Storytelling

1. Lee Chu Keong Storytelling

2. An arrangement of words and images that re-create life-like characters and events • Stories: • can be spoken, written, filmed or drawn • can be in verse or prose • can be used to represent real or fictional events • How a storyteller describes and arranges a description of a story’s events, issues and ideas determines how he gains the attention of an audience WHAT’s a story?

3. Malaysia: seven types of Malay folklore: “penglipurlara”; moral; myths; comical; animal; knights; and adventure and mystery (MohdIzaniZainalAbidin & AishahAbdRazak, 2003) Japan:mukashi-banashi, or “tales of old” (stories based on fictional characters and events) and densetsu, or legends (historical tales believed to be grounded in fact) (Kawauchi, 1997) Storytelling in Different Cultures

4. Chukchi and Yupik elders in Siberia tell folktales that convey the values tellers admire and wish to pass on: • the courage not to give up • wisdom and loyalty • the ability to find good in what appears to be evil • the maintenance of good relationships with animals • the importance of a sense of humor (Van Deusen, 1990)

5. In organisations, storytelling has gained importance: • telling a story is one way of sharing knowledge • organisational memory is usually preserved in stories • storytelling makes teaching very effective • storytelling builds social capital (it strengthens connections) • realisation of the virtually universal human fascination with stories (Walter Fisher calls us homo narrans) • realisation that humans make sense of themselves and their world mainly narratively Storytelling in organisations

6. FISH!by Stephen Lundin, Harry Paul and John Christensen Who Moved My Cheese?by Spencer Johnson Animals, Inc.: A Business Parable for the 21st Centuryby Kenneth Tucker and VandanaAllman The Go-getterby Peter Kyne …

7. Organisational myths Hero stories Failure stories War stories Stories of the future Types of stories (Cohen & Prusak, 2001, Chapter 5)

8. ORGANISATIONAL MYTHS

9. An organisation’s fundamental stories  the ones that express its basic view of itself and the world, that explains what matters and how things work Helps shape and define the organisation Reminds members and tells newcomers what the organisation is all about (identity) May be true, or not literally true, but tells a powerful truth about the company WHAT?

10. ORGANIsational Myth AT IBM It’s said that after a young IBM executive launched a $10 million project that failed completely, he was called into founder Tom Watson’s office. Asked by the executive if he wanted his resignation, Watson replied: “Resignation? You’ve got to be kidding. I just spent $10 million educating you.”

11. David Packard was walking around a machine shop, accompanied by the shop’s manager. They stopped briefly to watch a machinist make a polished plastic mould die. He had spent a long time polishing it and was taking a final cut at it. Without thinking, Packard reached down and wiped it with his finger. The machinst said, “Get your finger off my die!” The manager quickly asked him, “Do you know who this is?”, to which he replied, “I don’t care!” ORGANIsational Myth AT HP

12. He (the rude machinist) was right and I (David Packard) told him so. He had an important job and was proud of his work.

13. HERO STORIES

14. Recount successes, and most frequently, triumphs, achieved thanks to the courage and persistence of one individual Stories of heroic gambles Incentive stories that can inspire the listener to do likewise WHAT?

15. Watson Sr’s RESPONSE TO CRISIS IBM participated in the 1940 World Fair in New York (May 11October 27) The theme was: Building the World of Tomorrow Watson decided to bring ten thousand guests to New York, including all the company’s factory employees and sales and field-service men plustheir wives, and put them up in Manhattan hotels for three days

16. He took out advertisements in the New York papers announcing “THEY ARE ALL COMING”, and chartered ten trains The cost for this trip was $1 million, more than 10% of profits for that year Then things went wrong!

