stories in times of crisis

People are drawn to my way of working because their own experience shows them that (some) stories influence what people choose to do next. The idea that stories can propel action in business and commercial settings is fundamental to my business consultancy. Does the idea that stories propel action hold in other contexts?

For journalist Henry Hamman, the answer is an unequivocal yes. 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 here to read the essay.)

There are two narratives Hamman identifies: “the somewhat tattered post-cold war western narrative of expanding democracy and human rights” which Hamman says is still “playing out today”. The other is one Hamman says “may of us in the west do not attend to – a Russian one of external threat”. If we left the discussion there, many of us would be inclined to say: OK, there are two sides to this story of political and military struggle for dominance.

But that is rather missing both Hamman’s – and my – point: the power of stories to influence what people choose to do next.

Hamman’s discussion picks up narrative when he describes his conversation with Italian diplomat Giandomenico Picco, who was instrumental in the negotiations around the USSR’s withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1987 and 1988. Two decades on, the diplomat speaks with the journalist. Here is what the latter hears while the former speaks:

Journalist: Picco “was concerned about the future of Russian-American relations because he feared the power of narratives could take over from rational thought, should relations deteriorate. He worries about the power of crisis

Diplomat: crisis ‘provokes a dynamic of its own that the players are no longer able to control.’

Journalist: “In crisis, narratives assume even more power and if narrative takes over from analysis for

Diplomat: ‘one too many in the decision-making process, then all bets are off.”

And this is what I understand: When all bets are off between two nuclear powers, crisis creeps towards Armageddon.

There is no doubt in my mind that Picco is right – self-affirming narratives can create the conditions they predicate, and invasion and annihilation could well be the result. But could the opposite also be true?

In other words, could crisis also chase away the ability to analyse which are the generative narratives – the stories that help people, organisations and even nations connect in mutually beneficial ways?

Georgia, Russian, US and NATO relations to one side, we in business have been in crisis mode for some weeks. I think it’s risky to think that in times like these, stories are a luxury we can ill afford. Quite the contrary: it is times like these that we need the stories – in enterprise as in our personal lives – that connect us, inspire and affirm us all the more.

And we need stories that embody analysis – not obstruct it.

sideways glance: kings place and eBay

A coherent strategy is one that selects not simply what is included, but also, what to exclude. This applies for the box office and the boardroom.

Last week London’s newest arts centre Kings Place opened, and the FT’s Andrew Clark made it to the inaugural five-day festival. Here’s how Clark puts the venue on the map: “[T]he significance of Kings Place lies in the way its design reflects its artistic concept. It’s a case of easy-come, easy-go,” says Clark, “a place where the curious can drop in at lunchtime, teatime, after work or dinner time, just to see what’s going on.” Click here for the full article.

So what is going on? The website (after some digging) told me: “The music programme at Kings Place has been created around the innovative concept of week-long events, curated by a range of different musicians and covering a very wide range of genres.” Plus it’s HQ (or “administrative home”) to two top orchestras and a host of other musical groups who will perform, rehearse and offer workshops. Art galleries and spoken word events enrich the calendar.

Clark’s worry is that Kings Place currently lacks “a defining intelligence who has … a keener sense of how to integrate programmes”. The problem looming is one of coherent focus. Which made me think of eBay, a firm whose strategy seemed very unfocused when it purchased Skype for $2.6bn back in 2005 (see, for example, cnet a year ago).

Richard Waters, writing in the same FT, gives a nice update on my favourite online auction site (here’s his piece). The new chief exec John Donahoe is making “efforts to sharpen both operations and strategic focus,” Waters explains. And unlike his predecessor Meg Whitman, Donahoe recognises that Skype is not “central to Ebay’s strategy.”

A defining intelligence (commonly called “strategy”) has a starring role in both the box office and the boardroom.

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.

