Featured Video: “Shave the World”
March 9, 2010
David Vanadia Presentation AIGA Shift Event. This is a fabulous storytelling presentation by one of my fellow storytellers, David Vanadia from Portland, Oregon. David you make storytelling shine!
![[Post to Twitter]](http://anniehart.com/wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/icons/tt-twitter.png){kind=icon}
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
The Transformative Power of Stories for Children
February 17, 2010
Annie: This is a beautiful story sent to me by Mike Blackstone a friend, colleague and blog reader of mine. He told some stories to his children with truly magical results. This really invites us to realize the transformative power of story. Thanks for sharing Mike. It really opened my heart.
Mike: A month ago I was invited to a lecture that was to take place last Sunday afternoon. I had completely forgotten about this lecture until it popped back into my mind 25 minutes before it was to begin. Interestingly, I had spent some quality time with my two little boys that morning, had all my “chores” done, so I told my wife Maureen I was going.
When I got to the lecture, I found out the speaker was an “ageless wisdom” guy which I don’t know much about. His theme was “Unfolding the Soul’s Purpose,” and among many things, he talked a little about reincarnation and astrology. I enjoyed it.
When I got home, I did a little research on the internet about him and about some of his subjects. I came across one little tidbit in an online astrology chart about focusing on “raising one’s children well,” and that struck a little heart chord. Hmm, could be a bit of a life purpose in there?
A couple of hours later I had this impulse and decided to tell my 6 year-old a story, and base it on the concept that we had lived other lives together. I completely improvised it. Here is the gist:
We were young brothers (Native Americans) in the 1800s. Out on an exploratory adventure, we were attacked by a mountain lion. It took all of our wits (mostly his) to both come out of it alive. Later we were attacked by a she-bear when we accidentally stumbled upon her cubs. Again our wits, mostly his, saved the day.
Several times during the story he said, with his head cocked to one side and his eyes narrowed, “Dad, you’re making this up, aren’t you?” Of course I denied it saying that that’s what I “remember.” But each time he asked me to keep telling the story.
About an hour later, my 9 year-old, Elliot, comes into my office and asks, very intently, “What did you tell Euan?” I said, “Why are you asking?” He replied, “Well, Euan said you TOLD him something!” “Do you want me to tell you something, too?” “Yes.” So I told Elliot a story, completely improvised, that went like this.
We were neighbor kids in the tenements of New York City in the late 1920s—best buddies who lived about a block apart. One day we were hanging out in the neighborhood, but I was about a block away around the corner with a couple of the guys. I heard loud voices and we came around the corner to see what was going on.
“I saw you (Elliot) surrounded by four rough guys from another neighborhood, and one started threatening you that they were going to beat you up. That kid turned, looked at his buddies to smile, and as he turned his head back, your fist lashed out, caught him square in the nose and knocked him clean onto his back.
There was blood everywhere. The other three were about to set on you but saw me and the other guys, grabbed their fallen comrade and beat a hasty retreat. They never came back.”
When I was done, Elliot floored me by saying, “Thanks, Dad, for telling me that story. And you know the part I liked the best? I didn’t need you to save me.”
I was dumbfounded in some wonderful way. The next morning, as I was taking them to school, Elliot said, “Thanks again for telling me that story, Dad, I really liked it.” And I wondered again what that was all about. He had never thanked me before for telling a story.
A few nights later I was tucking the boys in bed, I told Euan another story where we were both bridge builders, but he was a bridge designer. Right at that moment he nodded his head deeply in some sort of agreement, and he saved my life on a bridge-building site during an earthquake. Remember, he was the skeptic.
This time HE thanked me for telling him that story.
When he nodded his head it was pretty funny because he’s lately been into wearing a blindfold to bed—the kind you get on an airplane. So, I’m right by his face, softly telling him the story, he’s wearing his blindfold, and he starts to nod in agreement when I get to the “bridge designer” part. It melted my heart.
There have been a few more stories since, and, with how much they seem to love them, there WILL be many more.
I am still digesting all this, but I find it amazing. A couple of clues I’m looking at—Euan (6yrs) loves to build things and is a Lego maniac. Elliot (9 yrs) loves everything about the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) and is determined to make his living as a pro wrestler.
Annie: Don’t you love this story? Sweet, simple ways to make a difference in the minds of children. Thanks Mike for sharing the transformative power of story.
