Q&A with a Story Guru: Jim Ballard: Stories Provide a Way into the Hungry Heart

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See a photo of Jim, his bio, and Part 1 of this Q&A, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.

Q&A with Jim Ballard, Question 5:

Q: You wrote to me: “To me, each of us has a Story Mind (as against what I call Lecture Mind), that allows something that begins ‘There once was . . .’ to bypass the left brain and go straight to the part that wants only to know what happens next.” How did you develop this philosophy? Can you give an example or two of how you’ve seen it work? What’s the advantage of going to the part of the brain that wants to know what happens next?

A: Over the years a frequent question I have asked people (even strangers such as wait-persons in restaurants and helpers in airports and hotels) is: “What’s your dream?” I like seeing the reaction: the eyes go up and usually to their left, and they always tell. Asking people about their dream gets them to tell stories, and I am always careful to show respect and belief in the dream. This enables me to encourage them, and many have said that being able to tell makes their dream seem more real and more possible. I often share an idea or refer the dream-teller to a book, article, or person that might further their aspiration. [Editor’s note: Jim wrote at greater length about this phenomenon in his blog.]

In my coaching business working with authors and creative people, I often coach them to put their ideas into a short story that encapsulates the main points; some have ended up publishing these. I also offer myself as a consultant/ fable writer to companies and organizations, promising as an end product after my study of the company’s DNA an engaging myth they can use with employees and customers to say, “This is us.”

In a time when so much is known through the intellect, there are three factors that contribute to a special need for stories: (a) we think that all our knowing comes through information; (b) we are desensitized by our overexposure to everything; (c) we lack the cultural stories that were common before we became a global village. Stories provide a way into the hungry heart.

A Dozen Eye-Openers about Telling Stories in Presentations

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This year’s SlideShare “Tell a Story” contest underscored the emergence of of storytelling as a significant component in presentations (even if slide shows aren’t always compatible with good storytelling). (I had thought the “Tell a Story” contest replaced the more generic contest SlideShare held last year but just learned the World’s Best Presentation Contest ’09 has begun accepting entries.)

In recognition of story’s growing role in presentations, I found these 12 interesting bits published recently:

