personfamiliar

Main Character Syndrome Is Killing Corporate Storytelling

Storytelling™ as practiced wants all of that emotional resonance without any of the vulnerability or transformation. The company is already great, has always been great, and just needs you to recognize its greatness. There’s no real conflict because conflict would mean admitting something was wrong. There’s no transformation because transformation would suggest the company wasn’t already perfect. That’s not a story. It’s hagiography—saints’ lives written for the already converted. Audiences can smell it from a mile away.

currincy

How E Street Keyboard Giant Roy Bittan Played on David Bowie’s “Station to Station”

So many of my interviews these days feel like jousting with someone's soul, trying to get to the personal core of what makes them an artist. But I also love these interviews where the premise is, essentially, tell me a story so I can commit it to history.