Inside Story: An Arts-Based Exploration of the Creative Process of the Storyteller as Leader

Authors

Heather Forest, Antioch University - PhD Program in Leadership and Change

Streaming Media

Images

Dr. Heather Forest is a 2007 graduate of the PhD Program in Leadership & Change at Antioch University

Photograph by Lucas Foglia

Track 01 .. Listen to Heather's Author Introduction

**Important Note : The archival PDF in AURA does NOT link to audio files [below]. For full functionality download the PDF and the audio files to the same folder on your hard drive. Open the PDF and the audio links within the PDF will play. This dissertation has won these awards :

• ETD Innovative Award, Networked Digital Library of Theses & Dissertations, June 2008.
• Outstanding ETD Scholarship Award, Ohio Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Association, March, 2008

Heather's dissertation was accompanied by 24 mp3 audio files, linked from within the PDF.

Dr. Forest is a professional storyteller and an author of several books. See the Comments box below for further information on the author.

Keywords

storytelling, leadership training, creative thinking, change leader, arts-based research, autoethnography, communication skills

Document Type

Dissertation

Publication Date

2007

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 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).

Comments

Heather Forest, Ph.D. :

An award winning professional storyteller and author, Dr. Forest is founder & exeutive director of Story Arts. She teaches and performs at schools, conferences, festivals and workshops, worldwide. Heather also is an adjunct professor of Oral Tradition at Southern Connecticut State University. She has also written seven children's books based on folktales. More info and further bio. at :

Heather's Website: Story Arts http://www.heatherforest.com/

Dr. Forest's professional website is rich with storytelling and teaching resources.

Heather's Blog and Subscribe to her monthly newsletter re. the art of telling tales: http://www.heatherforest.com/blog.htm

Books by Heather Forest : Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Heather-Forest/e/B001H6QHKS

Recommended Citation

Forest, H. (2007). Inside Story: An Arts-Based Exploration of the Creative Process of the Storyteller as Leader. https://aura.antioch.edu/etds/9