Yours in always sharing the stories that matter,
Annie
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Featured Video: Legend of the Rainbow Warriors
January 10, 2010
Many years ago I was blessed to hear first-hand the prophecies of the native American’s. One of them, “The Legend of the Rainbow Warriors” predicted that there would be born a new tribe of people from all colors of the rainbow, who would bring harmony back to earth. These are the times that they spoke about.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Featured Video: The Danger of A Single Story
December 2, 2009
Wonderful video on the power of story.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
A Story From My Sister - ‘You hit a what?’
November 11, 2009
An elephant that escaped from the Family Fun Circus at the Garfield County Fairgrounds after being spooked caused a vehicle accident Wednesday night as it ran along U.S. 81 bypass in Enid, Okla. According to Enid Police Department Sgt. Billy Varney, the couple in the vehicle were not injured. The elephant suffered a broken tusk, a hurt leg and bumps, bruises and scratches, he said.
OKLAHOMA CITY (from the Associated Press)- It’s not unusual to see a deer or a cow crossing Oklahoma’s rural highways. But an elephant? An Oklahoma couple driving home from church nearly slammed into a giant pachyderm that had escaped from a nearby circus late Wednesday.
“Didn’t have time to hit the brakes. The elephant blended in with the road,” driver Bill Carpenter said Thursday. “At the very last second I said ‘elephant!’”
Carpenter, 68, said he swerved his SUV at the last second and ended up sideswiping the 29-year-old female Asian elephant on U.S. 81 in Enid, about 80 miles north of Oklahoma City.
“So help me Hanna, had I hit that elephant, not swerved, it would have knocked it off its legs, and it would have landed right on top of us,” he said. “We’d have been history.”
The couple, who own a wheat farm, weren’t injured. But the 8-foot, 4,500-pound elephant was being examined Thursday for a broken tusk and a leg wound. A local veterinarian said it appeared to have escaped major injury.
“I thought this can’t be happening. Out here you could hit a deer or a cow, but this can’t be happening. The good Lord was with us,” Carpenter said. The elephant’s tusk punched through the side of the SUV, tearing up sheet metal.
After sideswiping the elephant, his wife, Deena, flagged some people down and used their cell phone to call police.
“The dispatcher didn’t believe her: ‘You hit a what?’” he said. “I told my wife, I don’t know whether to cry or laugh.”
Enid veterinarian Dr. Dwight Olson said the elephant was hiding in some bushes just off the highway when he arrived shortly after the accident. Handlers from the circus were able to calm it down, and Olson cleaned the leg wound and gave it some pain killer.
The elephant was taken Thursday to the veterinary school at Oklahoma State University for a follow-up exam. “I don’t believe there’s a broken bone, but I don’t have an X-ray room big enough to examine it,” Olson said.
The elephant had escaped from the Family Fun Circus at the Garfield County Fairgrounds earlier Wednesday after something spooked it while it was being loaded into a truck with another elephant, Olson said.
A booking agent for the circus, Rachael Bellman, said she was unaware the incident, and a telephone message left with circus officials wasn’t immediately returned.
Carpenter joked about being involved in such a bizarre accident on what is usually a peaceful church night. “I don’t know what was in the wine, but it must have been pretty strong,” he said.
Annie’s Note: my sister Lisa and her family live 30 miles from here and while they regularly see coyote, armadillos and other wildlife, I think this is the first elephant! Good news update from my sister: “They sent the elephant off to Oklahoma State University where they have a vet school. I bet the students were beyond excited to get an elephant to work on instead of the usual cows and horses!”
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Featured Video: Dorothy the Chimp’s Funeral
November 9, 2009
The story of Dorothy the chimp who had a second chance at life. At her funeral you can see grief in the eyes of her fellow chimp community. Beautiful, touching and inspiring.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Lead the Way With Story: Creating Trust & Credibility
October 25, 2009
Storytelling, definition by Annie Hart
An effective and congruent communication that embodies your commitment, your beliefs, your values and your vision.
This is part of a series on the use of storytelling in leadership. Leaders need to inspire and motivate others. They need to help people get along, collaborate and go where they haven’t been before. Nothing does this more effectively than the power of story.
