Q&A with a Story Guru: Stewart Marshall: Social Media Makes Stories Interactive

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

Q&A with Stewart Marshall, Question 4:

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 do participate in what is currently called social media, i.e. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and blogs. Of these I think some are more effective as storytelling media than others, but most of them have a role to play. Twitter for instance, is very interesting. It can give you insight into the stories of those you follow. It reminds me of a series of photographs. Each individual picture can speak a thousand words, but it is the stream of photographs that exposes the true story. It also works the other way around. What does the collection of people you follow say about your own story?

Blogs are another example, whose story has changed itself. Now I am seeing a lot longer entries than in previous years. Writers seem to be articulating in more details the thoughts and ideas they have. In many cases they really are exploring the story. Web-based tools like FriendFeed are also story aggregators, pulling large parts of the internet from multiple sources into one easily digestible place. Collectively the tweets, blog entries, shared items, photos, status updates, etc., provide you with an ongoing and live story where you can choose your level of involvement. If you do get involved (by commenting for instance) the story becomes interactive which is really exciting!

What If Your Story Changes for the Worse in Ways You Can’t Control?

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For a couple of years now, I’ve been interested in the concept of “change your story, change your life” — that if you are unhappy with the story you’re living, you may be able to envision a better story, change your life, and live that new story. Many practitioners work with a similar concept, including a new discovery, Lisa Bloom, The Story Coach, who writes on her site: “At Story Coach we look closely at the narrative, we examine the stories we choose to tell.” My take on this concept is still evolving, still a germ of an idea. A partner and I hope to develop the concept into workshops in the future.

But what if you love the story you are living, and something awful happens to change the story? What if it’s something completely out of your control?

On audiobook, I recently listened to Elizabeth Edwards book Resilience, which she herself recorded for the audio version. Here is someone who absolutely loved the story she was living. She had an idyllic life, until not one, but three, unspeakable things happened to shatter her story.

The first was the death of her son Wade in a car accident at age 16. Her reflections on his life and death occupy a large portion of the book.

The next was her diagnosis with breast cancer — not so devastating at first because she assumed she would not die of the disease — but later shattering because her cancer metastasized and was pronounced incurable. She now knew she would likely die from the disease and might never see her young children grow up or hold her grandchildren.

In between the first and second cancer shockers, she learned her husband John had had an affair. A year later, she learned the indiscretion had been far more than the one-night-stand he initially revealed to her.

In the book, Edwards repeatedly talks of longing for her old story while accepting that she is living in a new and diminished story.

With her husband’s infidelity alone, she might have had hope that she could return to her old story or that the two of them could weave a new story — possibly even a better story.

A few years ago, I experienced a crisis in my own marriage that was terribly painful and took a long time to recover from. But I would have to say that the story my husband and I are living now is far better than the story we were living before the crisis. I am not ready to say the crisis was a blessing in disguise — even though our story is superb now — because I still would have preferred that the rift had not occurred.

But with the death of a child or your own death sentence, there seems virtually no hope of a better story. Yes, there may be some acceptance, grace, lessons learned, and yes, resilience, but your story, it seems, will be different and not better.

Yes, we have a lot of choices about the stories we live. But I am wrestling with how to deal with the stories about which we have no choices and that offer virtually no hope of living a story that’s better — or even anywhere nearly as good — as we had. Bloom writes: “We CAN choose new stories, better stories!” Sadly, I think there may be some situations in which we can’t.

Q&A with a Story Guru: Stewart Marshall: Screenwriting Metaphor Works for Story

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

Q&A with Stewart Marshall, Question 3:

Q: What people or entities have been most influential to you in your story work and why?

A: My two favourite references are Steve Denning and Robert McKee. Steve has written extensively about springboard stories, storytelling in leadership, and many other applications. I use springboard stories a lot in my work, they become key components of any presentation or pitch. Steve’s writing has also targeted business specifically, something I find to be a rich source of ideas and inspiration. Robert McKee’s book Story had a huge impact on me. Whether it’s a formal presentation or a prepared speech, I simply love the metaphor of screenwriting. One example of this is about preparation. The amount of work required to research your subject fully and understand as much as you can about the context really helps you deliver an authentic story. In a movie, it might be learning how people spoke to each other in for instance, 1920s Paris. In my work it might be about understanding the daily routine of a salesperson. The movies are all about connecting with the audience on an emotional level. The discipline and insight offered by McKee is to my mind directly applicable to financial storytelling.

