Steve Denning's Newletter

There are still some places left for the full-day masterclass in Chicago on September 29, which is shaping up with some great innovations. The workshop will feature a case study; twelve ways to create high-performance teams; three narrative dimensions of brands: using narrative in innovation; seven crucial steps to perform the story, the HR dimension of storytelling, and how to use PowerPoint to tell your story.

To get more details, click here

The price is US$995. To book your place, click here

Together with Svend-Erik Engh, I will do a one-day storytelling masterclass in Copenhagen on September 14, 2006: “Storytelling Masterclass for Leaders Who Need to Tell Their Story.” It will also have most of the same neat features as the Chicago masterclass, including: the case study; twelve ways to create high-performance teams; three narrative dimensions of brands, seven crucial steps to perform the story, the HR dimension of storytelling, and using PowerPoint to tell your story.

Place: Jaegerhytten, Bakkevej 85, 3460 Birkeroed, tel. +45 45810867. Time schedule: 9.00 till 15.00. Who should attend: Leaders, HR personal and communication facilitators.

Price: 1950 DKR. Lunch and material included. For more information, click here.

To sign up: Send an email to Svend-Erik at see@historier.dk with name, company and telephone number. web site: www.historier.dk Tel. mobile + 45 4581 0322

Date change for the London Masterclass The London masterclass with Dave Snowden, which was originally scheduled for November 30, has now shifted to October 7, as a result of a change in Dave's schedule. For more details, go to http://www.stevedenning.com/Mas terclassLondonNov05.html

On September 30, I’ll be in New York for a 1 ½ hour presentation on The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling. This is sponsored by the KM Cluster. Other speakers include Bill Ives and Bill Jensen. Details at: Participants will receive copies of my new book, The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling The workshop will take place at 1633 Broadway (@ 50th) 3rd Floor Conference Room, New York, NY 10019. For more information contact John Maloney Tel 415.902.9676 J Maloney jtmalone@pacbell.net . For more details go to: http://www.kmcluster.com/nyc/NYC_Fall_20 05.htm

November 10-11, 2005: Salzburg Austria: A two day storytelling conference in the city of Mozart: For more details about the conference, contact: Hannes Maier mobile: 0043-650 / 733 55 86 hannes.maier@symbiosis.co.at Symbiosis Bayerhamerstraße 47/P, A-5020 Salzburg Tel.: +43(0)662-890013 www.symbiosis.co.at http://www.stevedenning.com/Salzbur g-Nov05.html

First, there was the Age of Faith – soaring cathedrals, a belief in a supreme deity, courageous saints containing the spread of evil. Then there was the Age of Reason – the era of the Enlightenment, the guidance of science and a belief that the mind could unlock the mysteries of the universe.

Today, however, according to a number of learned books and a recent New Yorker article, we live in the Age of Bullsh*t. “We live in an era of unprecedented bullsh*t production. Presidents, priests, politicians, laywers, reporters, corporate executives and countless others have taken to saying not what they actually believe, but what they want others to believe – not what is, but what works.” (Note: out of deference to pre- programmed corporate spam filters, I've used an asterisk with bullsh*t. On my website, the word is spelt with an "i", as it is in the chaste pages of the Washington Post and elsewhere.)

Politicians and advertisers are cited as champions of bullsh*t, addictively "painting the lawn green." Their slogans wash over us: "You deserve a break today." "I'd like to teach the world to sing." "Mission accomplished." "We are fighting a war on poverty." The US emerges as the champion nation of bullsh*tting because here it is “much more ubiquitous, well-funded, and outrageous” than any other nation’s: Your Call is Important to Us: The Truth About Bullsh*t, by Laura Penny (Crown Publishers, NY)

Bullsh*t, we learn, is different from lying. A liar knows what he is saying to be false. A bullshi*tter, on the other hand, simply doesn’t care whether what he is saying is true or not – it’s what he can get away with.

According to Harry Frankfurt in On Bullsh*t (Princeton University Press, 2005), bullsh*tting has become “one of the most salient features of our culture.” Indeed, “each of us contributes our share.” When we are awash in an ocean of bullsh*t, can any of us avoid – perhaps unwittingly or carelessly – adding to the flow?

As a change leader, however, you don’t have much choice. For a leader, bullsh*tting is a no-no. Becoming identified as a bullsh*tter will devastatingly reduce your chances of being an effective leader of change. This is why I put so much emphasis in my books and workshops on telling the truth, the truth as best you can tell it, the authentic truth.

How do you avoid being a bullsh*tter? To find out how you too can fight chronic truth decay, as a first step click here.

And read more in chapter 2 of The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling..

Use Narrative for High-speed Learning

Want to get people learning quickly, and solving problems on the fly? There are some indispensable conditions, like having enough time to learn and having a certain minimum understanding of the basics. But what really differentiates high-speed learning from the daily grind is engaging the heart as well as the mind.

Most discussions of learning are very cerebral i.e. all about brain, but the reality is that high-speed learning is all about a combination of brain and heart. We learn quickly when we are passionate about learning, slowly when we're not.

This is one reason why The Leader's Guide to Storytelling points out that abstract, cerebral approaches to learning are very ineffective, and why narrative is important for high-speed learning: it can engage the heart.

To learn more about using narrative to achieve high- speed learning, click here.

Stories of who you are: “Origins are origins. You do the best you can with them. You can’t turn them in for a better set.” Saul Bellow, The Dean’s December, page 133.

Stories to share knowledge: “Knowledge isn’t power. Power is power. The ability to act on knowledge is power. Most people in most organizations do not have the ability to act on the knowledge they possess. End of story.” Michael Schrage

The technique of storytelling: “The magic words in one story aren’t magical in the next. The real magic is to understand which words work, and when, and for what.” John Barth, Chimera, page 15.

Disparagement of the imagination: “Benjamin Franklin said better one good schoolmaster than twenty poets. Bellow, The Dean’s December, page 308.

For more storytelling quotes, click here.