Transformative Storytelling - BeSocialChange - May 2015

Lee-Sean Huang / ls@foossa.com / @leesean
Transformative
Storytelling
 
BeSocialChange
May 2015
@leeseanFOOSSA

@leesean@leeseanFOOSSA
Transformative Storytelling
1. Intro and Goals
2. Overview
3. Going Deeper
4. Discussion
5. Wrap Up and Next Steps

Why Storytelling?

@leeseanFOOSSA
“The #1 business skills for the next 5 years”
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20130802112108-7374576-this-will-be-the-1-business-skill-of-the-next-5-years
- LinkedIn
“A strategic tool with ‘irresistible power’”
https://hbr.org/2014/03/the-irresistible-power-of-storytelling-as-a-strategic-business-tool/
- Harvard Business Review
“The major business lesson of 2014”
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/239142
- Entrepreneur Magazine

Stories
help us make sense of the world
help us deﬁne our identity
help us connect with each other
are the building blocks of culture{http://www.psychologytoday.com/collections/201106/the-power-stories/direct-hit

http://www.journeyofhearts.org/kirstimd/tellstory.htmLee-Sean Huang / ls@foossa.com / @leesean
Clay Shirky
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyeihMTB2mE feature=share t=19m35s
“Stories organize our sense of reality.
Stories are how we process facts.
Stories are like food we consume that
helps us turn into who we are.”
@leeseanFOOSSA

Dr. Kirsti A. Dyer
http://www.journeyofhearts.org/kirstimd/tellstory.htm
“Storytelling is a part of life, intrinsic
to most cultures. They help people
make sense of the world--life's
experiences, dilemmas and hardships.
Stories can educate, inspire and build
rapport. They are a means of
communicating, recreating, and
helping preserve cultures by
translating memories into a more
concrete manner that can be handed
down verbally or in written form.
Telling the story can provide the
opportunity to gain a deeper
understanding of one's experiences
and oneself. “
http://www.psychologytoday.com/collections/201106/the-power-stories/direct-hit
http://www.journeyofhearts.org/kirstimd/tellstory.htm
@leeseanFOOSSA

@leeseanFOOSSA
“Storytelling comes naturally
to humans, but since we live
in an unnatural world, we
sometimes need a little help
doing what we’d naturally do.”
- Dan Harmon, Writer

@leeseanFOOSSA
Stories
1. are everywhere
2. are personal
3. connect us with each other
4. have a purpose or goal
5. embody values
6. have shapes/structures
7. are made up of moments
8. spark the senses & emotions

Stories are just the beginning
1. Tell stories to spark action
2. Build a path to leveling up
3. Create a common identity
4. Share the social “source code” (tools,
methodologies, manifestos)

Why are you here today?

WHAT?
Lee-Sean Huang / ls@foossa.com / @leesean@leeseanFOOSSA
HOW?
WHY?

14

@leeseanFOOSSA
MiLES (Made in the Lower East Side)

Every THING has a story.
Artifacts tell stories too.

18Lee-Sean Huang / ls@foossa.com / @leesean
Artifacts
@leeseanFOOSSA

Cultural
19Lee-Sean Huang / ls@foossa.com / @leesean@leeseanFOOSSA

20
https://sugru.com/
The Blue Lace Project

21
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/
jakehimself/the-bluelace-project-a-
revolution-built-one-foot-a
http://articles.latimes.com/2013/nov/19/
news/la-ar-blue-lace-project-20131119

Ask your partner the story
behind an object/artifact
that they have.

@leeseanFOOSSA
Founder Eric Ho in the New York Times

Everyone has a story.
Everyone is a storyteller.

Who am I?
Who are you?

What’s the story behind
your name?

28
Lee Sean

What’s the story behind
your company’s name?

User
Experience
Strategic
Storytelling
Community
Management
Movement
Building
Community
Centered
Design

32
We research behavioral,
cultural and technological
insights to identify
opportunities for innovation.
Lee-Sean Huang / ls@foossa.com / @leesean@leesean@leeseanFOOSSA
RESEARCH

33
We advise and train teams in
community- centered design,
storytelling, and social
innovation.
STRATEGY

34
We craft brand experiences
and build business models to
grow communities, shape
cultures and scale enterprises.
DESIGN

36

Marshal Ganz
Elements of a Public Story
A story of self: why you were called
to what you have been called to.
A story of us: what your
constituency, community,
organization has been called to its
shared purposes, goals, vision.
A story of now: the challenge this
community now faces, the choices it
must make, and the hope to which
“we” can aspire.
@leeseanFOOSSA

Marshal Ganz
Telling Your Public Story
A good story public story is drawn
from the series of choice points that
have structured the “plot” of your
life – the challenges you faced,
choices you made, and outcomes
you experienced.
@leeseanFOOSSA

39
http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com/
We are the 99%
@leeseanFOOSSA

