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Re: Storytelling for Influence (November 2nd - December 14th) - Reflection: Lesson 3

Braddo — Sun, 13 Dec 2015 17:36:27 -0000

I echo Steve. It's easy to think that all our stakeholders can/will hear the same message the same way. Hard to get into the shoes of many different people.

Re: Storytelling for Influence (November 2nd - December 14th) - Reflection: Lesson 3

Braddo — Sun, 13 Dec 2015 17:34:13 -0000

The simplest stories are the best, IMHO. The message isn't hidden and I know what I am being asked to do. That builds trust.

Re: Storytelling for Influence (November 2nd - December 14th) - Reflection: Lesson 3

Braddo — Sun, 13 Dec 2015 17:30:51 -0000

We had a sense of needing to make the story personal and emotional right from the start so the evolution over the weeks has been pretty smooth. The key advice was to get every teacher to tell his/her version of the story. Once we had that, the general idea resonated with the colleagues I had asked for feedback.

Our challenge was in finding the medium--we're happy with the poster/banner plan--and is still to craft just the right wording for the story. It will be extremely short--just one line, we think.

Re: Storytelling for Influence (November 2nd - December 14th) - Share your Work for Community Feedback

Braddo — Sun, 13 Dec 2015 17:19:48 -0000

I love hearing stories from the elderly in our communities. They have a perspective we rarely get in our day-to-day. How will you connect his story to the younger audience?

Re: Storytelling for Influence (November 2nd - December 14th) - Share your Work for Community Feedback

Braddo — Sun, 13 Dec 2015 17:13:01 -0000

We're pretty happy with this idea: a rotating series of banners--one for at least each member of the teaching faculty (though we are now thinking we get everyone, from facilities to head of school). We may start in senior division of the school and expand to the others.

Each banner is a very tight, dramatic b7W shot of the person's face. Two blocks of text: 1.) the big story, a statement that contains the idea that we are the A-team, that we own our future, etc. This is also the call to action, something like, the people who work here rock it. 2.) a personal anecdote telling how the person in the photo rocks it.

We're still struggling with the wording/message for part 1.) Once we have that we will know what we want to ask the individuals.

Re: Storytelling for Influence (November 2nd - December 14th) - SHARE YOUR WORK FOR FEEDBACK

Braddo — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 14:16:18 -0000

Cool! I don't know that about Google. But I love it. And yes, that's the idea!

Re: Storytelling for Influence (November 2nd - December 14th) - SHARE YOUR WORK FOR FEEDBACK

Braddo — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 11:53:48 -0000

I think we can safely assume he is happy.

One of the things we have to be careful about is not defining people or their success by their work. The point of the bellman story is that he does not define his success/happiness by his work but by his family life.

I am reminded of the parable of the fisherman and the investment banker. There are many versions but here's one: http://bemorewithless.com/t...

Re: Storytelling for Influence (November 2nd - December 14th) - SHARE YOUR WORK FOR FEEDBACK

Braddo — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 11:14:09 -0000

Thanks for the feedback.

We're already in discussion about how to make sure we don't leave anyone out. It may be that we will move to group shots with multiple stories on one poster, or work by school division, or maybe post on everyone's door in a giant street-art-like pasting...still kicking that around. But community is what we are building here so we do need to be careful wth this.

The giant/hero/?? word problem is still there, too. But we're sure we don't want "hero" as we feel storngly that the students are the heroes and teachers are the helpers in the ur-story (hero-quest-obstacle-helper-resolution).

Re: Storytelling for Influence (November 2nd - December 14th) - REFLECTION: Lesson 2

Braddo — Sun, 06 Dec 2015 21:05:50 -0000

Clearing mental and physical space to work is so important. Like you I go for a run to get away from distractions and to settle my mind.

Re: Storytelling for Influence (November 2nd - December 14th) - REFLECTION: Lesson 2

Braddo — Sun, 06 Dec 2015 20:58:16 -0000

Funny, isn't it. How we are most familiar with our own voice, yet it seems so strange to us.

Re: Storytelling for Influence (November 2nd - December 14th) - REFLECTION: Lesson 2

Braddo — Sun, 06 Dec 2015 20:57:30 -0000

I used post-its at the bar...but also felt I wasn't as prepared as I thought I was. I'm thinking that is the point of the exercise. Going to the bar shows you where you are not prepared.

