So what is a story really?
Posted: Thu Jan 23, 2025 8:53 am
Content experiences and storytelling. I am still fascinated by the power of stories, which is probably why I never left this business category.
What is not a story?
The intention is not to write about how we can rule the world, but rather how to be good business storytellers. I will write about stories, storytelling, business narrative.
Salman Rushdie, the famous writer, said: “We are story-telling animals. We are the only creatures on earth who do this unusual thing of telling ourselves stories in order to understand what kind of creatures we are.”
So true. Stories fascinate us. They move us, thrill us, provoke us, entertain us. We continually seek out stories, in good times and in difficult times. But what exactly is a story? Perhaps we should start with what a story is not.
"When a child is born, the first thing it needs is care, security and love. When these norway consumer mobile number list things are fulfilled, almost the next thing the child asks is “tell me a story.”
Salman Rushdie
A story is not a process. Like a story, a process has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Unlike a story, a process has no desire, no conflict, and no central character (the hero).
A process accumulates the progress of the story. A story is not a chronology either. Executives and marketers often think of strategic storytelling as the story of their company.
The history of the company is just a temporal process, told as a list of growth milestones accumulated in a sequence of dates.
Let's start with a formal definition.
A story is a dynamic sequence of events driven by conflict that brings about a significant change in a character's life.
What is not a story?
The intention is not to write about how we can rule the world, but rather how to be good business storytellers. I will write about stories, storytelling, business narrative.
Salman Rushdie, the famous writer, said: “We are story-telling animals. We are the only creatures on earth who do this unusual thing of telling ourselves stories in order to understand what kind of creatures we are.”
So true. Stories fascinate us. They move us, thrill us, provoke us, entertain us. We continually seek out stories, in good times and in difficult times. But what exactly is a story? Perhaps we should start with what a story is not.
"When a child is born, the first thing it needs is care, security and love. When these norway consumer mobile number list things are fulfilled, almost the next thing the child asks is “tell me a story.”
Salman Rushdie
A story is not a process. Like a story, a process has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Unlike a story, a process has no desire, no conflict, and no central character (the hero).
A process accumulates the progress of the story. A story is not a chronology either. Executives and marketers often think of strategic storytelling as the story of their company.
The history of the company is just a temporal process, told as a list of growth milestones accumulated in a sequence of dates.
Let's start with a formal definition.
A story is a dynamic sequence of events driven by conflict that brings about a significant change in a character's life.