In the third (and final) part of an interview with Seth Kahan and Denise Lee, I asked them about some of their favorite stories about storytelling in organizations and business. If their stories lead you to questions, new ideas, or remind you of one of your favorite stories, please share them with other readers by posting a comment below. For those of you who are looking for in-person interaction, the Smithsonian Associates is offering their annual storytelling event in Washington, DC, on May 4-5, 2007 (
http://residentassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/reserve.aspx?performanceNumber=81217).
Carol: What is one of your favorite stories about an organization that used storytelling to accomplish a goal?
Seth: There are so many these days, what with the release of the book, Wake Me Up When the Data Is over (
http://www.sayitwithastory.com/WakeMeUp/index.html ) and the success of Steve Denning's book (
www.stevedenning.com). One of my favorites was my first NASA Masters' Class, which Denise invited me to kick off in 2002. There I saw the senior managers of NASA explicitly using storytelling to share their knowledge of how to manage their largest projects that spanned decades, presidential administrations, budget swings, and scientific revolutions. Denise was one of the organizers of that event, which was but one of her many story-based initiatives with NASA's Academy of Program and Project Leadership. The event was such a marvel to behold. I came to do my presentation which was 60 minutes at the beginning. I was so entranced I stayed the entire two days. Their storytelling mastery was made possible by the careful support and infrastructure Denise put together.
Denise: One of my favorite stories about an organization using stories was from my work with the NASA Women's Advisory Council. The goal was to use story to bridge the generation gap between women scientists and engineers. The younger group tended to bond and the more mature group tended to have worked together for many years. There was a period of time where NASA was not hiring at all that created the 'camels hump'. I first coached three women that agreed to be storytellers. Very difficult for them as that was not their style. Scientists are not usually storytellers. After a little coaching their dormant storyteller emerged. I designed a workshop around their telling of their stories to get to the learning and the building of relationships. This was a very simple inexpensive project from the point of view of the client but with lots of value and benefits. For instance, one women was struggling with trying to decide if she should have children with her enormous workload and one of the more mature women met her through this program and was able to share her experiences and provide a little mentoring!
Carol: Seth and Denise, thank you for taking the time to talk this week!
Information about the interviewees: Denise Lee is a manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers focused on human capital and knowledge management client services in the public sector. She has used storytelling at federal agencies such as NASA, GSA and DHS. Denise has been a longtime member of GoldenFleece and is on the board for the storytelling conference to be held on May 5 in Washington DC.She can be reached at
denise.lee@us.pwc.com.
Seth Kahan is an organizational consultant working with CEOs and senior managers to improve performance. His specialty is accelerating strategic change through participation and engagement of key stakeholders. He can be reached through his web site:
www.sethkahan.com.
(I can be reached through my web site:
www.a-ideas.com or you can post a comment below.)
