| Storytelling is no longer confined to literature departments at major universities. Top medical schools are instituting programs in "narrative medicine" so doctors can better analyze patient stories; journalists are replacing the inverted pyramid with protagonists and story arcs; legal scholars are investigating how storytelling can clarify the maze of law and its implications; and top executives at IBM and the World Bank have promoted the business value of storytelling as a way to change these huge organizations. Three years ago, 3M introduced storytelling to two dozen rising executives and found it so effective that 140 received storytelling lessons last year. What's going on? Why so much emphasis on this low-tech form in our high-tech world?
Interest in this ancient genre of communication stems from the rising importance of "sharing knowledge" as a competitive advantage and realizing its inspirational and instructive value, a duo that abstraction and conventional analysis cannot match. Hence, the re-birth of the "story" to spark action, encourage shared values, share knowledge, get people to work together or march into the future.
In this session, Melinda Bickerstaff will describe how innovative narrative techniques were developed and deployed to operationalize knowledge-sharing strategies in two well-known organizations: a global pharmaceutical company; and a giant in media/entertainment. She will share the lessons of experience in communicating the "future story" of an organization, particularly how to make that future story "come alive".
Melinda Bickerstaff was most recently the Chief Learning Officer for Discovery Communications, LLC, and formerly the first Chief Knowledge Officer for one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies, Bristol-Myers Squibb. Her innovative and pioneering work in "knowledge-sharing" has been widely recognized in articles in Training Magazine, CIO Magazine, KM World, The KMPro Journal, and in book chapters in The Leader's Guide to Storytelling, Beyond E-Learning, and How Organizations Use Storytelling to Drive Results.
Location: Westin Arlington Gateway Hotel, 801 N. Glebe Road, Arlington VA 22203. 703-717-6200
Metro: Ballston on the Orange Line. Valet parking at the hotel; self-parking at Ballston Common across Wilson Blvd.
8:15-9:00 am - registration, networking, continental breakfast
9:00-10:30 am - program
10:30-11:00 am - informal conversation time with speaker(s)
Registration: e-mail to admin@hrleadershipforum.org.
Cost: included in membership for HRLF members; $75 non-members
HRLF members may send a substitute to any program they cannot attend and may bring one guest free during their membership year.
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