Seth Kahan interviews HBS professor John Kotter on Kotter's approach to change, leadership and storytelling. Storytelling is the focus of what's posted in John Kotter interviewed by Seth Kahan:
Stories are key. If you want people to remember ideas so they can change and get better results, tell them stories.
That's the last paragraph, and how true it is. I also enjoyed Kotter's emphasis that the story needs to be illuminated, either with graphics (if in print) or with theatrics, if you are telling it live.
The other thing I've observed is that the story-teller must understand the point of the story. I've recently seen two people tell the same story. The first emphasized (over-emphasized) the important aspects of the story, so that those elements could be reused in more detailed discussions. The second just told the story: the basic story line was there, but the essence of the fable was gone.
An interesting question about storytelling is how do I make the story my own? How do I get the story into my brain and my being well enough that I know the point and can draw on that story when it's appropriate in a given situation? And beyond just me, how does a group of consultants share these stories and all the nuances and twists behind them? Can it be more than sitting at the feet of the master and trial-by-fire?