  1. Listeners go into a trance when they hear a story. So says professional speaker Andy Dooley in a blog entry that is actually not that much about presentations: “Did you know that when you’re listening to a story you go into a trance? Did you know that change happens when you least expect it? Did you know that change happens when you are in a trance?”
  2. Gestures that go with your story have a specific effect on brain activity. This observation comes from research reported by Bruce Bower in Science News. In the study conducted by neuoscientist Jeremy Skipper, Weill Medical College, Cornell University, and presented in the academic journal Current Biology: “As volunteers listened to and watched a woman who made descriptive hand gestures while telling a story, activity simultaneously increased in one set of brain areas involved in planning and executing actions and in another set thought to underlie language comprehension, the researchers report … These neural systems form a network that ascertains the meaning of gestures accompanying speech, they suggest.” Different brain activity was observed when observers could see a nongesturing woman and when they couldn’t see the woman telling the story.
  3. You can effectively alter the classic presentation formula by integrating stories. That formula is: Tell ’em what you’re gonna tell ’em. Then tell ’em. Then tell ’em what you just told ’em. Koert Bakker learned to turn that formula on its ear after reading Annette Simmons’ The Story Factor. “This completely changed the way I write presentations now,” Bakker said. “Instead of giving away the key point of the presentation at the beginning, I save it for last. I start with the perspective of the audience, and then take them on a tour of all the aspects that step-by-step convinced me to believe what I believe so they can step-by-step come to believe the same things. And I insert a little drama and tension along the way, to help remember the story and make it easier to pass on.”
  4. Bullets [probably] can’t help you tell a story. I’ve come to believe bullet points — popularized in presentations by the ubiquitous PowerPoint — serve no real purpose except as memory aids for the presenter. In an article, “The First Five Slides: Unlocking the Story Buried in Your Presentation,” that is packed with lots of good advice about presentations, Cliff Atkinson, says: “When the primary way that we communicate is by presenting lists to one another, it is no wonder that the phenomenon of story is gaining momentum, because a story is the opposite of a list. Where a list is dry, fragmented and soulless; a story is juicy, coherent, and full of life. Presented with the choice, any audience will choose life.” Want another illustration of this point? About 1 minute and 53 seconds into this little video talk by Shawn Callahan, he tells a story that shows how poorly bullet points work compared to stories.
  5. In fact, ditch the slides. Many a tree and many an electron has given its life in “death by PowerPoint” articles that emphasize not only how PowerPoint kills storytelling in presentations, but how it murders presentations themselves. Joining that chorus is José A. Bowen, dean of the Meadows School of the Arts, who, as reported by Jeffrey R. Young in The Chronicle of Higher Education “has challenged his colleagues to ‘teach naked’ — by which he means, sans machines. More than any thing else, Mr. Bowen wants to discourage professors from using PowerPoint, because they often lean on the slide-display program as a crutch rather using it as a creative tool.” As Young characterizes Bowen’s view: “When students reflect on their college years later in life, they’re going to remember challenging debates and talks with their professors.” Yes, and they will remember the stories their professors told. Some see digital storytelling as the cure for death by PowerPoint, as evidenced by this resource list: Digital Storytelling and Reforming PowerPoint
  6. Stories stick. In a similar academic vein as the previous point, Joey Asher on his Talking Points blog lamented the terrible presentations he hears at his son’s freshman orientation at the University of Michigan: “Over and over college administrators, health professionals, professors, and public safety professionals would stand up to talk to us about what our kids could expect at the University of Michigan,” Asher said. “And over and over we’d get a series of bullet points, delivered somewhat randomly.” The day was saved by, not an administrator or professor, but a student who described taking an unusual course her freshman year. As Asher writes, quoting the student: “‘I had taken German in high school,” she explained. ‘But when I started looking through the course catalog, I found so many interesting courses, I wanted to take something unusual.'” The something unusual turned out to be Yiddish, and the lesson was that it’s a good idea to take some courses simply because you find them interesting. Said a relieved Asher: “Of all the messages I’ve gotten over the last two days, that message is the one that sticks more than any others. And it’s because it came through a story.” (Shawn Callahan’s story mentioned above under No. 4. also illustrates the stickiness of stories)
  7. Stories connect your listeners with your topic on a personal level. Citing “a brief slide show at the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2009,” Geoffrey X. Lane wrote that “Palm … put [itself] back into business competition.” You can see the portion of Palm’s “great slide presentation” that Lane refers to here. Wrote Lane: “… notice how Palm’s Jon Rubinstein, like Apple CEO Steve Jobs, treats the presentation like a story. Rather than simply spouting facts about the new phone, he employs narrative (storytelling) to connect listeners to the device on a more personal level — a marvelous marketing strategy involving the audience, and an effective technique you can adopt the next time you appear before the board or your customer.”
  8. Sequence, unexpected events, and detail can enhance presentation stories. An unnamed blogger at Social Ch@nge cites the “sequence, unexpected events, and detail” in the amusing slideshow below (“An Excellent Boring Presentation” by Ishtiaque Zico). These traits are not exactly applied to a story, but then again, the slideshow can be seen as the story of how to construct a boring presentation. And even if it isn’t, sequence, unexpected events, and detail are still good story devices.
     

