Working with Stories with Cynthia Kurtz

Stories are little simulations of life itself. Storytelling is natural and human.

When people hear each other's stories, they can learn and accomplish things they could not otherwise.

In complex environments, storytelling is very powerful to make sense of situations experienced within organizations.

In this conversation with Cynthia Kurtz, you'll learn how to use the power of storytelling to benefit people and businesses.

Cynthia shares with us the motivation behind writing her book “Working with Stories”, in addition to the two new books she's been working on: “At Home with Stories” and “More Work with Stories” and especially the “Confluence” framework that is intended to help in decision making.

About Cynthia

Cynthia is a researcher, writer and programmer who works on the storytelling side of organizational and community narrative.

She consults with organizations and communities and helps them gather diverse perspectives and experiences, discover patterns, understand the patterns they see, make decisions and plan for the future.

She calls her approach to history work Participatory Narrative Inquiry.

PNI draws on theory and practice in narrative inquiry, participatory action research, oral history, mixed methods research, participatory theater, narrative therapy, sense making, complexity theory, and decision support.

Her focus is on exploring values, beliefs, feelings and perspectives through the creation of collaborative meaning with stories of lived experiences.

Her book Working with Stories in Your Community or Organization is for people who want to do participatory narrative research in their own communities and organizations.

The book is in its third edition and is considered by many to be "the bible" for participatory narrative inquiry. http://www.workingwithstories.org