Annette Simmons

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Episode #4: Michael Margolis – Your Story on Facebook

Michael MargolisMichael Margolis discusses his introduction to storytelling in a workshop by Paul Costello.  He said he felt like he had “come home” and found one of his tribes.  He found the  ethics Paul developed doing narrative therapy (Michael White) helps us dive into a juicy creative tension!  For instance, whose story do you have a right to tell?  Whose story do you inhabit? Whose story did you inherit?

To ask ourselves these questions changes the way we go about storytelling.

To ask ourselves these questions changes the way we go about storytelling. We end up with juicier stories by being more ethical and taking these questions seriously.

The very notion of identity is being challenged by our interactions in social media.

The very notion of identity is being challenged by our interactions in social media.  It forces us to question “who am I?” much more often than we used to  Even the avatar we use – different photos for Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, give us the freedom to be anyone but we have a dispersed self – we don’t know where we start and where we end.

Do you have a different picture for different social sites? Have you hired someone to create a photo? What “look” are you going for? How much do we let people see?

Michael entertains the idea that we are becoming “homo-narratons” as well as homo-sapiens.

We weren’t designed for this level of over-communication and this forced intimacy sometimes leads to “ego masturbation” or “bleeding all over the place.” online. Michael entertains the idea that we are becoming “homo-narratons” as much as homo-sapiens.

I remember the days when we had some control of our “image” but now we are all over the place. I ask Michael to talk about his course “The New About Me.” He explains some of the steps from this intentional process of writing your“About me” page – an image that has replaced the face to face kind, for anyone who googles you before meeting you.  We don’t want to go “open-kimono” and share everything but we still want to be authentic.

Listen in to our frank conversation about how Michael interprets  how storytelling applies amidst these many changes.

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Feed link:  http://archive.org/download/StoryFactorPodcast004_201311/StoryFactorPodcast004.mp3

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Episode 3: The Art of Storytelling – Karen Dietz Part 2

Karen Dietz…storytelling has become extraordinarily popular.

Karen Dietz and I discuss how storytelling has become extraordinarily popular. It is good that people realize  story is how we think and communicate but a lot of people are confused about how to get started. People who promise to teach storytelling but have not been trained in oral storytelling miss key ingredients.  In the same way that we can all write, but we aren’t all novelists: we are all storytellers, but that doesn’t mean we can tell a compelling story.  It is important for practitioners to study storytelling in its natural state.

Expecting storytelling consultants to study with performance tellers is not about keeping the bloodlines pure, but about ensuring new applications of story retain the magic that keeps oral storytelling alive.  Karen points out that one aspect of storytelling that gets lost is that “storytelling is deep play.” Karen says, “It’s really fun!…I lose control of the room…and that’s perfect.” Once people get permission to tell stories, that’s all they want to do.

websitepodcastgfxThose untrained in oral storytelling produce laundry lists of components or a best structure for a “good story.”

Karen points out that those untrained in oral storytelling produce laundry lists of components or a best structure for a “good story.” Things that are nice to know but don’t make you a better storyteller.  Leaders demand, “Tell me the structure of a good story?” She gives the what they want: “The structure of a story is: Problem/Resolution. That is it’s most simple form. Now …do you know how  to tell a compelling story?” Of course they don’t. It doesn’t help.  Having this information, is nice, but not helpful.

…stories are “living breathing beings that reside in us.”

Oral storyteller Ron Evans taught Karen stories are “living breathing beings that reside in us.” Moving an oral story to written form or other media means we lose the co-created aspect of the story. It “becomes concretized in a way that doesn’t allow flexibility” and “creates a relationship not with the teller but with the media” being used.

If someone thinks they can record a story “and be done with it,” they are missing the most effective use of story.  Tell your story face to face whenever possible.  If you need to create a video, invite members of your audience to listen when you create a video and be responsive to the future time, place and context of your listeners as they view the video in the future.

If someone thinks they can record a story “and be done with it,” they are missing the most effective use of story.

Karen encourages leaders to walk around, listen for stories and learn story evoking techniques before they spend time learning to tell stories. One of the things we both learned by studying oral storytelling is to ask ourselves “Have I earned the right to tell this story?” It keeps things ethical, but in terms of creating quality business stories this step is a constraint that ensures your story is authentic to the emotions of your audience. Adding “touches of authenticity” down the line don’t help an “unearned” story sound more authentic. The fastest and most convenient way to be authentic is to be authentic.

 “brings pleasure and liveliness back to work”

Studying oral storytelling shows us how to stay a part of the equation in a way that develops our personal creative process, talents and habits that anchor our stories in authenticity.

Karen concludes by saying that she would like to see storytelling become a core leadership competency. If only because it “brings pleasure and liveliness back to work.”

