Storytelling in Organizations

John Seely Brown divides his time between being the Chief Innovation Officer of 12 Entrepreneuring, an entrepreneurial operating company in San Francisco and the Chief Scientist of Xerox Corporation. In June of this year he stepped down from being the director of the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), a position he held for the last ten years. While head of PARC, Brown expanded the role of corporate research to include such topics as organizational learning, sociological studies of the workplace, complex adaptive systems and micro electrical mechanical system (MEMS). His personal research interests include digital culture, ubiquitous computing, design and organizational and individual learning. He was recently awarded the Industrial Research Institute Medal for outstanding accomplishments in technological innovation and is the co-author of a highly acclaimed book The Social Life of Information, published by Harvard Business School Press. In November 1996, he was selected as one of the world's ten Most Admired Knowledge Leaders (Teleos). John, or as he is often called-JSB-sits on numerous boards of directors and advisory boards, is a member of the National Academy of Education and a Fellow of the American Association of Artificial Intelligence. He received an A.B. degree from Brown University in math and physics and a Ph.D. from University of Michigan in computer science. John is an avid reader, traveler and motorcyclist. Part scientist, part artist and part strategist, JSB's views are unique and distinguished by a broad view of the human contexts in which technologies operate and a healthy skepticism about whether or not change always represents genuine progress. Program director for knowledge management at the World Bank, the massive international financial organization (it lends approximately $30 billion each year). He contributes to knowledge management and organizational learning publications and presents very frequently at leading professional management conferences. In November 2000, Katalina Groh launched a new educational series specifically designed to explore the power and practice of storytelling. Global reactions have been overwhelming. The first programs, An Art of Possibility and Radiating Possibility have been released to more than seventy-five countries in thirty-five languages. Katalina is working with organizations to explore and share the impact of storytelling. Her films and presentations create learning experiences which inspire transformation, behavioral change and new kinds of conversations which continue long after the sessions have ended. She focuses on practical tools and results as well as narrative transitions which inspire knowledge sharing, training and communication. Katalina Groh has written, produced, and directed documentaries and independent feature films for the past ten years. She helped launch New World Entertainment's educational division, New World Knowledge, where she wrote and produced award-winning educational programming. Her work is focused on new narrative structures for educational programs, communication, and the development of new models for content structure that would create new conversations and experiences. At college, Katalina studied finance and economics. Before becoming a filmmaker, she was a trader in bonds and currencies at the Chicago Board of Trade.