Have you noticed how young children memorize a book long before they are able to read? It's one of the reasons why telling stories is so important for business. They appeal to a younger part of our brains, and often communicate more and are more durable in an organizations history.
When my youngest son was 3 or 4, I would read him a story from a book he chose each night. One of his favorites and mine was Berkeley Breathed's "Goodnight Opus". What happened to Opus was letting his imagination depart from the text his grandmother was reading him. The adventures he went on (and the drawings) are the fun parts of the book. But the meaning was something more.
I took the author's hint and whenever I read my son a story, I'd depart from the text and begin making up another story. "Wait, wait, he'd cry, that's not the story; it doesn't say that. Go back!" Stories were not to be trifled with; they were durable anchors to be preserved and recited.
Stories are such an important part of our experience and being. But the imagination of departing from the text is also important. It pushes us from the usual, often the calcified ideas in an organization and challenge us to reinvent the story. This would not happen if we did not dare to depart from the text. |