It’s only afterwards that it becomes anything like a story

Posted by  Shawn Callahan —June 26, 2007
Filed in Business storytelling

I read this lovely quote in the following paper, Petranker, J. (2005) ‘The When of Knowing’, The Journal of Applied Behavioural Science, vol. 41, no. 2, pp. 241-259.

“When you are in the middle of a story, it isn’t a story at all, but only a confusion, a dark roaring, a wreckage of shattered glass and splintered wood, like a house in a whirlwind, crushed by the icebergs or swept over the rapids, and all aboard powerless to stop it. It’s only afterwards that it becomes anything like a story at all, when you are telling it to yourself, or to somebody else.”

Margaret Atwood, Alias Grace

Thanks to Keren Winterford for sending it to me.

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About  Shawn Callahan

Shawn, author of Putting Stories to Work, is one of the world's leading business storytelling consultants. He helps executive teams find and tell the story of their strategy. When he is not working on strategy communication, Shawn is helping leaders find and tell business stories to engage, to influence and to inspire. Shawn works with Global 1000 companies including Shell, IBM, SAP, Bayer, Microsoft & Danone. Connect with Shawn on:

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