17. 250 HURT IN CRASH OF TRAINS, JAMMED FOR OUTING AT FAIR Two Specials Carrying IBM Staff Collide at Port Jervis  Excessive Speed Blamed 35 Remain in Hospitals headlineS in the New York Times

18. Word of the accident reached Watson in Manhattan at 2:00 a.m. on May 13 He hopped in a car with his eldest daughter, Jane, and headed for Port Jervis (65 miles NW of NYC) They personally visited the injured in the hospitals He mobilised IBM executives in the city and arranged for more doctors and nurses to be dispatched to Port Jervis A fully staffed hospital was set up at one of the hotels at which the IBM contingent was staying

19. Flowers were ordered for all the families who had been involved in the accident IBM executives woke florists up to be sure that the bouquets were delivered before breakfast Watson then delivered a speech alongside Mayor La Guardia and other personages Note: In 1940, IBM was not a large company (sales: IBM = $46M; GM = $1.8B), and Watson (then 66!) was not a young man Nobody ever forgot how Watson handled the Port Jervis incident!

20. FAILURE STORIES

21. Cautionary tales They recount disastrous mistakes and usually say, “Never, ever, do this!” Some illustrate offences against the organisational culture WHAT?

22. Story of May Leong • May had written these things in her blog: • “I want to earn lots of $.” • “I don’t wanna end up dead for the sake of dough.” • “I really thought I was able to do everything, that I can be supergirl as well, but my health is worsening at a fast rate.” • “Vitamin M(oney) isn’t gonna cure my health.” • “I am happy to finally have the chance to ‘fly high’ in a Fortune 500 MNC.” • “It’s ok for me to wake at 3.30 a.m. to start work @ 4.30 a.m. everyday in the morning.”

23. From her blog, it is clear that May was a highly motivated person; at the same time, she realised the effect of work on her well-being May was also a filial daughter who wanted to take her mother abroad for a holiday

24. May died on 23 April, 2007, aged 28+ Before she died, May had been working on her laptop for eight straight hours replying to e-mail and work-related stuff May was: stressed out from work struggling to cope with the workload (she received more than 100 e-mails per day)

25. More EXCERPTS FROM MAY’s BLOG • “Partners from New Zealand practically ‘screaming’ to be served first, getting their orders delivered ASAP, wanting everything, complaining of everything.” • “Month end was the most ‘exciting’ part, you get to go on concalls almost every day, prepare backlog reports for each concall session which consists of 500 over orders remaining undelivered, investigating item-by-item ….” • “I’ve got to work at home during non-working hours including weekends, just doing my best to clear my work.”

26. 18 Apr: May fainted at the lobby of her workplace, but she did not want to take medical leave, nor did she want to quit her job “She was worried because she was on contract. Every time she took medical leave, it would be on no-pay basis,” said Ms Wong (May’s friend for 21 years) May wrote: “I’ve got myself sick these few days. Had diarrhea last Thursday (19 Apr), hurt my knee and was limping badly since last Sunday (15 Apr), had breathlessness since Wednesday (18 Apr) and fainted after work on that day at my office lift lobby, knocked my head against the wall when I fainted, collapsed again last night at home.”

27. Listen To Your Body • I would always advocate that we should always take care of ourselves first. If we don’t take care of ourselves, we cannot fulfill our roles at work or at home, especially the multiple roles that women play,” said Dr Hong, a consultant psychiatrist in private practice. • If you do not feel well, you should listen to your body and rest. “Don’t push yourself so hard doing one thing. That’s like putting all your eggs in one basket. Because if something happens to you, everything comes to an end,” she said.

28. End January 1941 – a rumour reached Ricardo Rivera-Schreiber, Peru’s ambassador to Tokyo It was disturbing enough for him to tell his friend, Ed Crocker, First Secretary of the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo Crocker immediately relayed the information to his boss, Ambassador Joseph Grew On January 27, Grew sent a telegraph message to the State Department PEARL Harbor

29. THE MESSAGE My Peruvian colleague told a member of my staff that he had heard from many sources including a Japanese source that the Japanese military forces planned, in the event of trouble with the United States, to attempt a surprise mass attack on Pearl Harbor using all of their military facilities. He added that although the project seemed fantastic the fact that he heard it from many sources prompted him to pass on the information.

30. In Washington, State Department  Navy Department The message did not stir any interest! There was, in fact, mild astonishment that an ambassador of Grew’s caliber could have taken such nonsense seriously Chief of Naval Operations  Commander in Chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet in Hawaii Captain Jules James received this assignment, and passed it on to the chief of the Far Eastern Section, Arthur McCollum

31. Arthur McCollum prepared a memo on January 31, 1941 for his boss (Jules James) to sign: The Division of Naval Intelligence places no credence in these rumours. Furthermore, based on known data regarding the present disposition and employment of Japanese naval and army forces, no move against Pearl Harbor appears imminent or planned for the foreseeable future.

32. Jules James signs the memo, and hands it over to Admiral Kimmel, Commander in Chief of the US Fleet Simultaneously, Arthur McCollum did some detective work, and determined that Ribera-Schreiber’s information had originated from his cook on about December 18, 1940 Active probing into the rumourstopped the moment Ribera-Schreiber’s cook came into view as the primary source

33. Just because the information came from a cook, it was judged unreliable! If McCollum investigated further, the attack might have been thwarted! Silly conclusion  the cook may have had the best information

34. WAR STORIES

35. WHAT? • Stories about failures that turned out well, or about the battles that one faces regularly • Sharing the story about a failure can be a connecting experience • Sharing one’s failure can help someone else avoid that failure

36. VU’S STORY • Story of Room to Read’s expansion into Vietnam • John Wood’s 1997 trip to Vietnam • Day 4, in Hue, John meet’s Nguyen Thai Vu (~17 y.o.) • They start talking, and John is impressed with Vu’s English • Vu asks John to help him practice his English • John visits Computer Academy • Vu impresses John with his MS Office skills

37. Parents  farmers, no education Vu worked at the hotel from 6 p.m.  7 a.m., 6 days a week, earning US$23/mth Attended classes in the day Studied at night, when hotel guests are asleep Expenses: $15/mth for computer classes, $5/mth for his parents, leaving him with just $3/mth to pay for computer usage at the Academy (1,000 dong/hr)

38. John offered to pay for some of Vu’s lessons, but Vu declined the offer John tried to but some books for Vu, but Vu prevented him from buying it John came up with a plan …

39. Dear Nguyen Thai Vu, As an employee of Microsoft, I have been empowered by Bill Gates to provide scholarship money for young students in Vietnam to learn computer science. You are a smart student, so we wish to support your education. Please accept the enclosed cash as a study grant that can be used for books and for practice time on computers. […] Best of luck to you. Please study hard and please write to me with reports on your progress.

40. Financial Linguistic Time pressures VU’S Battles  plenty But he overcame them!

41. STORIES OF THE FUTURE

42. WHAT? • Story of a goal towards which everyone can strive together • Many prominent political and social leaders used stories of the future to draw people into a cooperative effort • Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech (delivered on August 38, 1963) is an example • He talks about “one day” in the United States

43. “I say to you, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream” One day … the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice Martin luther king’s speecH

44. children will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character the jangling discords of the United States will be transformed into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood

45. Sal’s credentials: • BSc in electrical engineering and computer science, BSc in mathematics, and masters in electrical engineering and computer science, all from MIT • MBA from Harvard Business School • Worked at: • MVC Venture Capital • Scient Corporation • Oracle Corporation SALMAN Khan

46. Sal got married in the summer of 2004 During his wedding, Sal’s aunt told him that her daughter Nadia (Sal’s cousin) was having trouble with “unit conversion” Sal made a deal with Nadia: he would remotely tutor her for an hour after work as long as she was willing to do any extra work he gave her Technology used: Yahoo! Doodle and the telephone It spread: next was Arman and Ali, Nadia’s brothers The STORY OF SALMAN KHAN’S ACADEMY

47. Word got around, and Sal started tutoring more cousins and family friends Problem  time zone Sal started making YouTube videos The response was tremendous *fast-forward* In September 2009, Sal quit his day job By December 2009, he had created 1,176 videos Volunteers have begun translating videos into other languages

48. His courses: range from basic (e.g., Arithmetic) to university level (e.g., Proof of the Cauchy-Schwartz Inequality) His audience … His objective … Why am I telling you this story? Education is changing!

49. More importantly: How will libraries change to support these innovative modes of instruction? online education distance education

50. Let’s not forget to ask: How will publishers change to support these innovative modes of instruction? online education distance education