ABOUT
US
GoldenFleece
is a global community of practice devoted to storytelling in organizations
and business.
We are an eclectic group of more than a 100 business leaders, playful
raconteurs, corporate consultants, visionary artists, knowledge
brokers, published authors, determined educators, social entrepreneurs,
and group facilitators.
Purpose
We believe
in the practical and transformative power of story at work.
We value storytelling
and its impact on individuals, organizations, and society. We
believe that storytelling can be used as an effective force to improve
business practices and results.
“There
have been civilizations that did not use the wheel, but there are
no civilizations that did not use story.”
-- Ursula Le Guin
We have come
together to create a professional practice around the use of story
at work. We provide a venue for learning from each other through
our experiences and our techniques
We are interested in creating new knowledge about storytelling in
business.
History
Founded
in Washington, DC, our community emerged in response to
several events in 2001, including the First Annual Smithsonian Conference
on Organizational Storytelling - a seminal event in the field of
org story.
A
vast record of this event is available online. The transcripts
from this weekend will also be published by Jossey Bass in the Fall
of 2004.
Starting in
Washington DC, affiliated groups of GoldenFleece have since emerged
in Albany, Amsterdam, Atlanta, Boston, and San Diego. Would you
like to be next? Email
us about starting a group in your city.
Timeline
Organizational
Storytelling has emerged as a recognized professional discipline.
For your benefit,
we've created a timeline that captures the full evolution our community
activities and contributions.
June
2004 - (SPECIAL DATE AND PLACE)
Tuesday, June 8th (2nd Tuesday of the Month) - Come celebrate the
launch of Steve
Denning's new book Squirrel, Inc. - A Tale About Leadership
Through Storytelling.
Special
Place - This event takes place at Olsson's bookstore on 2111 Wilson
Boulevard, Arlington, Virginia.
May
2004
On Tuesday, May 4th - Michelle
James will lead us in an dynamic evening of Story and Improv.
April
2004
The 4th
Annual Smithsonian Conference is here again with three days
of programming on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. This
Storyatwork.com web site launches, produced by Michael
Margolis with more than 1000 unique visitors in the first week
alone.
March
2004
Steve Denning
and Kelly
Cresap lead an evening on storytelling, laughter, and jokes,
philosophy on why we laugh, material on laughing muses. We explored
creating stories that get us laughing about our own everyday conflicts
and setbacks.
February
2004
Discussion of the movie "Big Fish" led by Kelly
Cresap followed by an exploration of "Story and Movies
led by Lisa Kimball
and Cresap.
January
2004
Madelyn Blair,
with support from Alicia Korten piloted a "UN Storytelling
Process" to be used with UN Ambassadors later in the year.
December
2003
End of year storytelling celebration, includes
Paul
Costello leading our community through the"Living Story"
Process that identify future stories to guide us forward.
November
2003
Michael
Margolis returned to lead the group through "Stories of
Uncomfortableness".
October
2003
Michael
Margolis facilitates an evening on the "Marketing Story
of GoldenFleece" including a conversation on values and goals.
September
2003
Madelyn
Blair demonstrated an organizational change model and its relationship
to story.
August
2003
Betsy
Arnette presented her Phd thesis on "Story as the Approach
for Facilitating a Knowledge Management Innovation".
July
2003
Paul
Costello returns with the students of the groundbreakingWashington-Ireland
Program for an evening devoted to Irish Storytelling.
June
2003
Seth
Kahan and Madelyn
Blair presented a process on community-building -- including
telling the story of the person sitting next to us, going around
the circle.
May
2003
We retold the many formal and informal stories that emerged
out of the 3rd Smithsonian Conference and discussed the future directions
of our community. Rob
Creekmore facilitates the beginning of our strategic planning
process.
April
2003
Greg
Kramer and Rob
Creekmore led an session on “Storytelling and Mindfulness.”
The 3rd
annual Smithsonian Weekend on Organizational Storytelling takes
place in DC.
March
2003
Noa Baum led
a workshop which was a “trial run” of a workshop that
she is planning to give to lawyers on the subject of listening.
February
2003
Seth Kahan
led a session on “Storytelling and Our Work in the World”
January
2003
Seth Kahan
led a New Year’s Ritual during the session.
