Business storytelling - when people are already on the same page
Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007I’ve defined business storytelling several times already on this blog. So why another show?
When I majored in Dramatic Writing at NYU, teachers often shared their concept of what “voice” is. This was the core goal of the program, for each of us to develop our voice. Once, a teacher said, “I know you’ve already heard what ‘voice’ is, many times, but I’m going to tell you again, in the hope that it will reach you in a way that the others haven’t.”
What is business storytelling? I love doing business storytelling with people in companies, listening to their stories of great experiences and bad experiences, gathering their stories and retelling them. This shows people who are already on the same page but don’t realize it, that they each want the same things. Then I work with companies or departments of up to 90 people to help them get what they want.
And what is voice, this Dramatic Writing concept? Voice is unique to each of us. It’s our way of perceiving the world - our core beliefs. It’s what we care about. It’s what makes us go wow. When I started the program, I told my Craft teacher, “I don’t want to have just one voice. I want to have lots of voices, one for each character.” Later I grew to understand that my one voice is the lens which chooses what to focus on for each character — each of whom as a person has their own voice.
One of my core beliefs is:
- In any organization, every person shares the same overlapping themes, specific to that organization, of what they want.
That’s really a belief that emerged from studying screenplays and theater, and got validated from studying and working in cities and businesses. It’s Part I of what I love, and I’m great at it.
Another core belief of mine:
- Once we know what we want, making something great happen together is much easier and better than talking about problems.
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