     

  9. Make presentation stories simple enough so that audiences can easily repeat them. “Use the power of simplicity to add to your storytelling skills in presenting your ideas, products and solutions,” advises Thomas Sechehaye, who bills himself “The World’s #1 Presentation Storyboard Coach.” In his blog The Next Meeting, he writes, “Training your audience to recall your message happens when you simplify and make it easy for them to tell your story.”
  10. Road-test your stories. In an article with lots of other good tips, Corey Sommers advises test out stories with trusted people who fit your audience profile: “The question you want to ask is: ‘Does this story resonate with you?'”
  11. Tell stories about yourself. Carmine Gallo gives an awesome example of using self-stories in a presentation in a Business Week article:

    In September 2007, Brad Nierenberg, CEO of RedPeg Marketing in Alexandria, Va., pitched a project to Gaylord National, a massive new resort outside Washington, D.C. He, along with several other members of the team, competed for the account to publicize the hotel’s hiring event the following year. … Nierenberg told me the team members told stories about themselves in the first slides of the pitch, connecting those stories to the roles each would play on the account. For example, the account lead showed a photo of herself as a young cheerleader and discussed how her role is to lead with precision and to keep spirits high. Nierenberg brought a picture of himself as a 6-year old in a cowboy outfit. As the “sheriff” in town, he might not be on the account every day, but he would be available to make sure “all was right in the town of Gaylord.” Nierenberg knew the stories were making on impact on his audience from the smiles on their faces. “They couldn’t wait for the next story,” he said. The attendees even asked for copies of the photos to show the other decision makers. RedPeg won the account.

  12. On the other hand, tell stories not about yourself but about others. While stories about oneself are great for building trust and connection, Seth Simonds makes a case for telling stories about others, suggesting it may be “possible [to] might find value in telling stories that aren’t about you” (in fact, he offers three reasons to tell stories that aren’t just about you). Simonds cites a Thai Pantene commercial (“Pantene tells us a compelling story with a message we recognize and connect with the shampoo”) and Malcolm Gladwell’s 2004 17.5-minute The Story of Spaghetti Sauce on TED Talks (“Gladwell engages us with a story about a man we can model ourselves after.”)

Q&A with a Story Guru: Jim Ballard: Storytelling through Lyric Writing

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See a photo of Jim, his bio, and Part 1 of this Q&A, Part 2, and Part 3.

Q&A with Jim Ballard, Question 4:

Q: What future aspirations do you personally have for your own story work? What would you like to do in the story world that you haven’t yet done?

A: Being a lover of stage musicals, I have long dreamed of the opportunity to see a story of mine called “Milo’s Beam” done as a musical. A few years back I took an online screenwriting course (Authors’ Boot Camp) and developed a movie script of the tale, which I’m presently re-working for live theater. In my study of musicals, I’ve learned the actual function of the musical number from the standpoint of the architecture of a show. Whereas before I thought a song was merely an enjoyable interlude in the story, now I know that songs play a crucial part in a scene or play. They move things along exponentially. Whole scenes can be skipped through the right number. When a song begins in the play the audience, characters and show are at a particular place. By the end of the number, if it’s done right, everything is in a new place. Not only is the character of the singer revealed, or an action taken, the number has served as the vehicle for carrying the essence of an idea (or meme). It is this skill of storytelling through lyric-writing that I hope to develop.

Did You Have an Imaginary Friend? You May Be a Good Storyteller

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A study of of 48 boys and girls aged 5-1/2, found that the 13 girls and 10 boys who currently or previously engaged in imaginary companion play had more advanced narrative skills than children who did not engage in this type of play, reports ScienceAlert:

Children’s interaction with imaginary friends appears to play a positive role in their language development, according to new research that adds to the growing body of evidence that having such companions can be developmentally beneficial.

Associate Professor Elaine Reese of the University of Otago, New Zealand and her former Clark University student Dr. Gabriel Trionfi conducted the research, which appears in the academic journal Child Development.

Well, phooey. I did not have an imaginary friend. My sister Robin did. Her friend’s name was Giffen. It evolved that Giffen lived on the route between our farm and the home of my childhood best friend, Claudia. When my mother would drive me to Claudia’s or pick me up, Robin would always point out Giffen’s house.

Neither of my children had imaginary friends, but my son John had an “old family” with whom he said he had lived before he came to be our child. His memories of his old family were quite vivid and detailed — to the point where I actually wondered if he was recalling a past life. Apparently his old family had been killed in a bomb explosion, and he could get himself into quite an emotional state recalling their demise.