Although the word story means many things to me, for the purposes of leadership, I’m going to give it the above definition, so that it will show you exactly how you create connection through story. To illustrate this effectively, I need to tell you a story.
Several years ago I was giving a presentation to a small family business that was not my typical client. One of the owners was a private client of mine who really benefited from my work and she wanted me to do some consulting for them. But I was pretty sure that the rest of the company wouldn’t see me as a natural fit and might not want to hire me.
So what did I do? The first step to building a connection is to get inside someone else’s story to find out how they think, believe and act. To do this I asked myself the question, What goes on inside of their world? This is how you discover the daily problems, frustrations and mindsets of whomever you want to communicate with.
The key to this is to do it from the mindset of sharing and the intention to build connection. When you begin by relating to our common human problems, then we start on the same page.
In business the number one priority is often the famous ‘bottom line’. But the key to a sustainable business is actually not the bottom line at all. People are the most important commodity of any successful venture.
As a leader, relationships should be of prime importance. If not then everything else will go downhill. The bottom line of is not and can never be number one,. Taking care of people comes first.
So by the time I went to give my presentation, I had already put myself in the mindset of the people that I was speaking to. I walked into a group of people that looked harried, distracted and uninterested, but I was prepared for this. So I started by telling them their own story.
I introduced myself briefly and then told them that I would be right back, and I walked out of the room. I returned minutes later, rushing in with a briefcase spilling papers and frantically talking on a cell phone.
I began my presentation all over again, but this time I was speaking at breakneck speed. “Hi I’m Annie Hart and I’m here to….” But imagine this with words flying at 500 miles an hour!
When I looked up they were speechless. Maybe dumbfounded is a better word. I paused and looked at them carefully. I asked, “What was that like for you?’
“That’s exactly like our daily lives!” they said. They couldn’t believe that I got them. I said, “How did it feel to experience me that way?” They unanimously said, “It was awful, very stressful and anxiety producing.” Exactly. Exactly like their daily lives.
This dramatic enactment of their everyday way of being, opened up a discussion of trust and openness, whereas just moments before they had considered me a complete stranger. So how did they accept me so quickly?
I used the power of story, THEIR STORY, to speak their language.
The key to rapport and building connection is to think about others. Ask yourself, what do they need? What are they going through? What are their daily lives like?
It’s not how can I get them to do what I want? It’s how can I understand who they are? This is one of the key skills a leader can have.
Each of you in your own way is a leader. Start today to think how you can get inside the story of others, so that people will want to follow you where ever you go.
And if you’re wondering if I got hired? The answer is yes, and continued to tell stories and build rapport for an entire year. Storytelling is a key to building trust and credibility through creating connection.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Alberto and How Stories Warm the Heart
October 21, 2009
Today I shared a story from my life , one that I use story to warm the heart and change perception.
I told the Story about how Alberto and I joke about getting married. I want to be sure that you know that I am not truly desperate enough to run off to Morocco to marry Alberto! I love Alberto but we are not desperate. We are simply using our story to make lightness out of being single at fifty.
On of the ways that I use story is the ability to step into another world and change how you feel and act. This story allows us to create a different reality. Instead of feeling sad or alone, we have a story together in which we feel loved and cared for.
It is a wonderful story that we have used for many years. We laugh about it every time we speak. Sometimes I’m laughing so hard that I feel like my sides will split. This story is like nourishing good food that keeps our hearts happy and healthy.
I got alot of comments today about the story. There were quite a few belly laughs, a few were wondering if I was truly getting married. And my favorite result was that Alberto’s elderly parents laughed like little children. They have known me since I was twenty-five and they know how much I care for Alberto. Alberto has featured in several of my stories because he is a symbol of philos for me,which is defined as ‘brotherly love’ but it is much more than that.
Now for those of you that were really thinking I might be heading off to Morocco to marry - don’t worry. I was frivolous in my youth but I’m not heading in that direction currently. I will let you know when that wonderful day does arrive.
In the meantime I hope this story has shown how stories can help you live happy and healthy inside of realities that warm the heart.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Featured Video: The “Aha” Moment
October 17, 2009
Stories provide us a view outside of ourselves. They stimulate what we call “aha moments.” What is an aha moment? A moment of clarity, a defining moment where you gain real wisdom - wisdom you can use to change your life. What is an Aha moment that has changed your life?
