11/14/2023 0 Comments Storytelling naked![]() Once he was asleep she took a very sharp knife and gently cut one single whisker from the lion’s muzzle. Finally, after weeks of bringing the lion good things to eat and ever so slowly reaching out to pet him, he finally was so comfortable with the woman that he fell asleep under her stroking hand. She didn’t move but the lion saw her anyway and ran away. One morning she sensed the lion’s presence before she saw him. On the second day, she stayed a little longer and found a comfortable place to sit. On that day she saw nothing more than monkeys fighting in the trees and birds flying in the air. She was distraught, “How can I possibly get a whisker from a beast as fierce and powerful as a lion?” The shaman shrugged and left her to her tears.The next day she went to a place where she had once seen a lion. Then he told her to get a whisker from a live lion. I will make you a love potion - but you must go find one of the ingredients.” She said she would. When she was finished, he said, “I think I can help you. He listened patiently to the woman’s story. The more she tried to hug her husband, tease him, and draw him back to her, the worse it became. But since his return he was angry, distant, and humorless. She explained that before her husband fought in the war, he was warm, loving, and he laughed easily. Here’s another story:Ī woman begged the shaman for a potion to make her husband love her again. My impatience is making things worse.”Īnd who amongst us doesn’t need more patience? Yet, preach “Be more patient, be more patient,” to a bunch of smart executives, and I’ll guarantee increased patience will not be the first change you begin to notice in their behavior. Instead of telling someone, “You should be more patient,” you invite your listener to come to that conclusion independently: “Hey, I know what the problem is. Story is one of the most respectful ways to share knowledge, and thus, one of the most effective because it allows people to come to their own conclusions. ![]() My first ten years in management experience I worked that way. People don’t have flip-top heads that open up for you to shove information down. If it did, any of us who wanted to lose weight would only need to read one diet book. We need stories because cognitive learning doesn’t always cut it. They invited her to eat at their tables and warm herself by their fires. Clothed in story, Truth knocked again at the doors and was readily welcomed into the villagers’ houses. There, she dressed Truth in story, warmed her and sent her out again. Taking pity on her, Parable gathered her up and took her home. When Parable found her she was huddled in a corner, shivering and hungry. Truth, naked and cold, had been turned away from every door in the village. But how do I describe it? With a story of course. There’s something important going on here, I realized. I first began to study storytelling so that my presentations wouldn’t be boring - but as I worked on storytelling, storytelling started to work on me. That’s when I understood the power of storytelling. We were trained on every single word that came out of the storyteller. Jaws slackened, whole bodies became receptive. I can still recall sitting inside the festival tent and noticing the rapt attention of the people around me as a story was told. My dad thought it would be a great place for the family to get together, so he sent us all tickets. I went to my first storytelling festival as an adult. Annette Simmons spoke at the February 2002 APPL Masters Forum. We hope these features illuminate why ASK contributors use the story form to share their knowledge, and how you can do the same. This article by Annette Simmons marks the first in a series by authors whose work on storytelling has been widely recognized. Several other practitioners have successfully introduced this approach to knowledge management within organizations.
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