Customer Reviews

Wake Me Up When the Data Is Over: How Organizations Use Stories to Drive Results

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book fails to provide real content that is true to the title. It is true that are many examples of companies who have gained impressive benefits from using stories, but they are brief references and provide no actual method or useful insight. It seems that the book is written purely for the purpose of convincing the reader that stories have a benefit in business.

Like many other readers, I find this approach mildly insulting; I do not need a whole book to convince me of the value of stories. I would not have dedicated hours of my day to the task of reading it if I was uncertain of the concept. I was looking for practical advice and helpful suggestions on practice and implementation.

All through this book, I couldn't shake the feeling that the author was using it as reference collateral for her consulting business. There is a ream of annoying business books that have a similar message- "hey look, here are lots of companies that are doing something and getting great results! You should really be doing it too!". They all fall short of the task of actually helping with the enterprise and provide little guidance for making similar achievements.

I still have faith in the power of stories despite this book, because I read "Stories Trainers Tell". This has everything that "Wake me up..." does not. It is excellent, yet also co-written by Lori Silverman, which suggests that her own content has far more value than the pieces she selected as an editor. I am glad that I didn't get disillusioned with the concept and had the perseverance to read this far more worthy second title. I would advise other readers to skip the first step and buy "Stories Trainers Tell" from the beginning instead.

Based on an emailed recommendation, I ordered this book. The book failed to take me to the next level in terms of learning how to tell stories better/more effectively. I expected either a "how to" tutorial or a book full of examples that I could easily extrapolate and apply to my own situation. Instead, the author spent the entire book evangelizing the benefits of good storytelling thus failing to acknowledge that I was long CONVINCED that storytelling is an effective managment/communication tool and that good storytelling skills are essential to develop. By not taking me to the next level, this book felt like "empty calories".

This book fulfills its main purpose - "to increase the visibility and influence of story work in organizations, particularly in practical applications to a variety of business disciplines ... and business needs related to topics like organizational change ...". It really answers the "why stories" question for managers. It clearly and concisely provides descriptions and examples of how managers in a variety of business functions such as customer service or development achieved results using story as a motivating communications medium.

I was a CEO that had responsibility for building a company from startup. And I had no, none whatsoever, experience doing that. So, I used my management 101 OJT "training" as my touchpoint. Set objectives, create a plan, monitor activities, make changes as needed, meet or exceed objectives. Control, task, measure, reward, punish. Repeat, continually and repeatedly.

Distress, frustration, even anger were the dominant emotions. Conflict and confrontation were the behaviors. And grey hairs were the physical manifestation. And I have many grey hairs. There had to be a better way.

I read every leadership self help book there was. They were formulaic and that fit my left brain style. I tried a bunch and guess what - more grey hairs! I started to realize though, that there were some underlying aspects that the self help stuff contained, usually pretty implicitly. Story - the ability to share a vision and create community through the telling and listening to stories - really struck me. I remember the day it hit me. I've never had children however I was riding in a car with my significant other's three kids and all they wanted to have mommy do was tell stories. And she did. And they kept asking for more. I realized that the stories were building a bond that didn't exist in our company. Coincidentally, around the same time, we were going through an Initial Public Offering. I was spending as much time and energy with our investment bankers, and ultimately the fund managers as we Gulfstreamed around the country, on the story as we did on the legal and financial matters. The story sold the buy side guys on why they should buy shares at the price we wanted in the offering. If it was so essential in this most critical of business operations, raising capital, why weren't we using it in other business operations. Heck, we weren't even doing a good job of telling our story with marketing, let alone sales, operations, human asset management, development, customer service and all the other dimensions of the business. And most of all, our culture while energetic and enthusiastic, lacked community and vision.

Lori uses a powerful technique - stories told by real managers in real companies that can clearly credit the story as achieving real results. I believe that the ability of leaders to develop the discipline of story is one of the most powerful management tools. It is creative and moves people forward. Not like the reactive tools of control, protect, comply. Ms. Silverman's collection of many successful stories provide guidance and new insights for all levels of management. I hope they, like me, read it and learn its many lessons on the real power of stories.

