StoryTech: a Personalized 
Guidebook to the 21st Century 


Innovate Your Future Through Self-Stories 

Create Stories as Change Buffers 
Evolve Strategic 
Organizational Scenarios 


by 

Arthur M. Harkins, Ph.D. 
George H. Kubik, Ph.D. 

September 15, 2009 

Version 3.0 

StoryTech Books 

Published by Arthur M. Harkins & George H. Kubik 
3053 Pine Ridge Drive, Eagan, MN 55121, U.S.A. 

First Printing: July 2006 
Version 2.1 

Copyright © 2006 by Arthur M. Harkins & George H. Kubik 
All rights reserved 

ISBN 0-9787434-0-7 


Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this 
publication may be reproduced, stored in, or introduced into any archival or 
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, 
mechanical, photocopying, audio or video recording, or otherwise), without 
the prior written permission of the copyright owners and publishers of this 
book. 

The scanning, downloading, copying, or distribution of this book via the 
Internet or via any other means without the written permission of the 
copyright owners and publishers is illegal and punishable by law. Please 
purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or 
encourage electronic piracy of this or other copyrighted materials. Your 
support of the authorsÕ rights and intellectual property is appreciated. 

For all those who have the courage to tell their stories 
...and to live them! 

Contents 

Prologue..........................................................................................................5 


Chapters 
Chapter 1: Introducing StoryTech....................................................10 
Chapter 2: Becoming Intimate with StoryTech...............................33 
Chapter 3: Practicing StoryTech in Groups ....................................53 
Chapter 4: Further Experience with StoryTech..............................82 


in Communities 
Chapter 5: Conducting Education StoryTechs..............................105 
Chapter 6: Facilitating Health & Aging StoryTechs.....................167 
Chapter 7: Facilitating StoryTechs with ........................................195 

International Groups 
Epilogue ......................................................................................................218 
Appendix A: Resources.............................................................................223 

PROLOGUE 

How to Use This Guidebook 

Welcome to StoryTech! 

StoryTech offers a dynamic 21st century approach for integrating the power 
of your personal stories with the collective wisdom of groups, organizations, 
and societies. This Guidebook will introduce you to a very old process that 
enhances your strategic ability to deal with change and opportunity. 

This Guidebook is written in a holographic, non-linear style. In order to 
satisfy your curiosity and uniqueness, the chapters are not chained together 
sequentially. You are encouraged to select chapters that have immediate 
interest to you and read the remaining chapters as your curiosity evolves. 
Key concepts repetitively appear across different chapters where they are 
presented from different perspectives and with different objectives. You are 
encouraged to apply your individual uniqueness in reading this Guidebook. 
The Guidebook will then become unique to you! 

The writing style is purposely kept lively and explorative. StoryTech is an 
exciting and constantly evolving subject. Hence, you the reader and we, the 
writers, must explore the topic together. This is accomplished, in part, by 
inviting you to actively engage in a variety of challenging exercises. Each of 
the exercises contained in this Guidebook explores the capabilities, 
promises, and rewards of the StoryTech process and is part of the process of 
constructing individual knowledge. 

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As we leave you temporarily, please remind yourself that now is the time to 
develop new stories for new futures. Nothing in human history has the 
power of stories to inspire. Not even images, which are meaningless without 
vital story contexts. Remember, too, that the shelf life of practical stories is 
constantly shortening, demanding that up-to-date people constantly renew 
their repertoires of new and refurbished strategic stories. 

We have provided the Guidebook in the hope that it will be practical. We are 
most interested in how you, the Designing Professional Futures student, 
determined whether the Guidebook fit the course and your emerging 
professional needs. 

We are interested in how you may have found it confusing, difficult, overly divergent, or too simplified. WeÕre equally interested in how it met your criteria for clarity, ease, focus, and appropriate complexity. Your critiques are of inestimable importance, so please let us know them. Your future is our focus. 

Stay in touch. Our individual e-mail addresses are <harki001@umn.edu> 
and <kubik005@umn.edu>. WeÕll be back to you in the future with updated 
future versions of the StoryTech Guidebook. 