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
From My Guest Blogger Greg: “Humanizing Twitter”
October 16, 2009
I posted a blog post this week about having fun on Twitter and made a new friend instantly through the post! That is one of the things that I love most about Twitter is that neat and interesting people show up. I met web developer Greg Falken who uses Twitter a lot and liked my approach, so I asked him to share a little bit about his philosophy of Twitter. I especially love his metaphor about thinking about Twitter like being at a party. Thanks Greg for the useful tips and being part of the Twitter flock!
Twitter is pretty darned geeky. It’s full of symbols and jargon and half the time you can’t even tell if you’re being tweeted by a human or a robot. People wonder, with good reason, how they can possibly get anything useful, let alone humane, out of the untold number of tweets that pass through the system every day.
The first thing that I tell new Twitter users (after, “you won’t know if it’s a stupid idea or not until you try it”) is that they don’t have to read every tweet that comes through their account. Everything prior to a few minutes ago is water under the bridge. Unless it mentions you or is a direct message to you, in which case you need to keep track of and respond to it. Every Twitter client and the web site makes this easy to do.
Next, you need to follow a group of people who you find interesting or with whom you have common interests; people who you would like to talk to. Think of Twitter like a crowded party. The conversations flow around you and you can choose which ones to focus on and where to join in. If you’ve chosen your party (the people you’re following) well, this can be both entertaining and informative. If you’re at a party with a lot of obnoxious drunks…well, that can be less pleasant. Remember, you get to choose who you follow. If someone follows you and you don’t follow them back, it’s like they don’t exist. If you follow someone who you later decide to un-follow, they’ll get over it.
When you do decide to join a conversation, knowing some of Twitter’s somewhat quirky conventions will help you be better understood.
- The @ symbol. Including @username anywhere in your tweet will cause it to show up in that person’s list of “mentions”. If @username is the first thing in the tweet (i.e. @ is the first character), the tweet will only be visible to the recipient and anyone who follows both of you. So, when you want your tweet to go into the general Twitter stream and be noticed by an individual, include @username somewhere after the first character of the tweet.
- Hash tags. Hash tags were not a part of Twitter’s original release. People using the service found that they needed a way of identifying words to search on and settled on prefixing them with a hash (#) symbol. When you include a hash tag in a tweet, you are inviting people to search for that tag. For example, if I tweet about health care reform and include the hash tag #hcr, I can be sure that my tweet will show up in a lot of search results, in addition to my followers seeing it. Use the search box on Twitter.com to find commonly used hash tags. Brand names are also commonly used. If a company is paying attention, they should be monitoring for any usage of their name in a hash tag and respond to you. Sadly, this is not often the case.
- Retweets. Another instance of the users of Twitter coming up with a convention, in this case the letters “RT” followed by the @username of the original sender (so they will know that they’ve been retweeted). You can either retweet verbatim or edit it a bit and add your own comments. I like to put comments at the end, prefixed with <–.
- Links. If you use Twitter’s web site, URLs are automatically made clickable but they are not shortened, eating into your 140 character limit. Most of the 3rd party Twitter clients, either desktop or web-based, will shorten URLs using a service (4th party?) like bit.ly or tr.im.
Once you do start talking on Twitter, be a good conversationalist. You want people’s response to your tweets to be either, that was helpful or that was interesting or both. It’s not always easy to write stories in 140 characters or less but it can be done with practice. Here are some good examples:
Rain in DC this morning is mean to all who pass. The bones in my feet will be cold all day.
@jdickersonFish communicate through farts http://bit.ly/2ybLKD
@slateDidn’t realize I flew in on the same flight as @tmonhollon from Oklahoma. Okies represent! #bwe09
@BeckyMcCrayBreaking: Tipped off by Stockholm that he was about to be branded euro-wimp peacenik, Obama ordered NASA to bomb moon.
@Roland_Hedley
Be nice, give credit where credit is due and remember, more than 20 tweets a day and people will think you have way to much time on your hands.
Greg Falken is a web developer living and working in the Central Sierras of California and is a partner in webdancers. His focus is on the intersection of computers, the Internet and communications, especially social media. He blogs at GregFalken.com.
Photo by: Eileen Maher
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
-
Connect With Annie Hart
.png)
.png)
-
Check Out My Blog on Skirt!