Q&A with a Story Guru: Stewart Marshall: Stories Can Demystify Data

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

Q&A with Stewart Marshall, Question 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: My background is as a Designated Management Accountant working in industry. Over the years I’ve sat through countless business presentations from all levels of management. The vast majority of these have been terrible! Typically, there are too many slides with too many words which the presenter reads to his/her audience, half of which are busy reading their email on their Blackberrys whilst pretending to listen. If the presentations include numbers they are usually far less engaging!

I looked at my own presentations, what I was reading and what I was starting to learn at Toastmasters. I realised how powerful a good story could be and how much I enjoyed using it. What’s more when I looked at my career I realised that a lot of what I’d been doing all these years was storytelling. I also realised some of my heroes were great storytellers. From Winston Churchill “We’ll fight them on the beaches …” to Sir Alistair Cooke (Letter from America) and more recently Stuart McLean (Vinyl Cafe). The more I read, be it Joseph Campbell, Annette Simmons, Robert McKee or Steve Denning the more storytelling resonated with me.

What I love about using storytelling is the emotional connection I can create with my audience. I love the fact that if I am successful they are sitting there making up their own personalised versions of my story in their heads. When numbers are involved I love being able to demystify the data and enable more people to understand and benefit from the stories within.

Some influential references:

Margolis: Brand Story Must Be Authentic

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Earning some well-deserved Twitter buzz yesterday was an excellent, thought-provoking article by Michael Margolis, “Finding Meaning and Authenticity in the Storytelling Brand.”

As I started reading it, I began to think about applying its principles to personal branding. But then, as I realized the publication in which the article was published and the intended audience, I clued into the fact that personal branding wasn’t just a peripheral application to which Michael’s article could be applied; it was the major thrust of the article.

The publication is Storytelling Magazine, published by the National Storytelling Network, which is dedicated “to advancing the art of storytelling — as a performing art, a literacy tool, a cultural transformation process, and more.” Since most storytellers and story practitioners are solopreneurs, the personal-branding message certainly applies, and by the second principle listed in the article, Michael had mentioned personal branding.

Now, I have a confession to make…. I’ve touted and written about personal branding, but I can’t totally wrap my head around it, possibly because so many books and articles advise how to develop one’s personal brand — and they all advise a different approach.

I started to see the light through Michael’s article. He writes:

When I think of specific images and words with regard to personal branding, I think of one’s job-search communications — resume, cover letter, and more — and not only the consistent, branded look that should tie them together and identify them with the job-seeker, but also the story the job-seeker should be telling with these and other documents. I also think of the words and images with which we project our brand in the vast array of social media out there.

And I think “representative story for engaging in a relationship with the world” is a incredibly helpful way to look at developing your brand. Ask yourself: “How do I engage in a relationship with the world?” “What is the story behind that relationship?”

Then Michael writes, “Brands become a shorthand for whom we trust and identify with” — and even more powerfully, “Your brand is only as strong as the stories people tell about you.” That’s where you can drive yourself to a very uptight or paranoid state wondering what kind of stories people do tell about you. Or maybe that’s just me…

But Michael’s words made me think of the kind and flattering honor my friend Thomas Clifford bestowed on me over the weekend: He included me on a list of 7 Interesting Storytellers To Follow On Twitter, describing me as a “Prolific blogger/author. Focuses on telling stories for career development. Unearths amazing sites on story.”

Well, if you want to split hairs, I’m not sure I’d brand myself as a storyteller. I’m more of a reporter/journalist/observer/student/fan when it comes to storytelling, but I suppose you could say I tell stories about storytelling.

But I do believe “prolific blogger/author” is integral to my brand. It was about 18 months ago that I underwent my most recent brand reinvention, and an important aspect was my rather grandiose notion of being a “world famous blogger.” I didn’t exactly think I’d get to that point, but it’s certainly gratifying to have Thomas Clifford tell my story as “prolific blogger/author.” (The author part is largely to support the blogger part since I make only pocket change on this blog; however, I’m not exactly getting rich as an author either!)

