STORYTELLING AND CAREER NARRATIVES IN ORGANIZATIONS

Storytelling has a history as old as Aristotle and many cultures today have an oral tradition. Children grow up with stories, golfers entertain with accounts of wins and losses on the course, parents use them to regale the good old days. The use of storytelling in organizations has experienced significant growth during the last decade assisting in change management, formulation of short and long term strategy formation, and rightsizing (to name a few functional areas). This paper presents a brief history of storytelling, the uses in organizations, as well as an explanation of career narratives and how they can be utilized by both individuals and organizations to tell their story.