Here’s hoping 2018 is a year of good stories and better conversations

One of the best things about having time off over the Christmas and New Year period is the opportunity for reflection. I find that this rarely happens in a vacuum. For me it is very often facilitated, directly or indirectly, by good stories told by thoughtful, imaginative and skilled storytellers.

You don’t have to read many of my posts to know that I think the role of the storyteller is important, generally. Also, I have shared examples of how good storytelling has affected me personally. I include artists, journalists, poets, fiction and non-fiction writers, animators, playwrights as well as playwrights and TV and film screenwriters in the category of ‘storyteller’.

This category of people, drawn from a wide range of fields, challenge my thinking, fire up my imagination and evoke emotions that help me see new possibilities or view seemingly entrenched problems differently. They also spark my creativity regarding ways that I can more intentionally support or resist the trends shaping the world around me. They help me find ways to live the ethics I espouse. This is especially the case with regards to the newer challenges presented by technology, ubiquitous data and our software-mediated world. And that’s empowering.

There’s no good reason for this gif other than (1) I loved Sesame Street as a kid and every episode was introduced as being “brought to you by…” and (2) these two are simply the cutest!

Today’s post has been brought to you by…

This particular spell of musing about stories and storytellers has been triggered by the animated essay I’ve included below. It’s the result of a collaboration between Maria Popova and Drew Christie (h/t: nanjira.com). If you’d rather read the wisdom contained therein, you can do so here.

In the essay, Popova and Christie remind us that wisdom is information viewed through a moral framework that helps us “tell the difference between the right direction and the wrong direction in steering the ship”. Storytellers support us in developing these frameworks. They help us anchor our day to day within the bigger, grander narratives.

Making room for better stories because I want better conversations

Last year, at the amazing TEDxBrum 2017 conference I talked about how notions of control and ownership are being challenged in an increasingly software-mediated world. You can watch it here if you like.

I book-ended the talk with an expressed desire for better conversations. That’s because the disruption that data and technology are driving is so multi-faceted and diffuse it’s difficult to track and to assess value or impact. The upshot is that we don’t experience disruption or its benefits uniformly. We’re going to need broad and diverse conversations about what we think constitutes human flourishing and how well our metrics for value and profit align with that. We’re also going to need to take a long and considered look at how we run the systems and processes (economic and otherwise) that manage these things. And then we’re going to have to do the difficult work of assessing whether or not they’re operating in alignment with our professed values. In other words, we need to apply the moral wisdom which Popova says helps us to see “what should and shouldn’t matter, as well as an ideal of the world at its highest potentiality”.

And to avoid these conversations becoming polarised shouting matches we’re going to need good — clear, bold, imaginative, honest and empathetic — stories that help us contextualise our and others’ positions. And if we can better understand one another’s positions perhaps good stories can help us explore the sort of future(s) we want.

But here’s the thing, engaging with good stories requires time. Carving out that time isn’t easy. In 2018, I want to put in the work. However, that’s not the only way I want to make room for better stories, here are two others:

1. I’m going to more intentionally showcase a varied range of good stories and try to use them as prompts for good conversations.
2. I’m going to support the storytellers financially, especially those who provide this invaluable service in the open and for free or very little money. Maria Popova says it far more eloquently and succinctly on her site: donating = loving.

I’m hoping I can have the some of those conversations with you so I’d love to hear your thoughts on how to increase the chances of doing that.