December
2002
Alicia Korten, Lynne Feingold, and Sharon
Cox led a performance of Alicia’s poem “The Voyage
of the Golden Fleece” at Van Ness. Paul
Costello and the Center
for Narrative Studies convened the first of a monthly series
of workshops entitled: “Becoming Storywise: An Introduction
to Narrative Practice”.
November 2002
Steve Denning
and Seth Kahan
led an discussion on the sprouting of new groups in Atlanta, Albany,
San Diego, and Boston, as well as the possibility of an entire weekend
of events around a third annual organizational storytelling event
at the Smithsonian.
October
2002
Rob
Creekmore, Steve
Denning, and Seth
Kahan make organizational storytelling presentations at the
National
Storytelling Festival. The following day they convene an open
exploratory session among people interested in organizational storytelling.
Around
this time Denning, Kahan, Madelyn
Blair, and others begin sharing the Golden Fleece story at various
conferences and events around the world.
September
2002
First StoryCon
conference convenes in Palm Springs, CA.
August 2002
Joan Girardi leads session on “Exploring the Use of Story
in Knowledge Sharing” using simulations. Later
in the month, Seth
Kahan previews his NASA workshop on Work Life Balance.
July
2002
Paul Costello
leads session on “The Irish Story” with his young Irish
interns from the Young
Leaders program that Paul leads.
June 2002
Dave
Snowden leads session on his work with narrative in organizations
using complexity theory.
May
2002
Steve Denning
leads session on “Seven Highest Value Forms of Organizational
Storytelling.”
April
2002
Alicia
Korten leads session on “Creating a Culture of Conscious
Storytelling in Organizations.” Steve
Denning and Seth
Kahan lead another Smithsonian workshop on organizational storytelling.
Many of
the major organizational storytelling leaders present at the “Action
Enabled Learning: The Power of Narrative” conference in New
York.
March
2002
Denise Lee
leads session on the “Knowledge Sharing Initiative Using Storytelling
at NASA.”
February
2002
Seth Kahan
leads session on “Activating Human Potential in Communities
of Practice.”
January
2002
Michael Salla leads session on “The Hero’s Journey Applied
to the History of American Foreign Policy.”
December
2001
Seth Kahan
and Rob Creekmore
lead session on “Tapping the Archetypal Power of Stories in
Organizations” at Van Ness (all further sessions are convened
there).
November 2001
Madelyn Blair
leads session on “Storytelling and Appreciative Inquiry”
at the World Bank. Three “Future Stories” are created
by the group, including one entitled “The Good Ship Golden
Fleece,” from which the name “Golden Fleece” emerges
for the OSG. Seth Kahan creates the GoldnFleece List-Serv.
October
2001
Dave
Rippey leads session on “Leadership Stories” at
Alicia Korten’s home. Annette
Simmons and Jimmy Neal Smith convene a meeting of major organizational
storytelling practitioners during the National
Storytelling Festival. Rick Stone, Steve Denning, and others
make presentations on organizational storytelling at the Festival.
August
2001
Paul Costello
concludes the Living Stories Process with the group, supported by
Rob Creekmore. First meeting at our regular venue at Van Ness Condominiums,
hosted by Lynne Feingold. Draft “Description” for the
OSG prepared by Madelyn Blair and Rob Creekmore.
July 2001
First official meeting of the DC Organizational Storytelling Group
(OSG - later known as “Golden Fleece”) at George Mason
University. Paul
Costello leads the Living Stories Process, supported by Seth
Kahan and Rob Creekmore. Four “Stories of Our Beginnings”
by Madelyn Blair, Sharon Cox, Patti Digh, and Lisa Kimball, are
selected to represent the community’s beginning.
May 2001
Initial luncheon at the World Bank to explore forming an organizational
storytelling group in Washington, DC
April
2001
Steve Denning
convenes the first Smithsonian workshop on organizational storytelling
March 2001
Lisa Kimball
and Rob
Creekmore convene the Virtual Storytelling in Business Symposium,
sponsored by the International Storytelling Center
Fall
2000
Seth Kahan
creates the StorytellinginBusiness List-Serv
Pre-2000
Various informal meetings on uses of storytelling in organizations
at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough TN. Early
pioneering work of Rick Stone, Steve
Denning, Dave
Snowden, and others. Denning and Snowden begin convening “Master
Classes.”
Our
stories
The main
stories that have illuminated the life of the Golden Fleece
group can be found here.
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