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 Cook up all night at the far end of the broadband connection not just with the latest drafts (‘a simple planel of the black floor slides open, and the Tardis drops through, like a stone, gone –!’), but his ability to transform anything into a scene – a vile corporate press party, a sudden necessity to write round a real tragedy in his Crummles-like rep company – then pace those scenes into a tale.” Click here for the full review.

the actor’s “as if” in turbulent times

Management guru Stefan Stern meticulously recalls a screen performance by the late great actor Paul Newman.

FT Weekend reprints Stefan Stern’s eulogy blog to Newman. It’s great to see how Stern notates Newman’s deft performance of David Mamet’s script for the Sidney Lumet 1982 film The Verdict. Click here to read the blog.

To add: The speech works on another level. In speaking of the opportunity “to act as if you have faith” the speech by Newman’s character crystallises the actor’s craft — and by extension — the audience’s labour.

The actor says I act as if I am this other person. The willing audience, suspending its disbelief, affirms this “as if” with attentive silence. Everyone in their rational selves “knows better” but the consensus is to collaborate, for a time, in the fiction.

Stern, a management writer in today’s turbulent times, says he turned to The Verdict because he craves a morality tale. Even in more stable times, justice is realised only when we act as if the world is already just. Like the theatre audience collaborating in the fiction, we collaborate in making the world more just. Our belief, while not sufficient, is necessary to make it so.

workplace stories must “grab the imagination”

To have impact in workplaces, stories must strike the right balance between the exemplary and the familiar.

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 can relate to.”

Click here to read the full article.

HSPA “mobile broadband” another Starbucks?

A £1billion campaign backed by 17 big names in IT and telecoms will promote mobile broadband just as rival service WiMax launches.

The GSM Association’s campaign, explains Rob Minto in today’s FT, will run on- and offline in 91 countries. The purpose of the campaign is to establish mobile broadband as a category consumers recognise. The category is supported by products from multiple vendors, including mobile broadband service contracts and laptops with embedded SIM cards. If the new category captures consumers’ imaginations, the HSPA network (which powers mobile broadband) can consolidate its position just as the alternative WiMAX begins launching in the US this week. HSPA, while slower than WiMax, is available nearly everywhere, Minto says.

So: mindshare x (ready product bundles + easy access + consistent availability) could equal market dominance for the HSPA tortoise. On one hand, that’s smart marketing. On the other hand, if WiMax will deliver a better, faster experience then mobile broadband sounds a little disappointing.

I fear we’ll end up with an experience like Starbucks: the ubiquitous chain is easy to access, predictable, consistently accepts payment by plastic …but their coffee dulls my tongue and makes my mouth taste sour.

Click here to read the full FT article.

what is design?

“Design is the most faithful encapsulation of the politics, economics and fears and desires of a moment,” Edwin Heathcote affirms.

Reviewing the Cold War Modern exhibition at the V&A, Heathcote writes: “Design is too often presented as a succession of iconic chairs; but here it is exposed for what it is, the most faithful encapsulation of the politics, economics and fears and desires of a moment.”

Click here to read the full review.

making belief

Each project I work on aims to ignite conversations, inspire dialogue or fuel debate. This includes the thought leadership campaigns launched by PR agencies, but also goes wider and deeper to help organisations connect with the people who matter most.

Storytelling is central to how I help businesses grow. Stories crystallise issues, connect people and propel action. The consultancy I have created, throughline (www.throughline.co.uk) is devoted to helping organisations craft and share stories that will help them grow.

A lifelong experience of theatre underpins my own work with stories in business. In enterprise, the beliefs of customers, partners and employees influence business performance, profitability and shareholder value. Shaping those beliefs efficiently takes great imagination. Now, theatres are fundamentally places to see imaginary things take real form. The action may be pretend while the audience’s cognition and recognition is real. The theatre is not simply a place of make believe, it’s where beliefs are made. And in this respect, a theatre resembles a market place.

At throughline, we’re in the business of making belief – with intelligence, originality and integrity.