Storytelling and knowledge management

I love storytelling. Maybe it’s the knowledge manager in me, maybe it’s the roleplayer, or possibly the public speaker or even the fantasy/sci-fi artist – whether it’s visual or spoken (or both), I love storytelling.

When I tell stories it’s with language, tone and gesture (often helped by some appropriate music in the background, particularly during roleplaying sessions) in such a way that it provokes the imagination and evokes visual imagery. For me, the fact in the story isn’t my primary focus, it’s the telling that counts, in the way in which its archetypes are revealed, and in the way the story relates issues, provokes discussion, and postulates solutions. This is the mythos in me, where the purpose behind the telling relates more to communicating the meaning than it does the fact (…oh, and a good plot is also important as well but I think that goes without saying).

Embedded in oral traditions, storytelling used to be the primary way knowledge and information was passed down from generation to generation. As far as KM goes, our ancestors had it right – storytelling is about the only way you can actually turn tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge. Explicit knowledge could be painted onto cave walls, but, even in modern times, implicit knowledge can only be passed on through activities like storytelling because, as an artefact of mythos, it can carry with it behavioural, habitual and cultural meaning.

In our modern world, however, we’re obsessed with “know-what” [facts], “know-why” [science] and “know-who”[networking]” – the logos rather than the mythos. We store metadata in electronic repositories, communicate by email and instant messaging, and when we talk to others we present facts in bullet form in good old PowerPoint presentations. This is not storytelling, nor do I think it’s very interesting from either a KM or personal perspective. Do we tell stories anymore? What’s happened to the storytelling tradition? Is our Western culture is geared toward storytelling any more?

I remember back when I was in High School I had an English teacher who was a children’s fantasy author – Brian Caswell. At the time, he found it impossible to publish in that genre. Publishers just weren’t interested in Australian authors or in fantasy. Who knows what they were interested in printing!? But he did read us his manuscript for Merryll of the Stones, and we did study it as one of the novels for the year and, looking back on it, I think it was a lot of fun. Based on storytelling, Caswell was able to improve his novel and eventually publish it in 1989 (although, the fact that the genre grew in popularity over the following years probably had something to do with it). From Caswell, and his story of Merryll, I first learned that “power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. Caswell was a good storyteller and I think I probably learned how to be a storyteller from him.

Like so many adults, I love to read J.K. Rowling’s novels about Harry Potter and his world. Rowling is a good children’s storyteller, relating tales that are both tangible to children and are with meaning. While Harry Potter has its critics, there is no doubt that in its mythos it shows children the difference between good and evil, rather than watering it down to a weak ‘good and bad’. I’m sure you know of other authors who do the same, but Rowling’s work is certainly the flavour of the decade, and I think the meaning in her Harry Potter books will become a firm part of our culture for a long time to come.

About week ago I watched “The Lady in the Water” by Night Shyamalan on DVD. He wrote a children’s book based on a bedtime story he told his children and created a bigger brother out of it for an adultish movie audience. Some idiot marketed as another fast passed fantasy horror and so the critics expected another “The Village”. I think the public expected Shyamalan show us incredible CGI landscapes, the water people, and his imagined ancient world where man drew on the sagely advice of this wise, fey-like people. Instead, as the movie opened, we saw what looked like stick figures and cave drawings. Immediately, it evoked in me, a deep understanding of his intention – a story seeped in storytelling mythos – and I enjoyed it immensely for it. Movie sites wailed at how terrible the movie was, giving it four Razzie nominations [1]. Critics [2] complained that the protagonist “must believe that he has a visitor from another world or else Shyamalan wouldn’t have a story to tell” forget that we’re not asked to suspend belief or ask too many questions, we’re not seeing a documentary or a true ‘tale’. Shyamalan, simply, is telling a story – one that reminds us that an individual can change the world through the telling his story, about the people that inspire you, and even how myth is immortal and it’s telling perpetuates itself. I could see the cave paintings being reborn in the stories that would come later from the characters themselves. Where it seems most people wanted hyperrealism and special effects, Shyamalan instead gave us mythos – something I think as a writer and director, Shyamalan is actually pretty good at doing, and I really enjoy watching.

I also went to the new Dendy cinema in Canberra and watched Pan’s Labyrinth - a gritty, emotive, violent film, set during the Spanish civil war, 1944. Like Lady in the Water, Pan’s Ladyrinth starts like the telling of an ancient legend, of a princess who lived underground and went up to the world of humans, and the promise of her return. Here, Guillermo Del Toro shows us a storyworld where, probably unlike Lady in the Water, the boundary between fantasy and reality is completely indistinguishable. Does Ofelia, trapped in a patently miserable childhood, imagine all this? In del Toro’s expert hands that question soon loses any meaning.

