Steve Denning shared this comment with the Working Stories group:
I would argue that the essence of (organizational) storytelling is interactivity. The only point of the story is to generate new stories in the minds of the listeners. If the storytelling remains a solo activity, with the storytelling simply telling his/her story, and the listeners “downloading” that “data” intact, then nothing much of interest is going on. It’s when the listeners start to imagine their own stories that you can [get] action. The storyteller’s story is just scaffolding for the real action – the listener’s story.
I am speculating that this interactivity may be a major key to getting buy-in from business students and business leaders alike. I still have not achieved the perfect blend of interactivity and whatever is needed for students to understand the power of storytelling, but I do know that interactivity has resulted in some beautiful stories from my students.