Wake me up when you find some substance to this book! The entire book seems to be a "who's who" of people who use storys, complete with their job titles, degree listings etc. I found virtually no help in how to create or use stories. I found this book boring and a complete waste of my time!

We are all familiar with using stories to pass along tribal lore - when a vice-president tells how the organization's founders saved the infant company through some daring and audacious feat that caught competitors flat-footed. What we may not notice is that the story also injected a small dose of the organization's value system: "We treasure audacity and initiative and are willing to accept risks to achieve great results." As Silverman and her co-authors demonstrate, making the value system real is a key function of storytelling. In particular, it helps people "instinctively do the right thing," and a well-chosen collection of stories can convey the value system much better than a long dry list of principles and injunctions.

Another area where storytelling can make a difference is illustrating the organization's doctrine. "Commonly held stories," as one of the chapter authors, Marcy Fisher, notes, "reinforce company practice." Military organizations often use this technique in the form of historical vignettes to illustrate the origin and application of doctrinal points. Similarly, tactical map exercises are just the beginning of stories where we are invited to write the endings and suffer the consequences from a grizzled old instructor instead of at the hands of the enemy.

The books' catchy title might suggest that it's either data or stories. But since a story is not the event itself, it's important to ground the story in as much data and experience (what the Germans call Fingerspitzengefühl) as possible. When you deeply understand the situation and know what you want to do about it, stories are a great tool for motivating and guiding the rest of the organization. Silverman and several of her authors make the point that good leadership involves story telling; after reading this book, you might conclude that the ability to weave a potent tale is one of the big differences between leaders and managers.

To its credit, the book does hint at some drawbacks, or at least unintended consequences of storytelling. The most serious is that they may work too well and can allow leaders to sell biased or misleading pictures of the world. Sometimes this is harmless - tales of George Washington cutting down the cherry tree or tossing a dollar across the Potomac - but if used to reinforce a view of the future, a use that many of the authors in the book suggest, it can be dangerous. Perhaps the best-known recent example is how senior Pentagon officials told stories of how wildly cheering Iraqis would be throwing flowers to our troops and thus blinded themselves to the possibility of violent opposition to the US occupation. As this shows, when we are listening to stories, we must keep reminding ourselves that they are just stories - not reality - and that there are often other descriptions of the future that might be equally likely but much less attractive.

A few minor critiques. Several of the authors use "story" as technical jargon meaning "use of story telling," as in "Story lets us make that DNA visible to all ..." or "Story is also permeating ..." After a while, this becomes irritating. And some of the sample stories, for that matter, aren't very good. The "Story of Leo," for example, seems more suited for a Sunday School class than for working adults (and how many Sherpas are named "Leo"?) When it comes to telling good stories, Silverman refers interested readers to the "Suggested Resources," but these aren't much of a help since they are grouped by publication type - "Books and Pamphlets," "Articles," etc. - instead of pedagogically - "Case Studies in Using Stories," "Crafting a Story," "Where to Hide the Moral," etc.

I do recommend this book for business leaders and strategists, particularly if you've been having problems convincing people to weave more narratives into their PowerPoint polemics. As it vividly illustrates, to lead, you must be a storyteller.

A number of very good books are available on organizational storytelling, but Lori Silverman hits the nail on the head when she writes in the preface of Wake Me When the Data's Over that "something was missing" from the books out there before hers came out. The other books tended to describe various kinds of stories used in organizations and give how-tos on developing those kinds of stories, but they came up short in giving real examples of such stories and explaining how to apply them in various business situations.

