Storytelling: A Critical Success Factor in wise working?

While in my Design Management MBA graduate program, I cultivated an interest in storytelling and how it works in personal and organizational relations. I subsequently completed my master's thesis in this area, exploring the question of whether storytelling is a critical success factor in (client/consultant) relationships. Recently, I has the occasion to present this research at the Drexel University i-School, I thought you might enjoy seeing the video of my lecture as well as the slides which I used.

The video can be found at: http://www.ischool.drexel.edu/video#56

The slides are below:

Storytelling Dissertation Slides 2 24 09 (For Drexel I School)

View more presentations from Craig Delarge.

A few important takeaways from this talk are:

1. We use stories to make sense of experience, indeed the world revolves around stories and we underestimate this to our disadvantage.

2. Stories are an important tool in educating (transferring knowledge), influencing the culture of our relationships & organizations, managing conflict, communicating vision, demonstrating leadership and establishing brands (especially your personal brand).

3. Storytelling is an art form we should all study and strengthen as anyone can learn its use and its ill-use damages us and our relationships with ourselves and others.

4. "Story listening" is at least as important as storytelling as it offers a window into the world of others and improves our ability to empathize with and serve others be that at work, home or otherwhere.

5. Stories can be used as an "evidence of service". Often our lack of knowing/telling good stories about our contribution keeps us from achieving many of our goals at work and in our careers.

6. Storytelling can be risky requiring sincerity, empathy, thought, planning and an understanding of the audience. Study storytelling and your audience so that it does not backfire on you.

There are many good books on this topic but the most broadly comprehensive I have seen is Denning's, "The Leader's Guide to Storytelling".

As always, I would love to hear examples of where you have used storytelling to advantage in your wise working.

Cultivating Customers versus Employers

This blog post has relocated to a book, The WiseWorking Handbook. Please visit it there.  

Please purchase a copy at Balboa Press (http://bit.ly/1wfqwBU). 

For signed copies, reach me at craig@wiseworking.com. 

Thanks in advance for reading the book and spreading the word about it.

Finally, please rate it at Amazon.com, BN.com, GoodReads.com, and other websites where books are sold and reviewed. 

What readers are saying:

"The WiseWorking Handbook is written in a down to earth, engaging style.” - Bud Bulanich

"Get this book. Read it. Keep it handy for when you need a little inspiration or some solid advice on how to work wisely and increase your value at work.” - Bud Bulanich

Finding Your Natural Gifts: The 1 Day Workshop

Twice a year I teach a one day seminar at my church, Christian Stronghold Church, in Philadelphia, PA. It is an abridged version of a 12 week course I teach in our Church Bible Institute. It is called "Finding Your Natural Gifts: Becoming A Maximum Income Earner".

This workshop examines how we are all gifted but largely ignorant about, and in denial of those gifts. It addresses the importance of connecting our gifts to some need in the world as a means of earning a maximum income both in financial, social and spiritual terms.

It calls the student to engage in a series of personal and social explorations from Kise, Jones & other sources, to search out, identify and act on their life mission which is tied to Bolles "3 Pillars of Mission", namely, 1) talents of delight, 2) places & settings of appeal and 3) purposes that resonate.

The explorations are related to one's interests, personality, values, natural aptitudes, learning style, life narrative, passions, priorities and barriers. With every exploration, one gains a richer picture of who they are, how they are gifted and what they have to offer in exchange for income.

This workshop is always a tremendous blessing to deliver and has never ceased to teach me something new about my own giftedness in the close to 8 years I have been teaching it.

Below are the slides from this workshop. Enjoy and please reach to me if you want to discuss further:

Finding Your Natural Gifts (1 day seminar) 2 28 09

View more presentations from cadelarge. (tags: career gifts)

Volunteering as a Path to a Better or Different Career.

This blog post has relocated to a book, The WiseWorking Handbook. Please visit it there.  

Please purchase a copy at Balboa Press (http://bit.ly/1wfqwBU). 

For signed copies, reach me at craig@wiseworking.com. 

Thanks in advance for reading the book and spreading the word about it.

Finally, please rate it at Amazon.com, BN.com, GoodReads.com, and other websites where books are sold and reviewed. 

What readers are saying:

"The WiseWorking Handbook is written in a down to earth, engaging style.” - Bud Bulanich

"Get this book. Read it. Keep it handy for when you need a little inspiration or some solid advice on how to work wisely and increase your value at work.” - Bud Bulanich

Every Word & Thought Into Captivity (Discipline)

I often think about how as God formed the cosmos by His Words, so we form our "personal" world, and in the case of leaders, the "society" by our words. It is important to note that I am talking about words, whether they be thought, uttered or acted. All three forms of words, create the world. One can even say that the world, as we know it, is in such sad shape as a result of our undisciplined and unskillful thinking, speaking and acting.

One of my favorite scriptures in the Protestant Bible, though not used nearly consistently enough by enough Christians, is 2 Corinthians 10.5 which says, "Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." When applying this scripture to the point of creating a productive and whole life work, and by extension society, through disciplined thinking, speaking and actions, this scripture continually instructs me that whenever I have a thought that is not aligned with the spirit of love, (w)holiness, grace, compassion and other positive values that are consistent with Christ's model and God's knowledge, I am to bring it into captivity. That is, not welcome and accept is as truth, or even tolerate it as benign, but take it into custody and exile it. I am reminded what when I do not do this, my mind, and eventually my speech and actions are then captivated by all sorts of undisciplined and counterproductive themes that result in the creation of a world that neither I, nor my neighbor, wants. A world that we can see all around us everyday.

In my daily observance of myself and those I coach, I see the consequences of our not being mindful of the need to bring every thought into obedience to the Truth, and the painful realities it creates both in our inner and outer worlds. And all because we underestimate the degree to which the thoughts we accept as truth impact the words and actions that create the world we live in. Whatever belief system you are loyal to, I think here we have a universally useful admonition to be disciplined in our thinking, words and actions to assure we are creating the world we intend, versus the one we might unintentionally produce otherwise.

Assuming Innocence: My Relationship Salve & Blood Pressure Medication?

This blog post has relocated to a book, The WiseWorking Handbook. Please visit it there.  

Please purchase a copy at Balboa Press (http://bit.ly/1wfqwBU). 

For signed copies, reach me at craig@wiseworking.com. 

Thanks in advance for reading the book and spreading the word about it.

Finally, please rate it at Amazon.com, BN.com, GoodReads.com, and other websites where books are sold and reviewed. 

What readers are saying:

"The WiseWorking Handbook is written in a down to earth, engaging style.” - Bud Bulanich

"Get this book. Read it. Keep it handy for when you need a little inspiration or some solid advice on how to work wisely and increase your value at work.” - Bud Bulanich

FaceBook: Community Center & Graduate School?

This blog post has relocated to a book, The WiseWorking Handbook. Please visit it there.  

Please purchase a copy at Balboa Press (http://bit.ly/1wfqwBU). 

For signed copies, reach me at craig@wiseworking.com. 

Thanks in advance for reading the book and spreading the word about it.

Finally, please rate it at Amazon.com, BN.com, GoodReads.com, and other websites where books are sold and reviewed. 

What readers are saying:

"The WiseWorking Handbook is written in a down to earth, engaging style.” - Bud Bulanich

"Get this book. Read it. Keep it handy for when you need a little inspiration or some solid advice on how to work wisely and increase your value at work.” - Bud Bulanich