The January 9th issue of The New Yorker has an ad from the Columbia University School of Continuing Education that begins:
Graduate Program in Narrative Medicine
The care of the sick unfolds in stories. The effective practice of healthcare requires the narrative competence to recognize, absorb, interpret, and act on the stories and experiences of others. Medicine practiced with narrative competence is a model for humane and effective healthcare.
The word “narrative” in the headline is what got me to read the ad. At first the whole idea of such a graduate program surprised me, and then on second thought this made sense.
A couple of years ago I faithfully watched the TV show “House.” On this TV drama a main plot point of each episode was that the patient, either purposely or accidentally, did not tell the doctors the one piece of information needed to solve the patient’s medical problem. The narrative of each episode dealt with the doctors discovering that one vital piece of information.
(And I know the true story of a resident (the grandson of friends) who saved a patient from major unneeded surgery. The day before the surgery the resident had a conversation with the patient about non-medical changes in his life in the past year. The resident learned that the patient had given up his bedroom to his aging mother and moved into the attic. The resident realized that the patient was very allergic to something in the attic and did not need the planned surgery.)
Why am I going on and on about narrative stories?
Because all of us business owners have stories to tell about our products and services – true stories that help prospective customers and clients connect to us.
Often we do not share these stories with our prospective customers and clients because the stories are so familiar to us. Yet these stories are not familiar to our target audiences.
Perhaps business owners need to take a course in narrative storytelling for business. We could learn how to convey via our websites, blogs and social media participation what our businesses are about and how our products and services help the people who need these.
Now that’s an idea. My business partner, Yael K. Miller, who majored in English at the University of Pennsylvania, says she spent four years studying story.
Let us know if you would be interested in a webinar on “Telling the Story of Your Business.”
Email me at pzmiller@millermosaicllc.com
© 2012 Miller Mosaic, LLC
Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the co-founder of the marketing consulting company www.MillerMosaicLLC.com, which helps clients effectively use social media and other online marketing strategies.
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Check out Phyllis’ books and other projects at www.PhyllisZimblerMiller.com
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