Re: Storytelling for Influence (November 2nd - December 14th) - REFLECTION: Lesson 2

Braddo — Sun, 06 Dec 2015 20:53:38 -0000

I find I write stories from the inside out, beginning somewhere in the middle with something I am sure of then working my way out from there to the opening and the ending.

Re: Storytelling for Influence (November 2nd - December 14th) - REFLECTION: Lesson 2

Braddo — Sun, 06 Dec 2015 20:50:05 -0000

The hardest part wasn't putting ideas on paper and I had no sense of needing to make the ideas perfect on the first go. It was not having people nearby to bounce ideas off as I was working. I knew the ideas weren't on the money but it was often days between ideas and a chance to talk to someone about them. And then it might be a couple days before I could do anything with the feedback. Storytelling is hard to do off the side of your desk.

Re: Storytelling for Influence (November 2nd - December 14th) - SHARE YOUR WORK FOR FEEDBACK

Braddo — Sun, 06 Dec 2015 20:18:19 -0000

This is an ancient calling: the 5th C BCE Greek philosopher, Pindar, said "Become what your are!" It's extraordinarily difficult to do in practice, however. If it were easy, we'd expect more Bransons and Robbins.

I like the stories about Robbins and Branson. I can relate to that sort of history. But it's hard to see where they made their breakout. With their fame and riches they seem too far removed from my life. I feel de-motivated by the distance I have to go to be like Lee or Gates

Could you retell the story with more commonplace successes, Their must be stories of people who very successfully realized their potential to become a farmer or teacher. I once met a fellow working as head bellman at an upscale hotel. I had myself been in the hospitality business and afte I got to know him I asked why he worked as head bellman--he seemed too old for the job and too good for the job. I asked why he wasn't working at as front desk manage at least. He replied with his story: he has been working as a commodities trader making a high six-figure income, with two good cars, a nice office and a grand house to show for it. But all he did was work to maintain those things. So he quit. Moved to Prince Edward Island, bought a house for $40,000 and put a lot of money in the bank. Now he works 9-5 Monday - Friday as senior bellman. He goes home to his family every evening and takes them on a vacation in the Caribbean every winter. He's finally realized his potential as a family man.

Maybe you could tell a story about finding what is really important to each of us. Being asked to be like Gates is daunting. ;))

Re: Storytelling for Influence (November 2nd - December 14th) - SHARE YOUR WORK FOR FEEDBACK

Braddo — Sun, 06 Dec 2015 19:56:20 -0000

I sat down with some colleagues and shared my draft and, in particular, my feeling that it wasn't heading in the right direction. I mean we agreed that we want to tell the story of how very good we are at what we do--we forget that in the hurly burly of our day-to-day--and that in a sense we already have a culture of innovation and creativity. We just don't realize it. But it seemed contrived to be telling people, "Hey, your're creative!"

I had been struggling to see a way to tell this story when my colleagues hit upon this idea: If we are doing it already, let's have ourselves tell the story, in our own words. Each of our individual stories is a version of the mother story, the blueprint, which is a more polished version of "We are creative and innovative and we own our future." Think of it as a version of the advice often given to writers: show, don't tell. This would be as much a celebration of who we are as a story about who we will be.

They agreed that we didn't want to make a slide presentation--we get enough of those in regular staff meetings. And we didn't want a video--no one has time to sit and watch a video. And we needed a medium that is more pervasive and persistent than either a slide deck or video. So, a poster campaign seemed appropriate as it allows us to fill our physical workspace with the message. That way we can see/feel the message with minimum interruption to our day--teachers days are incredibly busy.

So we're looking at very large posters with the working title "giants". (We like the idea of "we are giants in the field of education..." but we're not set on that. It does seem closer to the feeling of strength we want than "Heroes" which seems rather corny. Each poster features a teacher shot in black and white from a low angle or extreme close up to make the faces fill the poster. We want these posters to have visual impact and to suggest power and capability. There will be two blocks of text, one with the title and a one or two sentence version of the ur-story and a larger block wth the individual's story.

Re: Storytelling for Influence (November 2nd - December 14th) - ACTIVITY: Hero (NEED PDF)

Braddo — Sun, 06 Dec 2015 18:39:49 -0000

This was a curious task. As I wrote in my notebook, I can't say that in my youth I had a hero whose values shaped who I am today. The experience of growing up has been a more subtle thing, an accumulation rather than an inspiration, perhaps.

