Annette Simmons

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Episode #17 – Capturing Wisdom with Storyteling

madelyn-blair-essays-in-2-voices-3

Madelyn Blair’s company name Pelerei represents two root words that mean “lifting people up.”  She made up the name as a hidden reminder of who she is and why she is here.  Learn more about Madelyn’s books: Riding the Current and Essays in Two Voices.

In Essays in Two Voices Madelyn offers a simple process for two people to better understand an issue with by examining an issue together by sending short essay responses back and forth.  We have so little time for pure inquiry, this process occurs when you have time for it, minimizes hidden agendas and gives permission to think a bit deeper and take some risks. [Read more…]

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Episode #15 – More Moth Secrets from Lea Thau

Lea Thau

Lea Thau, creative director of TheMoth.org for a decade (2001-2010),

Lea teaches business people not so much how to tell personal stories, but  how to use the principles of storytelling to shape strategy, to roll out new initiatives, or frame business proposals.  However I learned most by asking more about her process at the Moth and with her radio show, Strangers.

Lea Thau is interested in stories with high stakes.   Experienced with the anti-hero stories that dominate the Moth, she looks for stories that contrast the darkest dark with light.  This is kind of extreme sports of storytelling.  It takes, “hours, and hours, and hours” to get it right.

Where she used to spend hours coaching storytellers to tell a story that reduced itself down to a well rehearsed twenty minute performance, she now gathers hours of interviews that must be edited down.  She never has less than 5 and has had up to 20 hours of audio recordings that she edited down to a short twenty minute show.

How in the world does she pick and choose from that much material?

“The first rule is that, what happened ≠ the story of what happened.”

Lea Thau, Former Moth Creative Director

This gives  some perspective on the kind of time it can take to research, develop and tell a powerful story.  When we are lucky, the right story pops into our mind just when we need it. Art can be spontaneous. On the other hand, finding the right story can also take a lot more time than  business people expect. If you love the power of stories, don’t  balk when the process gets complex and finding the core meaning feels like hard work.

 At the end of the day, storytelling is not a checklist, it is a process. 

As a master editor Lea shares one of the primary principles that help her choose – and will help you choose from all the possible detail of an event which details to include.

Editing is about making choices based not only on what actually happened but on which details will demonstrate the meaning of what happened.

Lea’s new show Strangers on KCRW (also a podcast) explores what she sees as a deep cultural shift in how we define “friend” and “stranger.” Is a person you have never met a stranger, even if you’ve been playing video games with them for years? Who is your friend? One episode dives into the world of online dating. One examines the difference between growing up rich and growing up poor. Another explores the happy marriage of two exceedingly normal people who had an arranged marriage along with hundreds of other couples at the 2005 “Moonie” wedding along in Korea.

Lea Thau had a nose for stories and an ear for storytelling perfection.

  • MP3 Download or play this
    episode directly.
  • iTunes Subscribe to The Story Factor Podcast directly in iTunes.
  • RSS Add the podcast to your RSS reader, podcast player or
    manually into iTunes.

Feed link: http://ia601200.us.archive.org/6/items/StoryFactorPodcastEpisode15/StoryFactorPodcastEpisode15.mp3

 

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Episode #15 – More Moth Secrets from Lea Thau

Lea Thau

Lea Thau, creative director of TheMoth.org for a decade (2001-2010),

Lea teaches business people not so much how to tell personal stories, but  how to use the principles of storytelling to shape strategy, to roll out new initiatives, or frame business proposals.  However I learned most by asking more about her process at the Moth and with her radio show, Strangers.

Lea Thau is interested in stories with high stakes.   Experienced with the anti-hero stories that dominate the Moth, she looks for stories that contrast the darkest dark with light.  This is kind of extreme sports of storytelling.  It takes, “hours, and hours, and hours” to get it right.

Where she used to spend hours coaching storytellers to tell a story that reduced itself down to a well rehearsed twenty minute performance, she now gathers hours of interviews that must be edited down.  She never has less than 5 and has had up to 20 hours of audio recordings that she edited down to a short twenty minute show.

How in the world does she pick and choose from that much material?

“The first rule is that, what happened ≠ the story of what happened.”

Lea Thau, Former Moth Creative Director

This gives  some perspective on the kind of time it can take to research, develop and tell a powerful story.  When we are lucky, the right story pops into our mind just when we need it. Art can be spontaneous. On the other hand, finding the right story can also take a lot more time than  business people expect. If you love the power of stories, don’t  balk when the process gets complex and finding the core meaning feels like hard work.

 At the end of the day, storytelling is not a checklist, it is a process. 

As a master editor Lea shares one of the primary principles that help her choose – and will help you choose from all the possible detail of an event which details to include.

Editing is about making choices based not only on what actually happened but on which details will demonstrate the meaning of what happened.

Lea’s new show Strangers on KCRW (also a podcast) explores what she sees as a deep cultural shift in how we define “friend” and “stranger.” Is a person you have never met a stranger, even if you’ve been playing video games with them for years? Who is your friend? One episode dives into the world of online dating. One examines the difference between growing up rich and growing up poor. Another explores the happy marriage of two exceedingly normal people who had an arranged marriage along with hundreds of other couples at the 2005 “Moonie” wedding along in Korea.

Lea Thau had a nose for stories and an ear for storytelling perfection.

  • MP3 Download or play this
    episode directly.
  • iTunes Subscribe to The Story Factor Podcast directly in iTunes.
  • RSS Add the podcast to your RSS reader, podcast player or
    manually into iTunes.

Feed link: http://ia601200.us.archive.org/6/items/StoryFactorPodcastEpisode15/StoryFactorPodcastEpisode15.mp3

 

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Episode #14 – Secrets from the MOTH!

Lea Thau
Lea Thau was creative director of TheMoth.org for a decade (2001-2010), developing the format and process that has become one of the most popular storytelling organizations in the world.  From the beginning, Lea favored the idea of sticking to true stories told in the first person – a critical decision that created what we know as “the Moth format.” If you haven’t subscribed to the Moth podcast do it now.  You will become a better storyteller simply by listening to the craft, detail and structure embedded in these wonderful stories.

Lea now has her own show called Strangers on KCRW – a podcast I also highly recommend. [Read more…]

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Episode #7 – Facilitating Story Search and Meaning

David-HutchinsAn interview with David Hutchens about capturing the wisdom of an organization.

“Stories are incredibly efficient containers of knowledge, mental models, assumptions, beliefs, emotions and key information.”

– David Hutchens [Read more…]

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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.”

  • MP3 Download or play this episode directly.
  • iTunes Subscribe to The Story Factor Podcast directly in iTunes.
  • RSS Add the podcast to your RSS reader, podcast player or manually into iTunes.

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