of the above, but I would say that when I tried Second Life, I just basically stood around in a room and didn’t do anything. So let’s strike that experience.

I use storytelling all the time in my blog — perhaps 50 percent of the posts have a narrative component. Twitter is all narrative to me — like an online diary of minutiae. YouTube is a great home for storytelling. It’s so much more powerful to hear and see a storyteller than to read the words on a page.

The social-network tools aren’t very storytelling-focused (except for the “what are you doing?” bits they stole from Twitter). My site, The Mistake Bank, is in a social network form, but is story-driven. It’s first-person stories from members, and the social-network features make it easy to discuss stories and share experiences connected with the stories.

Q: You wrote on your Ning social networking group The Mistake Bank: “I’ve been probing the use of stories in companies for learning and assessment, for more than a year now….” Can you talk a little more about this process of probing the use of stories in companies and how it came about?

A: Well, I spent my career living two lives. At work, I was on a typical managerial track — software development, moving to marketing, then leadership and finally senior management. At home I read lots of fiction, wrote short stories and even a lousy novel, and spent time in the writing community.

After I left my senior-management job and went on my own, I attended a storytelling breakout session at the 2006 Fortune Magazine Innovation Forum. It was a revelation. I could actually fuse my two lives together and do something of value with them. Then I blogged about the experience, and connected with Shawn Callahan of Anecdote as a result. I did some work with Shawn, started reading everything I could get my hands on, finally working with companies, and there you go.

Q: You also wrote: “The Mistake Bank idea came out of trying to create a story library of mistakes that people could consult when they underwent some change — say, a large investment, a new company, a new job, etc. …. I’m finding, not surprisingly, that there are all sorts of interesting side benefits as well.” In what ways did you feel it would be helpful to have “a story library of mistakes that people could consult when they underwent some change”? It seems like kind of a natural, but how exactly did the idea evolve in your mind? Can you talk about some of the “interesting side benefits?”

A: The idea coalesced over a period of months. I wrote a couple of funny blog posts titled “Worst Practices in Customer Service,” in which I recounted experiences where a big company did dumb things that made a customer (me) mad. Soon thereafter I read a blog post by Dave Snowden where he discussed the value of learning from avoiding worst practice (and the severe limitations of best practices). That was interesting to me.

I mentioned this idea of learning from mistakes to my hairdresser, and she said, “Oh yeah, when I started this place the first thing I thought about was all the things my previous bosses had done that I didn’t want to repeat.” So there was something there.

And of course I liked the surprising aspect of the idea. People told me, “Who is going to talk about their screw-ups in public?” And, lo and behold, some do!

As far as side benefits, when someone (especially someone prominent) admits to a mistake, it has this neat result of making him/her human to the rest of us. “Hey, she may be a world-renowned organizational-behavior expert, but she messes up just like the rest of us.” I think that’s beneficial to the workplace, and to society.

Storytelling to Warn Against Pandemic Complacency

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Storytelling is a natural in heath and healing, as I’ve blogged about previously. Narrative medicine is also a growing field.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is trying to prevent the complacency that CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding calls “enemy number one when it comes to preparing for another influenza pandemic.”

The CDC has produced the Pandemic Influenza Storybook, for which the agency says the need became evident “as the CDC conducted Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) throughout the country for public-health professionals involved with a variety of emergency response communications activities.”

The storybook is a resource tool … that contains narratives from survivors, families, and friends who lived through the 1918 and 1957 pandemics. Additionally, stories from the 1968 pandemic will be added to this resource as they become available.

Says Gerberding: “These stories, told so eloquently by survivors, family members, and friends from past pandemics, serve as a sobering reminder of the devastating impact that influenza can have and reading them is a must for anyone involved in public-health preparedness.”

Says the CDC:

The 1918 influenza pandemic killed more than 50 million people worldwide including an estimated 675,000 people in the United States, and it is one of the touchstones for today’s public health preparedness initiatives. To put it in perspective, that’s more people than all those who died (both military personnel and civilians) during World War I (1914-1918). The 1957 Influenza Pandemic caused at least 70,000 U.S. deaths and 1-2 million deaths worldwide. Improvements in scientific technology made it possible to more quickly identify that pandemic when compared with the 1918 event. These first-person and family accounts contained herein provide an intimate, personal view of the 1918 and 1957 pandemics that goes beyond the staggering statistics associated with those events and, therefore, can help planners re-energize their efforts and fight preparedness fatigue and apathy.

The Pandemic Influenza Storybook is not a closed book; CDC will continue to accept stories and add them to the book at quarterly intervals.

Use Stories to Win an Audience’s Trust

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Terrence Gargiulo advises telling a “Who Am I” story when speaking to an audience to build trust and make your motives clear. As Gargiulo says, “A simple and clear story enables the audience [members] to build their own picture of what’s driving the presenter’s actions.”

The same approach works in job interviews: Tell a story that encapsulates you to clarify to the employer your motivation and what drives you.