THE INSIDE STORY: AN ARTS-BASED EXPLORATION OF THE CREATIVE PROCESS OF THE STORYTELLER AS LEADER HEATHER FOREST A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Ph.D. in Leadership & Change Program of Antioch University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy August, 2007 This is to certify that the dissertation entitled: THE INSIDE STORY: AN ARTS-BASED EXPLORATION OF THE CREATIVE PROCESS OF THE STORYTELLER AS LEADER prepared by Heather Forest is approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Leadership and Change Approved by: ______________________________________________________________________________ Dissertation Committee Chair: date Carolyn Kenny, Ph.D. ______________________________________________________________________________ Committee Member: date Laurien Alexandre, Ph.D. ______________________________________________________________________________ Committee Member: date Jon Wergin, Ph.D. ______________________________________________________________________________ External Reader: date Celeste Snowber, Ph.D ii Copyright 2007 Heather Forest All rights reserved iii Acknowledgements I extend my deepest appreciation to Dr. Carolyn Kenny, who has, with wisdom and gentleness, guided my creative process and nurtured my scholarly roots so that this work could blossom. I am lovingly grateful to my husband Lawrence Foglia and to my children, Lucas and Laurel, who have supported and encouraged me throughout this journey. I offer thanks for the profound guidance of my professors and instructors at Antioch University’s Ph.D. Program in Leadership and Change who helped me to expand my horizons and to gain new skills in academic research and writing. Thank you to Dr. Flora Joy, Dr. Gwendolyn Nowlan, and Dr. Joseph Sobol who prompted and encouraged me to pursue an academic path. My thanks is offered for the storytelling performance settings provided by the Sharing the Fire Storytelling Conference, 2007, SAJES (Suffolk Association for Jewish Educational Services), and Code Pink Long Island. I thank the readers of my travel journal, Susan Klein, Jerry Lipschultz, and Elaine Gale, who offered counsel and feedback on my seminal writing. I am endlessly grateful to the ancient stories of the world that have been my guides. iv Abstract Storytelling is one of humanity's oldest art forms and an enduring educational method. Stories can spark social change. Although storytelling is tacitly recognized in diverse social science domains as a communication medium used to powerfully transmit leadership vision and ideas, little empirical research has been reported about how a teller constructs and tells a story. Through qualitative, arts-based methods, this heuristic study examines and describes the lived experience of a storyteller composing and performing a tale on issues of peace, justice, and social change. It reflects on the teller as leader and identifies a palette of arts-based skills for change leaders. As a professional storyteller, I phenomenologically explored the essence, or nature, of a storyteller’s creative process by creating a storytelling work. The storytelling work I composed as a research vehicle is based on a travel diary written during a time of war in Israel in July, 2006. Utilizing art making as an inquiry method, I mindfully became an embodied research environment during this study. I gathered emic, or insider, information about the imaginal world of a storyteller. Through a literary, autoethnographic writing process, I observed, described, interpreted, and named the steps in my creative process as I designed, rehearsed, and performed an original storytelling work. The work interweaves personal memoir, history, folklore, and current events. Commonalities between the storyteller (composing and performing a complex tale) and a change leader (designing and communicating a change vision) emerged. Storytelling communication skills and creative thinking ability are core competencies in artfully leading change. Arts-based training in storytelling could provide change leaders with experiential v knowledge about innovative thinking and an appreciation for the power of story and metaphor to convey ideas. Storytelling can be an illuminating art medium through which to inspire peace, justice, and positive social change. This document contains embedded graphic files (JPG) and is accompanied by audio files (MP3). The electronic version of the dissertation is accessible at the OhioLINK ETD center http://www.ohiolink.edu/etd vi Author’s Audio Comments vii The Inside Story: An Arts-Based Exploration of the Creative Process of the Storyteller as Leader Table of Contents Approval ii Copyright iii Acknowledgements iv Abstract v Author’s Audio Comments vii MP3 Sound File: Author’s