What We Learned in the Rainforest: Business Lessons from Nature

by Tachi Kiuchi, Bill Shireman, and William K. Shireman

Making Stories:
A Practical Guide for Organizational Leaders and Human Resource Specialists

By Terrence Gargiulo

"Stories are fundamental to the way we learn and communicate. They are the most efficient way of storing, retrieving, and conveying information. Since story hearing requires active participation by the listener, stories are the most profoundly social form of human interaction and communication.

Today, more than ever, market pressures force organizations to constantly change and adapt. It is tempting to believe that the tools of technology can meet today’s market challenges head on. But unless an organization can communicate and learn there is very little that technology can do. Leaders need processes and strategies to get an accurate read on their company and to communicate visions and missions to employees."

Join the Virtual Chautauqua and read a discussion wih this author

Computers as Theater

Brenda Laurel (Addison-Wesley, 1993)

This is a classic. Totally blew me away the first time I read it. Laurel is talking about interface design but the underlying ideas about computer applications as a dramatic space rather than as a set of features or bits of information apply equally to the design of collaborative environments.

The Experience Economy: Work is Theater and Every Business a Stage

B. Joseph Pine, James H. Gilmore, B. Joseph Pine II (Harvard Business School Press, 1999)

This is an important account of how to move our thinking beyond products and services. What people want (and buy) are experiences. The authors suggest some key principles that make or break the quality of customer experience in any business context. Lots of ideas that resonate with our thinking about ambiance, the staging/production aspect of presenting services, and scripting of customer experience.