Researcher Reese notes that “because children’s storytelling skills are a strong predictor of their later reading skill, these differences may even have positive spinoffs for children’s academic performance.” Interestingly, both my sister and my son are brilliant. Robin was an early reader, and John became a voracious reader.

Another interesting study — and one might exist — would look at why some children have imaginary friends and some don’t.

Did you have an imaginary friend? Did you become a good storyteller and/or learner as a result?

Q&A with a Story Guru: Jim Ballard: Storytelling for a Troubled World

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See a photo of Jim, his bio, and Part 1 of this Q&A, and Part 2.

Q&A with Jim Ballard, Question 3:

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: Not long ago I heard Bruce Springsteen say on “Larry King Live” that “When people are in trouble, they go to storytellers.” That intrigued me, because the link must be age-old. We certainly live in a time of confusion and uncertainty. I guess when people find themselves cut off from their accustomed assurances, their minds and hearts open to things they would have dismissed before. The usual image evoked to illustrate the age-old-ness of story is that of our ancient forbears around a fire, listening as someone spins a tale that helps them forget their hunger and cold, or the wolves at their backs. This time is no different than others, for today’s stories continue to take us away, entertain and inspire us. But this moment in history may, as you say, be special. Perhaps a storyteller will arise that will do for our nation what Abraham Lincoln did for a farmer who said, “I went down there to Alton feelin’ pretty burdened, but ‘twan’t long after he begun to speak that I felt I had no troubles a-tall.”

My wife and I went to see “Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” last night, and thrilled again at perhaps the greatest Bible story of all. It was about a storyteller, a man who could interpret dreams. He was ill-treated by his brothers, who sold him away into slavery, but in the end his marvelous ability to reveal the meaning of dreams enabled him to save Israel. A story of how storytelling redeemed a nation. Perhaps it will happen again, Perhaps, in a world weary of scandal and subterfuge, a truthteller will arise. Perhaps he already has.

Q&A with a Story Guru: Jim Ballard: Storytelling Can Produce Deep Family Understanding and Healing

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See a photo of Jim, his bio, and Part 1 of this Q&A.

Q&A with Jim Ballard, Question 2:

Q: What motivated you to write some of your books as fables, notably your work with Ken Blanchard, the story you wrote with your wife of adult children who are facing having to move their aging parents out of the home they’ve occupied for 40 years, and your spiritual fable, Little Wave and Old Swell?

A: I’ll focus on No Ordinary Move; Relocating Your Aging Parents — A Guide for Boomers, the book my wife Barbara and I have published in both paperback and audio-book form. In operating her senior move manager business for 14 years, Barbara has amassed a host of stories from the many moves she’s helped clients make. When it came to our putting the strategies and wisdom she’s accumulated into a book targeted at adult children facing this issue, it was plain that the usual how-to approach (omniscient voice saying, “Do this, do that,” laced with case studies) would not work for us. We wanted to convey the emotional issues for both the adult children and the aging parents. We wanted to treat the inter-generational points in a way that would help readers understand “the other side.” Storytelling was the answer; in this particular case, it was the way to round in so many of the stories Barbara had heard and been a part of. Seniors and family members, when given the chance, become natural storytellers during the process of a move. Storytelling can produce deep understanding and healing in families.

We created a fictitious family who are facing this issue, and followed their inner and outer journeys through the eight stages of a move. We included all the frustration and consternation people feel with their older parents, the resistance and fears that the parents feel, and the sense of overwhelm both groups experience when they face a major move. We also inserted a wisdom voice in the character of Moving Mentor, the professional move facilitator. The depths of wisdom Barbara has gleaned through her work are revealed in Moving Mentor’s journal entries. This particular instance of storytelling has already given countless people insights into how to help their parents relocate. It also teaches senior move managers to be aware of the opportunities for storytelling inherent in the work they do.

Contents Revealed for Free E-Book

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I’m now really working in earnest on my upcoming free e-book, Storied Careers: 40+ Story Practitioners Talk about Applied Storytelling. The books compiles the best from the Q&A series that has run in this space since last September. I expect to have it ready for free download by the anniversary of the first Q&A publication, Sept. 2.

