Bridges, bull's‐eyes, and dreams: Can the stories we tell make a difference?

Abstract

Shortly after my wife and I first met, we were performing the roles of Beauty and the Beast in a children's theatre production. Following the play, we found ourselves in the lobby surrounded by curious children eager to feel the fabric of Beauty's gown and to touch the mask of the beast. A grandmotherly woman whispered to the two of us, know, tonight you will appear in the dreams of children. I feel very lucky to do the work that I do. I was in the coffee line and I was introduced to someone who said, and I love the way he said it, he said, Oh, you are going to be (I thought he would say keynoter) instead he said, our I am so honored and humbled to be your storyteller. It is rare that an organization understands the place of story in your life as a body as this organization does, as this community does. You are a community. I have listened to how you have remembered those who have gone before. How you have dreams of the future (and cookies in Omaha), and how you celebrate excellence in your midst. You are a community. I am honored to be your storyteller at this threshold time for you. I tell stories in lots of places in schools, in theatres, at festivals, in corporate board rooms. In corporate settings, sometimes you get this kind of response, Stories, uhuh, is that something new. I love that, yeah it is brand new, just thought of it. Stories--our first written record of them dates back to 4,000 BC. The sons of Cheops, the builder of the pyramids, were able to record on papyrus that storytellers entertained in the evenings. storytelling new? Naw. But, it seems now it is experiencing a renaissance it's hot. How big is storytelling? Well, let me tell you story. You see, the Pope came to visit Chicago. the Pope is a character in this story. There is no disrespect intended. I believe this, where the roots of faith grow deep, the winds of laughter can do no harm. So the Pope, he's visiting Chicago, and due to a breakdown in a limousine and a snafu in security, the Pope finds himself alone in a towncar with a driver, an astonished driver. Who says, Is there anything I can do your Excellency, anything I can do to make your stay more pleasant. The Pope confesses that there is one thing. Now that he's Pope he hardly ever gets to do some things for himself anymore and one thing he would really like to do, is drive. How do you say no? So they trade places with one another. And the driver is now in the back seat looking over the front seat to point out the controls. And the Pope takes off; he has a lead foot and is weaving through traffic on Lake Shore Drive. Just then an alert motorcycle cop kicks into action and siren blaring follows this car, pulls him over, comes striding up to the driver's side window and he says, OK, there buddy, let me see your uh uh ... be right back. And he runs back to his motorcycle, he radios in. He says got to get me the Chief, I need the Chief Dispatch says, the chief is too busy to talk to you, what do you need? No, I got to talk to him now. You know how the Chief said we weren't to show any leniency, no matter who we pull over. Ah, Murphy, what you got there, you got the Mayor or something? Bigger than the Mayor. I got to talk to the ... Bigger than the Mayor, what you got Michael Jordan or something? Bigger than Michael Jordan. I got to talk to the Chief. you're not talking to the Chief till you tell me who you got there. Okay, I'll tell you, but the truth is I don't even know. I don't even know who I got, I just know that he's big, this guy, he's so big, he's got the Pope as his chauffeur. And as I study the art form, the communication of storytelling, sometimes I feel just like that motorcycle cop looking in the window. I don't fully understand what we have here, but I can tell you it's big. …