40
http://wearethe15percent.com/post/52232149870/in-may-cheerios-posted-this-new-commercial-on
We are the 15%
@leeseanFOOSSA

41
http://emuscampaign.org/
@leeseanFOOSSA

@leeseanFOOSSA
“A company without a story is usually
a company without a strategy.”
- Ben Horowitz, Co-Founder, Andreesen Horowitz

47
Elements of (Narrative) Strategy
* Purpose
* Plan
* Sequence of Actions
* Measurable Goal

48
Elements of (Narrative) Strategy
@leesean
* Purpose
* Plan
* Measurable Goal
Narrative/Story
@leeseanFOOSSA

* Purpose
* Plan
* Measurable Goal

Developing a Narrative Strategy
@leesean
1. Current State: Where are you now?
2. Desired State: Where do you want to be?
3. Document and Share. Visualize.
4. Prioritize.
5. Simplify.
6. Test. Recalibrate. Repeat.
@leeseanFOOSSA

55
Manifestos

Our Values
We believe that increased participation by
youth and members of the emerging middle
class in the political process will help bring
about greater accountability and transparency.
We are non-partisan and independent. We
don’t accept money from government or
political parties.
We believe that the internet can serve as a
school for a more robust democracy.
We are committed to open source sharing.
We value remix and reuse.
@leeseanFOOSSA

What are your
brand values?

1
strong
start
2
emotional
climax
3
desired
outcome

65

@leeseanFOOSSA
Problem-Solution
Opportunity-Obstacle-Choice

@leeseanFOOSSA
FOR____________
ONLY___________
BECAUSE________
http://www.markpollard.net/how-to-position-your-business-in-3-sentences/

What is the shape/
structure of your story?

Ira Glass
2 Basic Building Blocks of a Story
(1) The anecdote
(2) The moment of reflection
In a good story you need both -- you can
flip back and forth between the two. The
Anecdote and the Moment of Reflection
are interwoven to make a story.
http://www.presentationzen.com/presentationzen/2007/03/ira_glasstips_o.html

Ira Glass
(1) The anecdote, a sequence of actions,
a story in its purest form, one thing
following from another (rather than just
disjointed "facts").
"The Power of the anecdote is so
great...No matter how boring the material
is, if it is in story form...there is suspense
in it, it feels like something's going to
happen. The reason why is because
literally it's a sequence of events...you
can feel through its form [that it's]
inherently like being on a train that has a
destination...and that you're going to ﬁnd
something..."

Ira Glass
(1a) Raise questions.
Provide the "bait" (the hook) The
anecdote should raise a question right
from the beginning. Implied in any
question that you raise, however, is that
you are going to answer it.
Constantly raise questions and answer
them. The shape of the story is that you
are throwing out questions and
answering them along the way.

Ira Glass
(2) The moment of reflection.
What is the key point? What does this all
mean? Why have I asked you to sit and
listen for 30 min, etc. It is not just a series
of facts/events.
Many people get the first part, they tell
an interesting sequence of events, but in
the end it fails because it doesn't say
anything new, it did not have meaning.
And sometimes people have the
reflection part and the question is clear in
their mind, but they fail to put it in a
sequence that compels people to follow
and engage.

Share an anecdote.

“I’m an author
of moments”
Nesby Phips

Loglines
Stories can be condensed.

Charlie Brown is ﬁnally invited to a
Halloween party; Snoopy engages the Red
Baron in a dogﬁght; and Linus waits
patiently in the pumpkin patch for the
Great Pumpkin.
@leeseanFOOSSA

Charlie Brown is ﬁnally invited to a
Halloween party; Snoopy engages the
Red Baron in a dogﬁght; and Linus waits
patiently in the pumpkin patch for the
Great Pumpkin.
—Logline for It's the Great Pumpkin,
Charlie Brown
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

A 17th Century tale of adventure on the
high seas where a roguish yet charming
captain joins forces with a young
blacksmith in a gallant attempt to rescue
the Governor of England's daughter and
reclaim his ship.
@leeseanFOOSSA

A young man and woman from different
social classes fall in love, must outwit her
abusive fiancé, and find a way to survive
aboard an ill-fated voyage at sea.
@leeseanFOOSSA

Movement Loglines
92
Tea Party
Freedom is under
assault in our country.
We will band together
to restore freedom in
America.
Slow Food
Started as a protest
against McDonald’s in
Rome, we are now a
worldwide movement
advocating for good,
clean, fair food.
Occupy
From NYC and around the
world, we are ﬁghting
back against the corrosive
power of major banks and
multinational corporations
over the democratic
process.
@leeseanFOOSSA

“We are the 99%”

6 word stories.
“For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn.”
https://twitter.com/sixwordstories

Do Good
Design Delight

Transformative Storytelling - BeSocialChange - May 2015

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