‘‘Do you know Mr Bhatt, story-telling is being used these days to bring about organisational change?’’ said an exuberant senior executive of a telecommunication company. He had approached me with a request to address his regional executives on their annual day in a five-star hotel in the suburbs.‘‘Our experience has shown that story-telling can be highly effective as a change agent even in change-resistant organisations. Telling an appropriate story can stimulate people to think actively about implications of change and to projecting themselves into visions of the future. We have found out that story-telling enables people to better understand what it would be like to do things differently, rather than being given vague concepts about it. Moreover, traditional organisational communication has a tendency to be dry and it somehow lacks inspiration. Since you’re a story-teller, will you please come and talk to our executives about what makes a good story?’’An American poet and writer once said: ‘‘This universe is made of stories, not of atoms.’’ For centuries, human beings have used myths, fairytales and folklore to explain life’s mysteries and make them bearable. Even Jesus explained his complicated teachings through parables.But what is story-telling? Story-telling is merely a communication tool which engages and inspires the listener by using language that is more authentic and pure fun. But it essentially seeks to share important insights and knowledge. It has always existed in organisations—otherwise known as grapevine.It is also a skill, and one that draws from a number of other skills, most relating to inter-personal communication. This tool of communication has been growing very rapidly in recent times, to the extent that it’s becoming a favourite technique among an increasing number of management consultants and even therapists. The World Bank, IBM and NASA effectively use story-telling techniques to fuel the imagination of their workforce and ignite change.‘‘A simple story can communicate a complex multi-dimensioned idea not simply by transmitting information as a message but by actively involving the listeners in co-creating that idea,’’ said the head of UNICEF to me while we were conducting the Imagine Nagaland project in Kohima a few years ago. I remember being brought to this conflict-ridden terrain to communicate the message of peace and harmony through stories.All through time, stories have been used by all sorts of people to achieve all sorts of goals. A renowned Ayurvedic doctor recently told me that in ancient Hindu medicine, when someone with mental or emotional difficulties consulted a doctor, the physician prescribed a story on which to meditate, thus helping the patient to find his or her own solution to the problem.A Hollywood film-maker tells me that, in these days, an increasing number of therapists prescribe movies to help their patients explore their psyches. And while few therapists have actually gone so far as to package their practices around cinema therapy, movies—like art, books, and music—are becoming one more tool to help those in therapy achieve their goals and overcome their hurdles.In addition to getting awards, stories can and will change the way we think, feel, and deal with ups and downs. Story-telling has also been used to build communities, there is something about stories that fosters a feeling of togetherness. The reason for this is that story-telling is non-hierarchical, it unlocks feelings and emotions as well as thought process and hence it helps build relationships and trust.Story-telling is also a-cultural and, as an art form, it is not a solo performance, of one person telling a story and another just listening. It’s a very subtle transformative event that always takes place in the present and is reciprocal. It engages the heart and imagination in such a way that a deeper level of listening is activated, which opens the eyes of perception.Recently, I was very moved to see this in operation at the Bite the Mango film festival, held in Bradford in the UK, where a large number of films about racial discord made by African filmmakers were welcomed, embraced and celebrated by an all-White audience. It was here that I realised that when victims of injustice tell their stories, they begin to reclaim their lost humanity. That is why it is considered a very dangerous art. Injustice demands that we dehumanise our victims and story-telling makes injustice untenable. That is why one of the first things a Fascist regime does is muzzle its story-tellers.‘‘Those who do not have power over the stories that dominate their lives, power to retell them, rethink them, reconstruct them, joke about them, and change them as times change, truly are powerless because they cannot think new thoughts,’’ said Salman Rushdie.People have always used stories to alter, develop or change their fellow human beings in some way. But the mother of all questions that for we entertainers is, what can you call a good story?According to a writer, who has made his living teaching the art of story-telling, a good story has four attributes:Endurance. Good stories endure. They may change a little—or a lot, but the lessons remain the same. They also need to be succinct enough for people to remember.Salience. Good stories are relevant to their audience, they have a point, and they have an emotional impact.Sense making. Good stories explain something, make sense of something. Perhaps they show you how to behave in a particular situation, how to resolve a problem, or why something happened the way it did. They have a prescriptive normative value.Comfort level. To be effective, stories must makes sense within the context of the listener’s experience—they need to ring true.As I made my way through the suburbs to talk on the skill of story-writing, which my host thought I was capable of, this thought hit me like a tonne of bricks. It was sad, indeed, that in the age of the communication revolution, the world was waking up to the importance of story-telling. However, one of the world’s largest film industries whose livelihood depended on it, Bollywood, didn’t even realise its significance.