I organized the contents today. The book will be organized thematically rather than by practitioner. It was easy to come up with the themes suggested by the set of questions I had asked all the practitioners. But I asked each guru at least two questions specifically tailored for that person, so it was interesting to see what common themes emerged from that diverse array of questions.

Although the following might not be in the exact order of the final book, I expect these to be the contents:

  • Introduction
  • Defining Story
  • Origins of Storytelling Passions
  • Storytelling Influences
  • An Explosion of Storytelling?
  • Social-media Storytelling
  • Troubling Uses of Storytelling
  • Transformational Storytelling
  • Storytelling Advice
  • Change Your Story, Change Your Life
  • Storytelling in Relationships, Teams, and Community
  • Story Techniques and Tools
  • Unexpected Applications of Storytelling
  • Storytelling in Organizations
  • Getting Buy-In for Storytelling
  • Personal Storytelling, Lifewriting, and Memoir
  • The Practice of Storytelling
  • Storytelling and Change
  • Storytelling in Marketing, Sales, and Branding
  • Storytelling and Career
  • Storytelling in Writing and Communication
  • The Future of Storytelling
  • Directory of Practitioners: Photos and Contact Info

Click here to e-mail me to be notified when the book is
ready for free download.

This week’s Q&A subject, Jim Ballard, is the last to be included in the book, and with his Q&A, the series comes to a close for a moment. I will always welcome and publish Q&A responses from those to whom I’ve previously sent questions. I will always welcome participation from those I’ve previously invited. And I will welcome participation from anyone who would like to nominate a practitioner (and self-nominations also are welcome) to do a Q&A.

Q&A with a Story Guru: Jim Ballard: Storytelling is a Way to Get a Point Across

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I connected with Jim Ballard when he contacted me after reading my Q&A with Karen Dietz, with whom he has worked. When he told me he had written several of his books as fables, I felt he’d be a good subject for his own Q&A. He was also kind enough to send me a couple of his published works. And, he responded to my Q&A questions faster than any other subject ever had! Since then, we’ve also begun collaborating on a project. He has just re-launched his blog, mind like water, which is terrifically inspirational. This Q&A will run over the next five days

Bio: Jim Ballard spent 10 years in schools as a teacher, guidance counselor and principal, and another 10 years conducting teacher training seminars in classroom management, team building and affective curriculum. When he met Ken Blanchard in 1973, Jim moved into corporate training. As a consulting partner with Blanchard Companies he designed and facilitated award-winning management courses and coauthored books with Blanchard, including Managing By Values, Everyone’s A Coach, Mission Possible, Customer Mania, and Whale Done! On his own Jim has published What’s the Rush? (Random House), Mind Like Water (Wiley & Sons), and Little Wave and Old Swell, A Parable of Life and Its Passing (Simon & Schuster). With his wife Barbara Perman, he has published No Ordinary Move. The primary writer of Whale Done! and Whale Done Parenting, Jim has compiled his coauthors’ stories and suggestions and worked them into a parable. His writing focuses on positive relationships, change, and empowering people to deal with problems like information overload. Jim is a life coach and enjoys coaching readers through his blog and other writings. Jim lives in Amherst, MA, with his partner Barbara Perman.

Q&A with Jim Ballard:

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

A: When my kids were small, I was a summer camp director a couple of summers, and I would spin yarns to them every night in our tent. (Even now they joke about the series we did about the exploits of a superhero insect named Snyder the Spider, who could spin a steel-strong filament to catch criminals and save falling people and breaking bridges.) During years I spent training teachers, I owned a small publishing firm for printing and disseminating the story-based curriculum I wrote. Four fables I published for my children were sold when we sold the business, and have made the rounds. One entitled “Warm Fuzzies” became widely told, and in time became a part of the language.

