On her Langwitches Blog recently, Silvia Tolisano wrote, “I am intrigued and fascinated by the resurrection and increase in The Need for Storytelling Skills in the 21st century.” In turn, she cited an earlier entry in which she had invoked the likes of Daniel Pink and Jason Ohler in arguing the case for storytelling skills in our times.
Tolisano cites Jennifer New, who says, “Storytelling is a vital skill with seemingly unlimited applications.”
Tolisano is high on storytelling — especially digital storytelling — in education, and her recent piece suggests that storytelling is both a means and an end.
Her passionate argument for storytelling skills echoes that of Lori Silverman. Speaking in her Q&A here on A Storied Career about whether story work is evolving in organizations, Lori said:
The piece that is still missing for me as a strategist is story as an organizational core competency. I’ve yet to find an organization that has systematically thought about how story could be used in all its work processes, both internal and external to the enterprise. It’s my contention that until we change how we talk about this subject — and move from calling it “storytelling” which is a self-limiting term, to calling it “story work,” this broader context for integrating story throughout an organization will be hard pressed to occur.
Similarly, Lori’s frequent professional partner, Karen Dietz, said in her Q&A here: “Personally, my passion is training leaders to become compelling storytellers as an essential leadership and influence skill.”
As someone committed to educating, I am excited by the idea of storytelling as a 21st century skill (and I’d love to teach it.)
What do you think? Should storytelling be a required 21st century skill and how can it best be taught?