This film (thankfully) is a divergence from the Disney fairytale toward good, old fashioned, horrific Bros. Grim fairytales (now they were good storytellers). Del Toro reminds us that storytelling deals with powerful psychological archetypes, powerful emotions, and that the real subject of a fable should be in its meaning, in this case, to relate the nature of good and evil and the capacity of the human spirit.

Are there other modern storytellers? Are they all movie makers? Who are our 20th/21st century mythmakers and storytellers?

Lucas is often praised by actors and critics for his mythmaking capability. While Star Wars is a good example of his ability to tell a story through cinema, I think his other films set in the Star Wars universe are just abysmal. The Empire Strikes Back, my favourite episode of the series, the story was written by Lucas, but Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan wrote the screenplay, and Irvin Kershner was the director. So, while Lucas is hailed as a mighty storyteller, I have to admit that I think he’s rather a bad one. There’s Spielberg, but other than Close Encounters of the Third Kind, I’d call him more of a special effects genius and less of a great storyteller. When everyone else thought that retelling Tolkien’s stories was impossible, Jackson and his team brought it to life through digital effects – but I don’t know if I would classify him as a storyteller. There’s Henson (and his company), who released Labyrinth, the Dark Crystal and Mirror Mask (written by Neil Gaiman – an amazing storyteller in his own right) – all of which are incredible visual stories. What about Hitchcock and Orwell? Undoubtedly, these are cinema giants and, strangely enough, compulsory reading for social-psychology because of their thought provoking statements on society. Their films remind us of our darker sides and pass on their insight into the human condition - good storytelling material. But these figures are legendary themselves and I don’t think films of this nature are really produced anymore.

So, I’m not sure whether many of our modern films are about storytelling. Maybe storytelling and making movies is a bit of a hit and miss affair? Many modern movies I’ve seen seem to be more about making money these days and not really about good storytelling and myth making. So how about storytelling in other media?

It’s been suggested by some [3] that rap artists are storytellers, but I’m yet to be convinced, and don’t get me started on popular music which seems, from an infrequent diet of Video Hits on Saturday mornings, to be about selling sex. …but, I digress, maybe there’s just a difference in intent? Maybe not all movies are about storytelling but purely about entertainment (although, sometimes I wonder even about it doing that much). Maybe there’s just a difference between digital storytelling and its oral/written counterpart. Shakespeare was an amazing storyteller, but there are very few of his tales that can be accurately captured on celluloid (although, I do love Branagh’s version of “Much Ado About Nothing”). I prefer to just read them.

So where does that leave us? For me, unfortunately, I think storytelling is a dying art. So much of what I see in our 21st century Western culture is about commercialisation and realism and less about telling stories, less about teaching us something or passing on some tasty bit of knowledge or insight, and even less about telling them well. Is there any salvation for storytelling?!

Fortunately, true knowledge managers (like myself) are at the coalface reminding us that storytelling is not only important in helping us build, strengthen and sustain communities [4], but there is also a commercial benefit to be had [5]. Storytelling is one of the single most effective tools for improving an organisation’s productivity, processes because it supports the sorts of knowledge sharing that can only happen at a cultural and social level. You can easily pass on raw information, just continue to give those PowerPoint presentations, but sharing knowledge is infinitely more powerful and effective in a social setting, and storytelling is the key.

Let the storytelling begin!

M

ps - I was going to add something in here about blogging as storytelling, but I think I might leave that for another time. Corporate blogs are certainly a way of storytelling online. I only wish that my company would support blogging. There’s certainly stuff in this blog that others in my company would find very useful and thought provoking!

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[1] Razzie 2006 nominations. Online at: http://www.razzies.com/history/27thNoms.asp, accessed on 28 January 2006.

[2] Wirt, J. 2007. Movie Review: Lady in the Water. “Lady” a fairy tale with frights. Jan 22. Online at http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/3391626.html, accessed on 23 January 2007.

[3] The Clark, 2002. Clark Winter Music Series to Feature West African Artists, December 31. Online at: http://www.clarkart.edu/make_a_visit/press_releases/content.cfm?ID=227, accessed on 24 January 2007

[4] Kahn, S. W. Are you sitting comfortably? Using the power of storytelling to build communities. Volume 5, Issue 3, 10 Oct. Online at: http://www.ikmagazine.com/…display.htm, accessed on 25 January 2007.

[5] Lelic, S. 2001. A sense of community. The role of CoPs in knowledge management. Inside Knowledge. Volume 5, Issue 3, 10 Oct. Online at http://www.ikmagazine.com/xq/as…nt/qx/display.htm, accessed on 25 January 2007.