2009 – Page 5 – The Narrative Lab

Unintended consequences

An article in the news today reported concern among AIDS organisations and Doctors without Borders about a worrying new trend where people are neglecting to take life-saving medication in order to qualify for government subsidies. In South Africa, the government pays a special disability grant to people living with HIV. The problem seems to be that there is no standard set of guidelines as to determining who qualifies for the subsidy and who doesn't. Some doctors are basing their recommendations [...]

By Aiden Choles|May 7th, 2009|Categories: Complexity|Tags: Complexity, goodhart's law, problem solving|0 Comments

Narrative Lab on Twitter

In addition to being able to follow Aiden and Sonja's twitter stream, we've now started a dedicated TNL twitter stream, @narrativelab for some focused narrative tweets. Why not follow us there?

By Aiden Choles|May 5th, 2009|Categories: News|Tags: twitter|0 Comments

Take part in Story Week

Shaun at Anecdote has launched a mini-experiment in the form ofStory Week. Each day, starting today, he'll be publishing a story and asking us to gauge the impact the story has on us. He's hoping the results will tell us something of what makes a story so powerful, and what stories move us. Mosey on over to the first installment here ... a story by the US Storyteller in Chief, Barack Obama.

By Aiden Choles|May 4th, 2009|Categories: Narrative|Tags: anecdote, barack obama, Narrative, story week, storyteller|0 Comments

Our mission: water and safety

Most traditional companies are quite intentional about choosing their mission, often settling on a well-crafted statement that sets market domination and excellence as their target. Sonja and I have been less intentional, and have rather let our mission emerge over the last 12 months - emergence is a key factor in managing complexity after all :) What is our mission then? It's not market domination, nor is it service excellence ... while those are important factors of our business. Rather, [...]

By Aiden Choles|May 1st, 2009|Categories: Mission statement, the narrativelab|Tags: Culture, mine safety, narrative lab, transformation mindsets|0 Comments

Ogilvy’s russian dolls

I came across this little anecdote in and article in the latest edition of Strategy + Business. It illustrates how savvy leaders know how to use metaphors and symbols to get their point across effectively and strengthen company culture. David Ogilvy is the founder ofOgilvy & Mather, one of the most successful advertising agencies in the world. "... it wasn’t just what David Ogilvy said that made his principles special; it was also how he said it. ... Ogilvy communicated his principles [...]

By Aiden Choles|April 30th, 2009|Categories: Narrative|Tags: Culture, leadership, Narrative, Story|0 Comments

How we see the problem

A father and son were travelling home from a rugby game late one night in the 1970s when the dad pulled the car onto the shoulder of the rural, desolate highway and asked his son to take over the driving. As hard as it was for him to admit, the father said his eyesight was failing him and he didn't think it safe for him to stay behind the wheel. So the son took over, and it didn't take him [...]

By Aiden Choles|April 28th, 2009|Categories: Business, Communication|Tags: headlight, mark twain, problem solving|0 Comments

An ecology of present possibilities

This post is largely inspired by a comprehensive blog entry by Dave Snowden on a new approach to Scenario Planning. Much of what he says is key to the thinking behind our new Thrive! product. Seneca said: "The greatest loss of time is delay and expectation, which depend upon the future. We let go the present, which we have in our power, and look forward to that which depends upon chance, and so relinquish a certainty for an uncertainty" In [...]

By Aiden Choles|April 21st, 2009|Categories: Complexity|Tags: Complexity, Dave Snowden, emergence scenario, planning strategy, thrive|0 Comments

You are not who you were 2 years ago: organisational identity

I remember watching a TED video of Richard Dawkins (I think) who said that the cells in our body are always replacing themselves, so much so that after about 18 years, our body has an entirely new set of cells. How's that for a thought: I am not who I was 18 years ago!But surely I am? I am still Aiden, am I not? This is a big question for us as humans, but what about for the organisations and companies we lead [...]

By Aiden Choles|April 21st, 2009|Categories: Uncategorized|Tags: chris van tonder, effective adaptation, global meltdown, Narrative, organisational, organisational change, organisational identity, Story, story of us, university of johannesburg|0 Comments

Our narrative approach/model

Over the last few months we've been refining the way we approach narrative in organisations and have found something that now works for us, and is pretty simple to understand. Head on over to our Narrative Model page to see the model in full details. Credit must be given to Shaun Callahan from Anecdote who originally developed a very similar model that we've tweaked.

By Aiden Choles|April 20th, 2009|Categories: Narrative|Tags: anecdote, Narrative, narrative model|0 Comments

Self-indulgent descriptions

Here are some descriptions we often use when introducing ourselves and what The Narrative Lab does: Making sure you ask the right questions about your problem Why solve a problem the very same way it was created The common ground between complex problems and simple solutions Different approach, and yet strangely familiar Helping you gather the stories you really need to know about Harnessing the power of story-telling and story-gathering

By Aiden Choles|April 20th, 2009|Categories: Narrative, the narrativelab|Tags: descriptions, narrative lab, the narrative lab|0 Comments

Yearly Archives: 2009

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