Narrative approach

Why go BEYOND?

After we send our our first newsletter last week, we got quite a few questions. Not only why the codes don´t work (they are sold out)*, but very prominently:

„Why BEYOND Storytelling?“

Let us take you on a short journey:

For us storytelling is an integral part of human life. We define ourselves and the world we life in through the stories we tell ourselves and others. Stories help us to make sense of the world and our place within it. They provide us with meaning and spark inspiration and action. Artfully crafted stories speak to our minds and hearts.

When a story is told, it develops a life on it´s own. It get´s re-interpreted and re-told by those who have been touched by it.

Stories move through conversations, leave traces and find their place in the collective mind – seeds are planted and ideas are spread. This is what makes the art of storytelling so attractive to leaders, marketeers and communicators.

And that is why we believe that working with stories must go beyond this artful craft. That stories are "in some deep sense are a joint product of the teller and the told.“** From this perspective, working with stories is a deeply dialogical process, that enables us to understand and create new accounts of who we are and where we want to go.

At BEYOND STORYTELLING we want to invite you to explore the many different ways of working with stories in organizations:

All these practices and approaches go BEYOND STORYTELLING. Their power has been applied in many organizations to guide them through change, inspire transformation and enable continuous learning.

Curious? Get inspired!***

* Ps: We released three more discount codes. Go to our registration page and use BEYONDSTORYTELLING (all caps) to unlock a 10% discount!

** This is a quote from Jerome Bruner, one of the most influential narrative psychologists. Thanks to Joanna Sell for this wonderful quote!

*** A big source of inspiration on narrative approaches and working with story is the new book from Wolfgang Tonninger and Udo Bräu: Wegmarken im Möglichkeitenland.

Dataism is Nihilism

A wonderful find by our founding member and friend Wolfgang Tonninger:

Dataismus ist Nihilismus. Er verzichtet ganz auf Sinn. Daten und Zahlen sind additiv und nicht narrativ. Sinn beruht dagegen auf der Narration. Daten füllen die Sinnleere. […] Das Motto von „Quantified Self“ heißt „Self Knowledge through Number“, Selbsterkenntnis durch Zahlen. Aus Daten und Zahlen allein, wie umfassend Sie auch sein mögen, ergibt sich keine Selbsterkenntnis. Zahlen erzählen nichts über das Selbst. Zählung ist nicht Erzählung. Das Selbst verdankt sich aber einer Erzählung. Nicht Zählen, sondern Erzählen führt zur Selbstfindung oder zur Selbsterkenntnis […].

gefunden in: Byung-Chul Han. Psychopolitik. Neoliberalismus und die neuen Machttechniken, s82f

More in his blog: https://almblitz.wordpress.com/2016/09/07/1371/. Check it out!