Storytelling: The “Soul”of New Enterprise

Corporate Storyteller in One Day…..

  • Storytelling is the fundamental soul of a man-made creation
  • Storytelling is not a surface thing or a “prettifying” thing
  • Storytellers are people who think with their hearts
  • Storytelling is not about “like” or “dislike”. It is about passion. Emotion. Engagement.
  • Storytelling is about stuff that …. makes me chortle (and stuff that makes me …..scream)
  • Storytelling is the NO. 1 DETERMINANT of whether a product-service-experience stands out – or does not

The Call to Adventure

We consider “storytelling”…. when we consider it at all … to be about “patina”…. “a little something on top.” But we must appreciate that storytelling is the Seat of the Soul…. if one is in the Solutions-Experiences-Dream Fulfillment Business. (And we all must be – from individual contributor to CEO).

We view storytelling as a “finishing-off process.” But we must understand that a thoroughgoing “storytelling sensibility” can effectively drive Enterprise Strategy as at Alessi or Ferrari or Benetton, and cease to be a neglected second cousin.

We think of storytellers … when we think of them at all … as odd ducks who should be confined to their cubes, far away from the strategy “war room. Instead we must invite the storytellers to sit on the CEO’s immediate right at the boardroom table.

The Quest

A Finance department … with a Writer, an Artist, an Actress and a Musician. (As well as Some Numbers Dudes.) This ‘department’ stands for accuracy and integrity. But it is also a Scintillating Business Partner. The members of it are not drones. They do not hide behind thick, obscure Excel presentations of arcane figures. They are exciting. Their stories and ideas are exciting. Their presentations are exciting. And Clear. And Beautiful. Because these new-breed ‘finance people’ are … STORYTELLERS.