While I love those other books -- and they certainly do serve a significant purpose -- they left me frustrated and lacking a complete picture of organizational storytelling. I also found it frustrating to get buy-in from my college students about the value of business narrative with books that were deficient in offering concrete examples. I don't think there is one chapter in Silverman's book that doesn't have at least one example story. And each chapter explains exactly how story is/was applied in the situation it addresses. Each chapter ends with a bulleted list summarizing key points from the chapter.

Silverman has employed the remarkable methodology of gathering 14 contributors and interviewing 171 people from 81 organizations worldwide. She and her contributors are then able to describe "how organizations are using story to drive results." Indeed, they reveal how story is used in customer service, human capital, marketing and marketing research, branding, teamwork, leadership development, financial management, project
management, organizational change, difficult issues, history, and core values, and strategy.

Perhaps most importantly, Silverman's book truly represents the evolution of organizational storytelling. This is a young and emerging field, and Silverman's book stands firmly on the shoulders of the works of scholars and practitioners that have gone before it -- but builds on them. Indeed, many of the pioneers, ground-breakers, and driving forces in this discipline are among Silverman's contributors. I could not disagree more with the preceding reviewer who said the book does not take the field to the next level. I am convinced that Wake Me When the Data's Over elevates the conversation on organizational storytelling, provides copious practical tools and techniques, and truly represents a major step forward in the literature of the discipline.

For neophytes to the field or unconvinced skeptics, Silverman's stunning finding -- that through story use 36 percent of organizations surveyed for the book have experienced positive financial impact to the bottom line through increased growth, profitability, and/or increased funding -- should erase doubts. Other gains from story use were smaller but clearly show the potential of this field to continue to grow and evolve.

I recommend this book unhesitatingly. Let me also add that it's highly accessible and a great read.

I found this book to be full of practical guidance about how to use storytelling more effectively in business settings. The book reinforced many of beliefs about the use of story as well as providing a great deal of evidence about its effectiveness. I recommend this book to those who wish to be more effective communicators in business.

I found this book to be extremely useful in exploring the various applications of storytelling. As a practitioner in the field of organisational storytelling, I am always exploring various applications of the use of story. Lori's research into how organisations have used it has really helped me in my thinking around the applications of this powerful business tool and helped me bring this learning to our Australian clients.

"Once Upon a Time"--when we hear that phrase, it brings back magical memories of someone reading a story to us during childhood. Suddenly, we have warm thoughts of fantasies, fairy tales, princesses, and pirates.

As a professional speaker, I have recognized for a decade that people never outgrow their love of stories. I share stories with my audiences to maintain interest, motivate listeners, change opinions, and relay information.

Prior to my speaking career, I spent twenty-three years in management. For the most part, I shudder when I recall boring meetings, with presenters suffocating participants with an endless avalanche of facts and stats--with nothing in between to inject variety and liveliness.

That's why I welcome this book. Silverman illustrates that stories fit every type of business situation. "Facts," Sylvia L. Lovely says in the Introduction, "inform, but stories resonate." She explains: "Stories connect us in profound ways that go beyond mere intellect and get to the
deeper currents that move us to reflection and inspiration."

This book offers numerous examples from corporate leaders who use stories for training, sales, fostering traditions, reinforcing policies, generating teamwork, mentoring, facing change, clarifying complex financial transactions, and instilling an organization's mission and values.

Even as she supplies many model stories, Silverman still encourages readers to constantly unearth stories from their own locales. They're there, just waiting to be discovered and told.

Wake Me When the Data is Over recognizes that stories cannot replace data--but they can make the necessary data interesting, even compelling.

The Complete Communicator: Change Your Communication-Change Your Life!

There are many books out there that talk about how to tell stories; that isn't the focus of this new work. This unique book shows just how stories can be used by leaders to make a difference. Story is a hot topic right now, but Lorie Silverman provides a fresh window into the strategic use of story and provides actual evidence on the results you can achieve. That makes this book a powerful tool in advancing the use of story in organizations. If you want to sell your leadership team on using stories, have them read this book, and then get busy finding and sharing your own stories. Stories work; now we have evidence.