An experiment in light expression

After months of seeing it on my bookshelf, I finally finished reading Steve Denning’s compelling book Squirrels Inc. tonight on the use of stories to transform organizations and communicate, share and put into action core values for the future. If you have two hours to spare, I would recommend reading this book especially if you are in the business of leading people in any capacity.

Unlike other rather simplistic (even if effective) books like “Who moved my &@#$&* cheese”, Squirrels Inc. uses the story of an imaginary company (Squirrels Inc. which is in the business of storing nuts for squirrels) and its motley group of executives (Diana, the up and coming exec who has a new future business model to sell, Mocha the expert in diffusing rumors, the bartender in the neighboring bar who is sort of an anchor pointing the story…) to illustrate the different kinds of stories that you could use in different contexts (the springboard story, the story to quell rumors, the story for getting people to work together, stories for values, actions, visions of the future…) while telling the rather interesting and often tumultuous story (at one point the central protagonist gets chucked out of Squirrels Inc) of the squirrels themselves.

My major takeaway from this book: Stories are a very powerful medium of expressing, sharing, and getting resonance on concepts and ways of being and ways of doing things. I should seed my office and team space with interesting story books and of course more comic book art!

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