The banner of the blog Shortfolio describes its purpose as “very short stories,” but compared to the 3-word and 6-word takes covered in my last entry, these “very short stories” of 500 words seem like War and Peace.
You can keep current with updates to Shortfolio through its widget on my sidebar.
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 think). More than 2,300 folks were participating in this collaborative story-writing exercise at this writing.
Here’s what the developers say about the application:
Just Three Words is a truly entertaining game – create stories with your friends and with anyone from across the world on Facebook. Three words at a time! Having created a new story, the basic concept of the game is to build the story as a group. The only twist is that each of you can only add three words at a time. With a little wit and some creative thinking, you can generate some amazing and hilarious stories… To get started, install the “Just Three Words” application and either add words to one of your friends stories or to one of the many public (and worldwide!) stories, or create your own story to share. Creating a story takes just few seconds, requiring you to provide nothing more than a Title and the first three words to get the ball rolling. Invite some friends … and you off and running.
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 is not doing a good job of communicating its values. I then ask them to choose the value (of the 7) that most resonates with them, that they most identify with.
They form a group with other students who share the same value, and they are then asked to develop stories to illustrate that value — perhaps a person they know (even themselves) or organization that lives and embodies that value.
As Steve Denning says:
If managers can transmit their own parables which embody the values of the corporation then that can be a powerful way to communicate values in the organisation. At the same time there can also be an underground river of storytelling that goes on in an organisation – the informal storytelling at water coolers and cafeterias. These stories also transmit the values of the organisation. And if the actions of the management are in any way inconsistent with the espoused values of the organisation then the informal storytelling will transmit those inconsistencies even more powerfully and rapidly than the narratives put out by the management.
As they develop their stories, I ask them to look for these inconsistencies – do the university’s informal stories run counter to the stated values? How easy is it to come up with stories that show that the university lives its values, and they are not merely espoused values?
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 is described this way:
The Narrative Therapy is an approach to counselling that centres people as the experts in their own lives. This therapy intends to view problems as separate entities to people, assuming that the individual’s set of skills, experience and mindset will assist him/her reduce the influence of problems throughout life. This therapeutic approach intends to place the individual in both the protagonist and author roles: switching the view from a narrow perspective to a systemic and more flexible stance.
Noting that the most important aspect of narrative therapy is to empower the client, the article goes on to explain how changing the story (constructing the alternate narrative) can change one’s life:
The focus of Narrative Therapy is to explore the strengths and positive aspects of an individual through his or her narrative. Therefore, the main objective of this therapeutic approach is to improve the person’s perspective internally (reflective) and externally (towards the world and others). Alternative narratives are a simple way to relate to this concept. This technique works in combination with unique outcomes. How? The individual will reconstruct a personal story using unique outcomes, therefore, focusing on the positive aspects of a previous story in order to achieve a desired outcome. This process is based on the premise that any person can continually and actively re-author their own life.
A quote from Jean Houston (not from the article) vividly captures this process:
If you keep telling the same sad small story, you will keep living the same sad small life.
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 celebration of the art of oral storytelling. It is celebrated every year on the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere, the first day of autumn equinox in the southern. On World Storytelling Day, as many people as possible tell and listen to stories in as many languages and at as many places as possible, during the same day and night. Participants tell each other about their events in order to share stories and inspiration, to learn from each other and create international contacts. The significance in the event lies in the fact that it is the first global celebration of storytelling of its kind, and has been important in forging links between storytellers often working far apart from each other. It has also been significant in drawing public and media attention to storytelling as an art form.
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 Careers?
I suspect some, but not all these criteria apply to the personal branding story. Check out some of the sample brand stories in the chapter and see what you think.
They are:
Thirsty-Fish also offers other writings and presentations.
… 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 stories helps people make sense of experiences they’ve had. Telling them to a receptive audience not only provides heartening evidence that colleagues find your work interesting and valuable, it remind the tellers how much they care about what they do. Describing her scientist and engineer storytellers, Bailey says, “They don’t even know how passionate they are about their work until they start talking about it.”
