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Topic: Stories & storytellers
“StoryForm”: A work in progress
StoryForm is a new project Throughline is gestating. The aim is to create a tool for driving, inspiring and shaping BUYING (business and consumer purchasing) and BUY-IN (commercial decisions, especially around innovative concepts). As such, it relates to and also goes beyond our work in KILN around catalysing innovation. Continue reading
Back in late February, I heard Alexander Osterwalder speak at the Front End of Innovation EMEA conference hosted by the Institute of International Research. The keynote was about the Business Model Canvas. Indy had received Alex's book Business Model Generation (co-authored with Yves ...MORE >
Stories: how and why
A tweet last week from Dave Snowden alerted me to Anecdote’s Story-Spotting Test. The thing that bothered me about Anecdote’s definition of a story is what it left out. The markers they’ve identified cover the who, where, when and what. They don’t mention the how or the why. Hmmm…. Continue reading
I mulled this over. And began realising that Throughline's practice is deeply interested in the "how" and "why". Maybe it's because our bread-and-butter is finding and crafting stories on B2B topics where "how" and "why" are quite genuinely the most interesting questions to ...MORE >
Neverland is here: Peter Pan
Another favourite from 2010 was The National Theatre of Scotland’s enchanting production of Peter Pan. Continue reading
I had read the unabridged book aloud in the winter. In mid May I saw the play. Two choices continue to delight and haunt me.
First, Tinker Bell was played by lighter paper. Really. It was extraordinary.
Second, a body double was used in the ...MORE >
Uh-oh
Cloudy weather over the digital landscape…. Continue reading
About this time last year, Throughline started working alongside MAYA Chief Executive Mickey McManus on a summit for a mutual client. MAYA's expertise is in innovating digital products and digitally driven experiences.
At the heart of MAYA's story is the problem of information overload. ...MORE >
Collaborating to create value: who is the client?
Now in our fourth year, we’re thinking a lot about how we collaborate to create value for our clients. One of things we’ve discovered is that: network-delivery models create hidden “clients” who can crowd out the needs of the actual, ultimate client. Here’s a story about hidden clients in a networked business situation:
Continue reading
Robert just told me about his work with Jane. Jane is internal communications manager for a company involved in a merger. Her annual budget trebled for the merger period. She had a choice: enlarge her circle of advisors or ask an incumbent agency ...MORE >
Putting metaphor in the frame
University of Leeds Professor Joep Cornelissen’s talk “It’s all in the game: How to successfully frame a strategic change or opportunity” used real-world and television drama examples to the show the interplay between how leaders framed future action and what people understood through the frames. Continue reading
It’s so refreshing to hear someone flag up the importance of metaphor and analogy in business communications. They aren’t simply “literary tools”: metaphor and analogy are tools fundamental to humans’ sense-making.
Joep’s talk and the discussion it sparked reminded me how powerful metaphors and ...MORE >
Singing from the same hymn sheet?
How does organisational culture actually work? Do value statements actually describe behaviour and day-to-day practices? Or is there a gap? A story about singing, and a song…. Continue reading
Here's comic Tim Minchin on the dilemma he faces because he can't walk the talk.
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In his book Unmanaging: Opening up the organisation to its own unspoken knowledge, McKinsey veteran Theodore Taptikilis tells an entertaining story that prefigures the organisational culture movement in the ...MORE >
Stories in times of crisis
It is times like these that we need the stories embody analysis – not obstruct it – and connect us in mutually beneficial ways. Continue reading
Writing in this weekend’s FT Magazine, Hamman explores the Cold War through interviews with diplomats, politicians and spies who worked on the frontlines. Narrative emerges as the crux of how Hamman sees the power dynamic between the US and the Soviet Union. (Click ...MORE >
Television writer as Master Storyteller
The man who magicked Dr Who back into existence is “the Scheherazade of Cardiff Bay,” according to Veronica Horwell in the Saturday Guardian. Continue reading
Howell is reviewing Doctor Who: The Writer’s Tale, 512 pages of emails and texts flying between Davies and a confidant named Benjamin Cook.
Here’s what Howell says of Davies: “He’s making this up as he goes along. He can’t stop the narrative. He keeps ...MORE >
Grabbing the imagination
To have impact in workplaces, stories must strike the right balance between the exemplary and the familiar. Continue reading
Good stories motivate staff is the key idea behind Rhymer Rigby’s piece in yesterday's FT.
Rigby quotes Allianz Insurance corporate events manager Stephen Flynn: “The [stories] that work the best are those that are unusual enough to grab the imagination but generic enough that you ...MORE >