In this Book

  • Portrait of the Manager as a Young Author: On Storytelling, Business, and Literature
  • Book
  • Philipp Schönthaler. translated by Amanda DeMarco
  • 2018
  • Published by: The MIT Press
summary

What happens to the relationship between business and literature when storytelling becomes a privileged form of communication for organizations.

Corporations love a good story. Microsoft employs a chief storyteller, who heads a team of twenty-five corporate storytellers. IBM, Coca-Cola, and the World Bank are among other organizations that have worked with storytelling methods. And, of course, Steve Jobs was famous for his storytelling. Today, narrative is a privileged form of communication for organizations. In Portrait of the Manager as a Young Author, Philipp Schönthaler explains this unlikely alliance between business and storytelling.

The contradictions are immediately apparent. If, as the philosopher Hans Blumenberg writes, stories are told to pass the time, managers would seem to have little time to spare. And yet, Schönthaler reports, stories are useful in handling complexity. When digital information flows too quickly and exceeds the capacity of the human brain, narrative can provide communicative efficiency and effectiveness. Words and numbers both vouch for truth, are both instrumentalized by management, and are inextricably interdependent.

What happens, if narrative becomes ubiquitous? Does the commercialization of narratives have an effect on literature? Through the lens of storytelling, Schönthaler explores the relationship between economics and literature and describes a form of writing that takes place in their shared spheres. Most books on storytelling in the corporate world are written by business writers; this book offers the perspective of an award-winning literary author, who considers both the impact of storytelling on business and the impact of business on literature.

Table of Contents

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  1. Cover
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  1. Title Page, Copyright Page
  2. pp. i-v
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  1. Contents
  2. pp. vi-viii
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  1. Epigraph
  2. pp. ix-xiii
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  1. I: At the Heart of Storytelling: Nine Sketches from Theory and Practice
  1. Take Your Time
  2. pp. 1-3
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  1. Long Live the King
  2. pp. 3-5
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  1. Two Artists in Paris
  2. pp. 5-13
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  1. The Magic of Sympathy
  2. pp. 13-15
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  1. A Report for the Shareholders
  2. pp. 15-20
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  1. Habitual Change
  2. pp. 20-23
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  1. A New Heart
  2. pp. 23-26
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  1. By the Numbers
  2. pp. 26-35
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  1. We Really Love Working Here
  2. pp. 35-40
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  1. Narrative: a Portrait
  1. 33 Story Statements
  2. pp. 41-44
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  1. II: At the Edges of Storytelling: Nine Comparative Sketches
  1. Objects in the Mirror
  2. pp. 45-59
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  1. Separation Anxiety
  2. pp. 59-68
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  1. Royalties
  2. pp. 68-76
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  1. The Lonely Chamber
  2. pp. 76-81
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  1. Dead Dogs Don’t Bite
  2. pp. 81-89
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  1. Thinking Without Banisters
  2. pp. 89-98
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  1. Wizards and Castles
  2. pp. 98-103
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  1. Toward a New Theory of Effectiveness
  2. pp. 103-110
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  1. The Lion
  2. pp. 110-112
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  1. Acknowledgments
  2. pp. 113-114
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  1. Notes
  2. pp. 115-126
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