Audio Comments vii Table of Contents viii List of Figures xvii Audio Files xx CHAPTER ONE Introduction: A Meta-View 1 Storytelling and Leadership 1 About the Ancient Art of Storytelling 3 About the Storyteller/Researcher 4 Background: About Autoethnographic Research Methods 6 Autoethnographic Writing Style 8 viii The Risks of Venturing 9 Current Research on the Teller 10 The Dual Purpose of the Study 11 Constructivist Reflective Practice 12 Story as a Research Vehicle 13 Embodied Research 14 Philosophical and Methodological Grounding 15 Contribution to Leadership & Change: An Overview 17 Research Statement Summary 17 Reflections on Storytelling 18 Summary of Chapter Content 19 Nested Dissertation Design 21 CHAPTER TWO Literature Review: Talking About Telling 22 Contemporary Grassroots Discourse on Storytelling 22 Contemporary Empirical Research on Storytelling 28 Research on the Story, the Listener, and the Teller 31 The Story 31 The Listener 34 The Teller 36 Leadership Literature and Storytelling 48 Summary Comments 54 ix CHAPTER THREE Methodology: Arts-Based Research 56 Art as Inquiry 56 Research Method Choice and Positioning 60 The Storytelling Work 64 A Musing on Art 65 Head and Heart 66 The Power of Reflective Story 70 The Emergence of Autoethnography 71 Summary Comments on Autoethnography 74 CHAPTER FOUR Travel Journal, July, 2006 75 Introduction 75 Scenes: Travel Journal 79 MP3 Sound Files: King Solomon and the Otter Song 86 Two Possibilities Poem 89 CHAPTER FIVE Travels in Imaginal Space: An Autoethnograpy of the Creative Process of a Storyteller 113 Introduction 113 x Invitation 113 Preparation 114 Divergent and Convergent Thinking 118 The Travel Itinerary 120 Beginning the Journey 121 Group Meeting in Imaginal Space 121 MP3 Sound File Invitation to Listen 122 A Storytellers Process Cycle 123 On Quality 124 Design Decisions 124 Self-Critiquing 126 Compositional and Performance Quality 127 Shaping 128 Choosing a Nested Design 130 Inviting the Listener 133 Nested Story Design 136 Melody as Metaphor 137 Rehearsal 138 Performance Quality 139 Co-Creating with an Audience 140 The Wellspring of Ideas 141 Discovery and Linking 142 xi End-Generated Process 142 Fishing for Ideas 143 Chronology 144 Deep Chronology 144 Wheel of Association 145 What if? How? When? Where? Why? 145 Pattern Finding 145 Forming, Framing, Fashioning 146 Making Worlds 146 On the Creative Edge 147 Introspection and the Developing Tale 148 Stage Presence 149 Interior Tales 150 Transforming Chronology 151 Forming and Fashioning 152 Extending 153 Story Making, Positioning, and Paradox 154 Musings 156 MP3 Sound File: Paradox Song 160 First Performance Experience 161 Second Performance Experience 164 Afterwards 166 xii Summary: Surveying the Imaginal Terrain 171 Design Stage, Rehearsal Stage, Performance Stage 171 Amalgamation, Integration, and Transformation 177 CHAPTER SIX (Re)Presenting the Performance 179 Musings on Documentation 179 The Map as a Pathway Metaphor 181 Many Pathways 182 Nested Story Design Map 183 Travel Scenes Map 1 184 MP3 Sound Files: Invitation Song 184 Entrance Interview 184 Rabin Square, King Solomon and the Otter 184 Travel Scenes Map 2 185 MP3 Sound Files: Carob Tree Garden, Planting Trees, Honi Stories 185 Katzrin Talmudic Village, Two Possibilities 185 Carob Seed in My Pocket 185 Travel Scenes Map 3 186 MP3 Sound Files: Machon Ayalon Bullet Factory 186 xiii Radio On 186 War 186 Sde Boker 186 Bombing Begins 186 Cattle Car 186 Yad Vashem 186 Nightly News 186 1948 186 Masada 186 Dead Sea 186 Art Therapist 186 Who’s Crazy? 186 Museum of the Seam 186 Travel Scenes Map 4 187 MP3 Sound File: Exit Interview and Paradox Song 187 CHAPTER SEVEN Artful Leadership for Creating Change 188 The Art of Designing in Time and Space 188 Making Sense of Chaos 189 Some Arts-Based Skills for Change Leaders 189 xiv Holding the Meta-view 190 Improvisation 190 Embodying a Multi-faceted Process 191 Embracing Paradox and Ambiguity 192 Flexible Thinking 193 Mindful Responsiveness 194 Intentional Engagement in Creative Process 194 Summary Reflections on Arts-Based Skills 195 A Palette of Arts-Based Skills for Change Leaders 196 The Art of Leading Change 197 Vision and Possibility 198 Cutting-Edge Leadership Training through the Arts 201 Commonalities: Storytellers and Change Leaders 202 Teller as Leader 203 Co-creative Relational Exchange 205 Looped Communication Process 206 The Neuroscience of Storytelling: Stories and Memory 207 Neurons that Fire Together Wire Together: Metaphors and Thinking 208 Ethics and the Use of Metaphor 210 Considering New Possibilities in Imaginal Space 212 xv References 213 Appendix 240 Original Notebook Map Sketches Map 1 241 Map2 242 Map3 243 xvi List of Figures 1.01 Reflections on Storytelling