Let’s apply this idea to your career. Do you tell stories about it? If you don’t, could it men you are not passionate about it and long to do something different?
Victor Sierpina, Mary Jo Kreitzer, Elizabeth MacKenzie, and Michelle Sierpina write in their article “Regaining Our Humanity Through Story,” (Explore, Nov/Dec 2007) about understanding stories told by patients in the medical field and how doing so enables caregivers to “understand our own stories and what has drawn us to the health profession.” The authors note that “without understanding our own stories, we cannot truly know ourselves.” They quote George, Sims, McLean and Mayer, who assert that “your life story provides the context for your experiences, and through it, you can make an impact on the world.”
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 (there’s now a Smith widget on this blog).
Smith says its “mission has been to be a place for storytelling, with a focus on personal narrative. … SMITH magazine celebrates the joy of storytelling… and is a home for storytelling of all forms and kinds… We believe everyone has a story, and everyone should have a place to tell it.”
There’s just so much great story stuff on this site.
Smith refers to the various parts of its site as story projects, including six-word memoirs*, “minuscule yet insightful life stories” on diverse themes; Brushes with Fame, personal stories about unexpected encounters with celebrities; My Life So Far, memoirs in progress; My Ex, pretty much self-explanatory; and The PopuList (100-word or fewer responses to various ripped-from-the headlines topics, such as an Oscars-inspired request for the title and 100-word trailer for the movie of your life or a Valentine’s themed craziest thing you ever did for love).
The site also has other sections and a comics/graphic novels area.
You could easily lose yourself in Smith and spend days and days here.
* Just as a side note to the 6-word story theme, flickr has a section in which folks (in this 2,000+ member group) write 6-word captions for photos.
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 anyone who didn’t offer these things? And who among those companies would ever claim otherwise? “At ABC Company, we make the worst products on the market. Our service blows, and our prices will kill your bottom line.” How long would these companies stay in business? Promoting things that should be a given – such as good service and products – is a waste of breath.
Similarly, resume writers (and I know because I was one) frequently write phrases like “exceptional communication skills” and “superlative work ethic.” But just as with products and services, why would the customer (employer) choose a candidate without these qualities?
Lovelace goes on:
As you market yourself to the world, consider telling your story and promoting your brand essence. In a world where everyone competes with the same menu of “stuff”, it is your story and brand that will set you apart from the competition, and ultimately give you stability and longevity in the marketplace. As the laundry listing, commodity-based competition comes and goes, awash in a sea of relative obscurity and anonymity, your company will be known for who you are – not merely what you are.
Substitute “you” for “your company” in the above and tell stories that illustrate the marketable skills you possess that employers want.
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.”
From Svend-Erik Engh:
I ask people to tell about something that is absolutely comfortable. One subject could be “This morning.” I let people stand in a big circle and they tell two by two – I have tried this with 180 people – and they just tell about this morning. Storyteller tells this story for one minute. The listeners have to be interested in the story, no matter what the storytellers say. Then response from partner – what was the clearest picture in the story? This is important, because that way you give response that shows a left side of the brain – activity. Then listeners shall give positive response to the storyteller – concrete: Did you like the voice, hands, eyes etc. I then ask every one to turn around to the partner behind – then they tell the story they heard from first partner. You are as a storyteller free to improve the story.
(Svend-Erik offers a handout on how to become a better storyteller)
Chandni Kapur of Anecdote in Australia recommends “the story spine,” which looks like this, according to Chandni:
Way back when..
Everyday…
But one day…
Because of that… (repeat three times or as often as necessary) Until
finally…
Ever since then…
And the moral of the story is…(optional)
More about this technique here. Note “Tim E’s” comment to this entry that credits the Story Spine Comment to Kenn Adams while at Freestyle Repertory in New York in the 1990s. (You can learn more in his book.
M.K. Clark observes that “people tend to express themselves more when telling stories they are passionate about and desire to share. They also tend to share more when the listener(s) are interested. The stronger the relationship, the more people can share with each other about the process.”
Noa Baum offers these guidelines:
She also offer ideas she’s used to guide people fairly quick into a richer, better shaped story: