Circle of the 9 Muses

Chapter 7

Use these ideas when you want other ways of bringing energy, engagement, and awareness to the basic story circle. These ideas might also inspire you to create your own unique story processes!

For this exercise, you will need:

• An upcoming event (either formal or spontaneous) where you are planning on asking for stories.

Story work is like jazz, with endless riffs, variations, improvisations, and enough fresh ideas to fill 10 more volumes of books like this one. Some of the most innovative work in organizational learning is happening today in the field of organizational narrative. The spirit of experimentation in the story community (and certainly among the collaborators to this book) is intoxicating. I can imagine the rush of The Beatles in the studio assembling Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and the try anything spirit that created a new set of rules and led an entire culture on a journey of discovery. (Yes, I am Paul McCartney in this fantasy. You can be George.)

Here are some ideas to spur your thinking.

Visual Story Mining

With this exercise, I am honored to introduce one of my favorite story practitioners to you. Limor Shiponi is among the wisest and most challenging thinkers in the global business storytelling scene, and her approach to story is deeply informed by her Israeli culture. “Everything meets here in Israel,” she says of her culture, ...