I have had a number of fables published in the business and spiritual-self-help categories. Ken Blanchard, a frequent co-author, taught me how to write fables, following the lead of his and Spencer Johnson’s best-seller, The One-Minute Manager. I came to see, with Aesop, that storytelling is still a way to get a point across. I continue to use the fable as the basis for my books, including five projects that are under way now.

Storytelling’s Golden Age? My Teleseminar Is a Month from Today

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A month from today, I am stepping way, way, way out of my comfort zone to host a Worldwide Story Work Teleseminar (Wed., Sept. 9, 4 pm EDST), entitled: The Golden Age of Storytelling: Why Is Story Exploding? What Does It Means for Practitioners?

Why out of my comfort zone? I am phobic about the phone. It has been only a little more than a year that I’ve grown comfortable attending teleseminars and webinars — and I don’t even have to talk at those.

But I felt hosting the Sept. 9 teleseminar would be a good growth opportunity. Lest you be put off attending by my being out of my comfort zone, I am putting so much preparation into it that I am reasonably confident I will present well.

I don’t want to portray myself as an expert on the teleseminar’s topic but rather a facilitator of a discussion about it. (Actually, I really like Terrence Gargiulo’s characterization of me as a curator of material about storytelling.)

One of the things I’m doing to prepare is making a handout available for the teleseminar — to kind of grease the wheels, get the thoughts flowing. It would be helpful for attendees to have downloaded and read this PDF handout: Sept9TelesemWWSWGoldenAgeHansen.pdf.

Another option is to read this page (same content as handout) before the teleseminar or have it in front of you during the event.

You can register for the teleseminar here (you may need to become a member of Worldwide Story Work to register); however, I don’t believe registration is required, and you can simply call this number on Sept. 9, 4 pm EDST: 1-218-936-4700 — Access Code 710691

Telling New-Venture Stories Paints a Picture for Investors

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The New Prosperity Initiative (NPi) is a Boston-based media organization “that pairs storytelling with new media to publicize the efforts of people and organizations doing socially innovative work to end poverty and build prosperity. NPi stories take the shape of interviews, photo essays, videos, and podcasts and are distributed both in print and online.”

At the same time that NPi is chronicling those working toward social change, its founders, Jeanne Dasaro and Alexis Schroeder, are maintaining a blog that chronicles the story of their entrepreneurship and how they are attempting to launch, grow, and raise funds for the venture.

In a recent entry, Schroeder wrote: “Every now and then someone asks me where I think NPi is in terms of its long-term development. The short answer is: We don’t have money yet, but we do have a strong business plan and some pretty fantastic partners. … One question I’ve been asking myself lately (the answer to which I think we need to communicate better) is, “Why invest in NPi?”

NPi’s answer to that question is one that reflects deep social concern, but it’s a question that every entrepreneur must answer.

Last year, my best friend hatched an idea for a Web-based application that will be truly revolutionary. It’s not quite as much about social change on a global level as NPi is, but it’s something that can truly do wonders for people’s personal and career growth. She asked me to partner with her. For almost a year, we’ve been slowly developing the idea and seeking a way to finance it.

We recently applied for venture capital support that is more than just money. If we’re chosen, we will get intensive expert guidance and personnel to bring our venture to fruition.

Interestingly, part of the application process asked for stories of how our idea would work and what it would look like in action. I had a lot of fun developing those stories.

And I wouldn’t be surprised to see those stories play a key role in our success. If you want people to invest in your idea, you must be able to present a storied vision that enables investors to picture how it will work and why it’s a great idea.

I love the circularity of NPi’s discussion of storytelling: Storytelling is at the core of the venture’s purpose. The founders must show why storytelling is so important (see quote below). And at the same time, they tell their own story of launching the venture

From Schroeder’s blog entry:

So why invest in a media organization that tells stories? Because millions of people in America and across the globe are missing more than a few of these key pieces of the puzzle necessary for living a prosperous life. … Everyone deserves a fair shot at living a healthful, prosperous life. In cities and towns all across the country, in major international cities and rural villages, people are doing incredible work to make sure everyone gets one. These are stories that must be told.