Michael goes on: “The value of the brand depends on how consciously you have thought about managing your brand’s story.” That is especially true in these days of social media. Managing the story can be overwhelming. Late last month, Chris Brogan published a list of 19 Presence Management Chores You COULD Do Every Day. Whew — the things you could to manage your brand on the Web can be overwhelming — and that’s just your online brand.

Michael ends with the real nugget, the real meat of defining one’s personal brand, exhorting his audience to “communicate your personal brand without compromising your authenticity,” and to construct a brand story that conveys “origins, ethos,and cultural contribution.”

For the origins piece, Michael advises asking yourself:

  • When, how, or why did you start your practice?
  • Why should anyone care about it?

Those questions lead me to conclude that of all the ways I’ve constructed my identity and built my brand, my profile on LinkedIn is perhaps the most authentic embodiment of who I am and what I offer. It also loosely tells a story — of how I try to educate through writing because I am no longer fortunate enough to teach in the college classroom and of how I write really good resumes and cover letters but got very burned out on that endeavor after five years of running a resume business.

I do think authenticity has to be the bottom line in personal branding. If you’re as confused as I have often been about how to develop your personal brand, keeping authenticity in mind as you do so may just give you the guidance you need.

Thanks, Michael, for a truly insightful article.

Q&A with a Story Guru: Stewart Marshall: Honest Stories Needed in Business

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I have to admit that when I first heard of Stewart Marshall’s personal brand as a “financial storyteller,” I thought the phrase to be a contradiction in terms. How could something as quantitative as finance serve as a basis for storytelling? Stewart has been gradually convincing me, as he does in this speech he did for Toastmasters. See how well he convinces you in this Q&A, which will run all this week.

Bio: Stewart Marshall is a financial storyteller. He helps organisations tell their story through numbers. Stewart brings out the financial stories and narrative of a business for senior executives and management to help them understand what they have, what their business needs and how it can thrive. As a Designated Management Accountant in Canada and the UK he has worked in organisations of all sizes, from CFO of a start-up to a Senior Finance Manager at Eastman Kodak. Currently he is working on building his own consultancy focused on Financial Storytelling.

Stewart is also a judge on various business case competitions as well as a judge and team mentor on the New Ventures BC Competition with prize-winning success. He is also the Chairman of the Vancouver Chapter of the Society of Certified Management Accountants. His own website is Stewart Marshall, Financial Storyteller, and you can follow him as @finstoryteller on twitter. [Photo credit: Kris Krug]

Q&A with Stewart Marshall:

Q: You wrote in an entry in your blog, “Personally I think in business we should be far more honest about what we are doing.” Can you cite an example — perhaps a company severely impacted by the current economic crisis — that should have been more honest and told a better story?

A: In business, both internally and externally we want our audience to believe our story. Yet storytelling is frequently looked at as “not serious.” Do we really need countless PowerPoint presentations, with countless numbers and diagrams with all manner of confusing arrows and boxes, just so we can do our email under the desk and ignore who is speaking?

Let’s look at Canadian Banks. Throughout the economic turmoil Canadian Banks seemed to have fared better than in most other countries. More prudent, they took less risks and consequently shielded the Canadian economy from the worst of the crisis. As a customer though, I feel their prudence and limited risk taking has translated into less lending and poorer customer service. The Banks’ assets may be protected but is this what the typical customer on the street cares about? These assets were once the customers assets and I’ve yet to see very much evidence that the Banks understand their role in encouraging economic stimulus.

Both businesses and their customers have a responsibility to each other. It needs to be transparent and honest. Making big assumptions about what customers want or what businesses can provide, especially without ever asking them, is dishonest on both sides!

Employers: Don’t Make Candidates Drill Too Far Down for Your Stories

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W. L. Gore, famously cited in organizational-behavior literature as a prime example of a “learning organization,” recently earned praise for “finally telling its story” to prospective employees.

On ERE.net, Todd Raphael wrote of the company’s career hub, “Gore will be telling scientists, engineers, and other prospective employees its story by launching a new global branding campaign from Arizona to China with a modest little theme: “Join Gore & Change Your Life.”