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Feed link:  http://archive.org/download/StoryFactorPodcast003/StoryFactorPodcast003.mp3

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Just do it! Iteration or "playing it by ear" is a great way to learn storytelling and find great content fast

I recently posted that Coke shifted half their marketing content research budget from qualitative research to iterations.
One of my friends responded:  “So?”
Okay, fine. I went all geeky.  I will try to redeem myself with an example of how that works. [Read more…]

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Episode 1: Storytelling – What is working?

This is the first of at least ten Story Factor Podcasts. In this one, my audio guy Jay makes me explain what I want to do and I just talk… doing what I do: butchering metaphors and discovering what I am thinking by hearing what comes out of my mouth. I have no 3 second delay.  It is one of my charms. [Read more…]

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Two Line Stories – Examples

From Sheila on Easing a Story into your job interview #

Dear Annette,

Would love some examples of two line stories you have used in a business meeting.

Sheila

Dear Sheila,

Business meetings are a great place for two sentence stories. I even have some one sentence stories!

“An Ethiopian taxi driver in NYC once shared his grandfather’s favorite saying with me: A man who beats his horse will soon be walking.”

When I see someone who uses punitive measures to control behavior, I sometimes find a way to tell this tiny story.  It requires a very light tone and I choose to present it as an indictment on my own behavior when I was younger.  I might even add: “By the time I was thirty I was surrounded by dead horses,” and follow with “You might be interested in something I learned in grad school”… or from my mentor….”

In a meeting with a pretty hip client (otherwise I wouldn’t have mentioned sex) I told this quick story:

“When I worked at JWT – we used to say it’s “a great place to work if your parents could afford to send you there!” We did a weekend training at the beach full of sex, drugs and rock and roll but I still learned the most important concept I’ve ever learned about marketing – the Key Response.”

After that story I usually have permission to talk about using a Key Response to guide communication design.  I like to focus on what/how we want a listener to think/feel and after experiencing a communication rather than starting from the point: “What do we want to communicate?” The sex, drugs and rock and roll on the beach usually lowers inhibitions paving the way for better communication!

One more?

First, let me say that events and anecdotes about people close to the project usually provide your most powerful stories.

First, let me say that events and anecdotes about people close to the project usually provide your most powerful stories.  For instance, I volunteer to support local food and local community gardens.  I am also on my local Artists Directory.  Last Saturday I attended a planning day for artists who among many other things want to run a month-long focus on the culinary arts with a focus on local food. They mentioned community gardens. I wanted to build enthusiasm and share a contact name. I shared this short story:

“Grace XX our county ag person, already holds events when kids cook what they grow in the Allendale Community Garden. Last time I helped, all my kids competed for the privilege to grate carrots and apples until they realized it was work … and dangerous! Most of our knuckles survived.”

Everyone there knows where Allendale is.  I wanted to build a visual image for an already successful community garden with images of the garden, maybe a big kitchen area, lots of kids, smells of the apples cooking, etc.  My secondary purpose was to establish myself as a resource.  I can put them in touch with the person who will best coordinate events.  And finally I was acknowledging that there is hard labor involved.  Too many people already approach Grace with ideas but lack the discipline to help make things happen.

I could have said, “I know the people at Allendale, call me if you need a contact. But don’t call if you just want to swoosh in and swoosh out.”

But I don’t think it would have had the same effect.

So Sheila, does this help? Does anyone else have a two-line story?

Disclaimer: This isn’t like a haiku where you can only have only so many syllables and literally X number of lines. A “two-line” story is merely a concept so we remember just how tiny a story can be.

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Stories for a Job Interview

“I think you need at least three stories walking in to an interview.”

Whether it is a formal performance review or a potential employer evaluating us in casual conversation we are constantly being interviewed.  I will be posting a series of thought starters that walk you through finding and telling great stories that might wow an interviewer, get a promotion, or at least set the scene for your next performance review.

I think you need at least three stories walking in to an interview.  First you need a “who I am” story that says a lot about who you are and who you are not.

You also want to have ready answers to the predictable versions of “Biggest Strength and Biggest Weakness” request.  Use Value-in-Action stories.  You can describe your strength/best quality by telling a story about a time you shined.

Your story about a weakness can be an “I Blew It” that shows how this quality got you into trouble one time. This kind of story simultaneously showcases your commitment to your strength as well as demonstrates you already know how this quality can be a weakness in certain situations.

How do you come up with a story like that?

You start by asking yourself: What qualities do I bring above and beyond my resume? Two years from now what words would they use to describe why they are glad they hired me?  Discern these best core qualities and then look for a story that showcases those qualities.

When were you really tested?  Think of an event where it would have been easier even cheaper to do something else, but you held firm. For the “I Blew it” story, find an event that nags at you still – a time you recall with thoughts of “shoulda/woulda/coulda” and you will find a story.