1Breaking Out of Narrative’s Prison: Improper Story in Storytelling Organization Accepted at Story, Self & Society Journal

When story is released from the prison of narrative, we learn the complexity of story is astounding. Narrativists confine story to a chronology with linear-plot, a cohesive telling with beginning, middle, and end. If we release story from narrative’s prison, then especially in organizations, there is complex storytelling systemicity that I call “storytelling organization. ” This essay explores the ways story in storytelling organizations can leave reductionist narrative shackles behind. I do this by reviewing storytelling organization research on (Goldco) an office supply company, Disney, Nike, Enron, and McDonald’s. The contribution is a theory of story that works well with strategy, leadership, and complexity ways of telling and retelling in organizations