The stories give a great feel for what it’s like to work at Gore, and all employers should be telling their stories like this.

One caveat though: Don’t make visitors to your career hub drill too far down to get to your stories.

On the Gore career hub, you have a choice of reading stories about people who work with Gore’s musical products, medical devices, or high-performance fabrics (think Gore-tex).

So, let’s say you click on high performance fabrics. You’re taken to a page that has all three categories of stories. So you again click on the high-performance fabrics category, which takes you to a generic, not-very-storylike story of the team that works on these fabrics.

To get to the real stories — of Dave, Henri, and Ron— you need to click on their individual names. That’s where the true gems are revealed.

Great stories, Gore. Just don’t make visitors work so hard to get to them.

Storytelling at the Birthplace of Our Nation’s Story

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I grew up about 9 miles from Philadelphia in South Jersey. I worked in Philly at various times in my life and even lived there, in Queen Village, briefly. Thus, I’ve always considered the City of Brotherly Love my city.

I’m happy, therefore, that my city’s Historic Philadelphia Web site — and the city itself — are so story oriented. That’s one thing I’m celebrating on this, our nation’s 233rd birthday. Here’s what the site says:

Give the story of American Independence a little more personality. Hear history from the lips of the founding fathers themselves. Sneak into Independence Hall after hours. Get the true stories from professional storytellers, right in the places where history happened. Historic Philadelphia. History that speaks to you.

One particularly cool aspect is the city’s 13 Storytelling Benches, described like this:

Hear riveting stories of American history even most adults have never heard at 13 charming Storytelling Benches scattered around the Historic Philadelphia area. Our Once Upon A Nation storytellers aren’t dressed in colonial garb, but they’ll effortlessly transport you back in time as you sit on spacious and comfortable teak benches, all an easy stroll from one another. Stories last just a few minutes each and are told continuously during operating hours. You can start at any of the benches, all clearly marked with a “Once Upon A Nation” sign. And it’s completely FREE!

Happy Independence Day, America!

Q&A with a Story Guru: Karen Dietz: ‘A People is Known … By the Stories it Tells’

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

Q&A with Karen Dietz, Question 7:

Q: What do you feel is organizations’ greatest obstacle in trying to get their message across, and how can story help?

A: Well, I think the greatest obstacle organizations face in getting their message across is the reliance on PowerPoint. According to Presentations Magazine, 30 million are created every day! PowerPoint is basically designed to convey information. Based on my regular exposure to these kinds of presentations, most are terribly dull. Storytelling is about engaging the hearts and minds of people and in business, moving them to action. Imagine trying to tell your organization’s story, or your project’s story, or your team’s story effectively by only using PowerPoint. Imagine trying to squeeze complex concepts and inspiration into a PowerPoint page. Remember the last presentation you heard and they read facts, figures and information off the screen? Ugh! Storytelling is 100 times more powerful and engaging. Electronic presentations are not all bad, and stories can be used in those types of presentations. But it does take some training in how to meld storytelling and PowerPoint together to create a powerful program.

The other obstacle I see that many leaders face is not knowing the right story to tell at the right time. For example, I’ve heard leaders tell again and again and again the story about why the organization needs to change. But people have already gotten that message and are past that. They are ready to be inspired about how the change has already begun and the progress that’s being made.

To sum up my philosophy about storytelling is a quote from author Flannery O’Connor in Mystery and Manners: “There is a certain embarrassment about being a storyteller in these times when stories are considered not quite as satisfying as statements and statements not quite as satisfying as statistics; but in the long run, a people is known, not by its statements or its statistics, but by the stories it tells.”

Q&A with a Story Guru: Karen Dietz: Storytellers — Ask What You Are Giving Yourself and Others

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

Q&A with Karen Dietz, Question 6:

Q: If you could share just one piece of advice or wisdom about story/storytelling/narrative with readers, what would it be?

A: When telling stories, ask yourself “What am I giving others?” and “What am I giving myself?” An answer to both questions provides volumes of information about how you hope to connect with the audience, and what meaning the stories have for you personally. Knowing both is essential to mastering storytelling, in my humble opinion.