"This is one of the single most impressively powerful books that I have read in 20 years..."
Award winning CEO and entrepreneur Robert Schepens
2009 Jack Ricchiuto | DesigningLife Books, $16.95 (US), 240p / NOW AVAILABLE !
For inquiries into book talk arrangements, contact Jack at jack(at)designinglife(dot)com
- Why have stories been the most powerful way of connecting since the beginning of time?
- Is social media eroding or empowering our cultural capacity for narrative?
- What kinds of personal stories have the greatest potential for creating rich connections?
- What are the design elements of well-crafted stories?
- How can we listen to evoke rich meaning from each other's stories?
- How can we build and enrich our portfolio of personal stories?
- Why do stories have more power than statistics in inspiring transformation and change?
- What is the future of narrative in the possibilities of our connections?
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From the introduction
In this golden age of connection, screens reshape the meaning of distant and close.
Screens connect students in remote villages to a new globe of possibilities online. They reunite friends and families in continuous updates across time zones. They incubate new economies unconstrained by the boundaries of nations.
In my grandparent’s time, the only screens were back door screens and all connections were close connections. My parents’ generation saw the advent of television screens where media became the message and the possibilities of a global village emerged.
In these days of multi-screen environments, the footprints of friendship and partnership span the size of the planet. All villages connect to all other villages in the democratization of connection. One screen mediates connections considered impossible just one generation ago, delivering the connective transformation of the planet.
We no longer confine closeness to the parsing of geographies or the parameters of generations. We define the qualities of our connections by the power of shared personal narratives. Through our stories, we live in a transparency and accessibility that reveals an abundant universe. We come together and thrive in the stories that connect us.
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Contents
9 Invitation
11 The Case for Stories
The golden age of connection
Why we love stories
Once, upon a time
Are we losing our narrative aesthetic?
To live is to connect
The stories we are
Mythographic identities
Quality connections
The 3 dimensions of our connections
Why we connect
Intentional connections
The power of the tribe
Alien Nation
The stories that introduce us
Stories that build trust
Stories as tools of change
43 The Nature of Stories
Stories as myth
The myths we share
No, it was Tuesday
The power of fiction
Stories & our essential uniqueness
57 StoryCrafting
Every story is hand-crafted
Story typologies
From experience to story
All stories are intentionally constructed
Constructing our stories
Storycrafting intentionality
Our choice of stories
One possible story
Narrative aesthetic
Ebe's Wish (South Africa)
Characters
Context
Complications
Conclusion
Elements of enrichment
Catalyst
Container
Commentary
Companion stories
Sizing stories
The timing of endings
The moral of the story
Start with conclusions
Narrative architecture
Strengthening your stories
What’s not important
Crowded stories
Legacy stories
Our signature stories
Futuring stories
Stories of innocence & engagement
Every discipline, a container of stories
Living new stories
111 Storytelling
The principles of storytelling
Storytelling contexts
Honoring our stories
Our inherited stories
Stories that reveal & conceal
Re/minding the brain
Storytelling as dialogue
The clash of stories old & new
Story protectors
Stories that unite & divide
Sharability footprints
The power of old stories
Traditional stories
Gossip
Returned stories
OPS
Shameless storytelling
Collecting stories
The magic of practice
The trance of storytelling
143 Storylistening
The elements of storylistening
If this was my story...
So, what’s your story?
Story as self-discovery
Engaging imagination
Listening/ resonance & curiosity
Not listening
Stop me if I’ve told this one ...
Positive deviance
Choosing the stories we hear
Harvesting stories
The magic of reframing
How stories travel
Media boosts
165 The future of stories
Our obsession with measurement
The myth of measurement
Personality typing
Statistics
Creating the community we want
The future of connections
The future of belonging connections
The future of learning connections
The future of asset connections
The future of play connections
The future of power connections
The future of narrative
Five things to do
184 Gratitude
185 My stories
Mrs. Quiggans’ House
Mike’s Mishaps
The Summer of ’72
Declaring My Major
Master of Surprises
Innovation Day
Finding my voice
201 Short Stories
Sal’s Return (Sicily)
Obrad’s Girls (Serbia)
Peter & Zoe (New Mexico)
Yukiko's Invitation (Japan)
Gabriela’s Secret (South America)
Heaven & Earth (Nepal)
Ethan’s View (Ireland)
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