Re: Storytelling for Influence (November 2nd - December 14th) - ACTIVITY: Hero (NEED PDF)

Braddo — Sun, 06 Dec 2015 18:34:37 -0000

Nice sketchnotes!

Re: Storytelling for Influence (November 2nd - December 14th) - Share Your Work for Community Feedback

Braddo — Wed, 02 Dec 2015 16:17:21 -0000

I'm coming back to this after a week or so and I don't feel good about it; I don't feel I have the story. Not sure what that is, but it's not resonating...I'm not sure it's our story...

Re: Storytelling for Influence (November 2nd - December 14th) - Share your work for Community Feedback

Braddo — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 17:16:01 -0000

Mike's a great guy and I can highly recommend his book.

Re: Storytelling for Influence (November 2nd - December 14th) - Share your work for Community Feedback

Braddo — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 13:43:35 -0000

Yay! I'm glad to hear. I always love that experience of "the shift."

Re: Storytelling for Influence (November 2nd - December 14th) - VIDEO 1: Why Prototype? (NEED VIDEO)

Braddo — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 13:42:40 -0000

Hey all, sorry to disappear. I was called away on business. I'll try to get caught up this weekend!

I missed you all.

Re: Storytelling for Influence (November 2nd - December 14th) - Reflection: Lesson 1

Braddo — Thu, 12 Nov 2015 21:29:19 -0000

An interesting point: where is the line between giving people what they want in a story and giving people the story they don't know they want? Knowing that is the role of leadership, I suppose.

Your story seems to be about establishing identity. One of the challenges we have here is that in the modern, Westn world, we have divorced ourselves from story. In pre-literate, oral cultures, storytelling both affirms identity and points the way forward. Although there are official storytellers, knowledge is aggregative and everyone makes a contribution. In contrast, in our literate culture, knowledge is abstract or decontextualized and based on authorities.

It takes guts to become the storyteller in a world that isn't used to hearing story. We fear we will run into something like "who are you to tell us our story?" But maybe you do have a special insight that others don't yet have.

Take courage!

Re: Storytelling for Influence (November 2nd - December 14th) - Reflection: Lesson 1

Braddo — Thu, 12 Nov 2015 21:12:28 -0000

The mechanics of story creation are pretty straightforward. Finding the story, on the other hand, is hard. And harder still online. I find myself wanting to talk face-to-face with people, to bounce ideas, to get feedback. I mean, I'd love to sit in a coffee shop with some folks for an hour and hash out some ideas on the back of a napkin as I still don't feel I have a blueprint, or something I'm ready to build, yet.

I know I could use the IDEO U platform for more back-and-forth and I'm not sure why I don't. Perhaps because it's not as spontaneous as saying, "hey, gotta minute" when you're in the office, or even tossing out a question on Twitter.

That said, the feedback has been useful and just thinking out loud here, so to speak, helps.

The timing is a bit off for me, too. Our school is closed so the people I would usually call on to say, "What do you think of this..." are not around. We're all back next week and that will give me a chance to get some feedback from stakeholders.

Re: Storytelling for Influence (November 2nd - December 14th) - Share Your Work for Community Feedback

Braddo — Thu, 12 Nov 2015 20:41:02 -0000

I love this cause! Sign me up.

I used to have my own restaurant and I remain passionate about food and cooking. (I'm in Japan at the moment and just last night we grilled up some saury and served it simply, with salt and some yuzu we picked ourselves) https://uploads.disquscdn.c... https://uploads.disquscdn.c...

There s a beautiful story to tell here. I would focus on the idea of respect: what makes a meal great is when you are honest with the food, that is, you don't try to make it what it isn't. I mean, in my place, the most successful dishes had no more than three ingredients, not counting basics like olive oil, salt and pepper, etc. You show respect for your food and your space and that in turn is the way you show respect to the local people.

Re: Storytelling for Influence (November 2nd - December 14th) - Share Your Work for Community Feedback

Braddo — Thu, 12 Nov 2015 20:29:13 -0000

(Sorry, hit post too early...seem to be some issues with the platform running on the iPad)

I wanted to add that as a school we are just started to feel our strength. We have a lot of very capable people in the building with a broad range of expertise and experience. We need to tell a story that gives them permission to be creative, take risks...