Organizations tend to drive communications into predictable patterns, which too easily become ruts. The story, in which a hero or heroine confronts a situation and takes action, seldom appears in the mix. A few influential organizations are now telling stories to good effect in official publications. Through stories, management is expressing the meaning behind important events in a way that resonates with the ordinary person. Attaching meaning to events is an essential part of implementing policy.
Most events are ambiguous.
A missed earnings target can be construed as a growing pain or a crisis. Moving headquarters to another city can signal an entirely new direction or may simply reflect the preference of the chief executive's family. An event captured in a story that gets told in presentations and publications is another matter. A health worker logged on to the Centers for Disease Control website and got the answer to a question on how to treat malaria. How the Future Will Be The story goes on to paint a future in which knowledge sharing through the Internet enables World Bank officials to work in tandem with clients to solve a host of problems.