Goodbye for now! 

/signature/ Arthur Harkins 

/signature/ George Kubik 

222 

Appendix A 

Resources 


References and Recommended Readings 


. 
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intelligence. Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann. 
. 
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. 
Asbell, Bernard. (1991). The book of you. NY: Fawcett Columbine. 
. 
Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. NY: W.H. 
Freeman. 
. 
Barber, B. (1994). Aristocracy of everyone: The politics of education and 
the future of America. NY: Oxford University Press. 
. 
Bateson, M. (2001). Composing a life. NY: Grove/Atlantic, Inc. 
. 
Boje, D. M. (2001) Narrative methods for organizational & 
communication research. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. 
(Note: Multiple Publications on story telling.) 
. 
Bornstein, D. (2004). How to change the world: Social entrepreneurs and 
the power of new ideas. Cambridge, UK: Oxford University Press. 
. 
Brehmer, B. (1990). Strategies in real-time, dynamic decision making. In 
R. Hogarth (Ed.), Insights in Decision Making (pp. 262-291). Chicago, 
IL: University of Chicago Press. 
. 
Carr, D. (1998). ÒThe post-war rise and fall of educational 
epistemology.Ó In Carr, D. (Ed.). Education, knowledge, and truth: 
Beyond the postmodern impasse. New York: Routledge. Pp. 1-16. 
. 
Carroll, J. M. (1995). Scenario-based design. NY: John Wiley & Sons. 
. 
Centre for Educational Research and Innovation. (2000). Knowledge 
management in the learning society: education and skills. Danvers, MA: 
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. 
. 
Chermack, T. J., & van der Merwe, L. (article submitted for publication). 
Constructing scenario and story planning: Approaching the process from 
a constructivist perspective. Academy of Management Review. 
. 
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Boston: Shambala. 
. 
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leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 
. 
Damasio, A. (1994). DescarteÕs error: Emotion, reason, and the human 
brain. New York: Grosset-Putnam. 
(Note: Neurologist addresses nonverbal internal narratives.) 
. 
de Geus, A. P. (1997). The living company. Boston, MA: Harvard 
Business School Press. 
. 
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. 
Denning, S. (2001). The springboard: How storytelling ignites action in 
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. 
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driven, global economy of the 21st century.Ó Paper given in Toronto, 
Canada: October 31, 2002. Available online at 
<milproj.ummu.umich/edu/publications/toronto/download/Toronto_1031 
02.pdf> Accessed April 17, 2003. 
. 
Duderstadt, J. (2002). ÒHigher education in the new century: Themes, 
challenges, and options.Ó PowerPoint presentation given in Nagoya, 
Japan: October 18, 2002. Available online at 
<www.milproj.ummu.umich.edu/publichations/nagoya/index/html> 
Accessed May 14, 2003. 
. 
Dundon, E. (2002). The seeds of innovation: Cultivating the synergy that 
fosters new ideas. NY: American Management Association. 
. 
Egan, K. (1989). Teaching as story telling. Chicago: University of 
Chicago Press. 
. 
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. 
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. 
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. 
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. 
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. 
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Trow, M. (1994). The new production of knowledge. London: Sage. 
. 
Harkins, A. M. & Emmet, J.D. (1997). StoryTech: Exploring the use of a 
narrative technique for training career counselors. Paper presented at the 
Counselor Education and Supervision, 37, 1, 60-73. 
. 
Harkins, A. & Fiala, B. (2002). Personal capital and virtual selves: 
Learning to manage the five ÔdividesÕ. On The Horizon (10, 3, 22-27). 
. 
Harkins, A. & Vysoka, A. (2005). Strategies for innovation in tertiary 
education: Producing mode III knowledge and personal capital. Theory 
of Science, XIV/XXVII/1 Fall. 
. 
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visionaries, dissenters & other useful troublemakers. NY: John Wiley. 
. 
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University Press. 
. 
Kolb, D. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of 
learning and development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. 
. 
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exceed human intelligence. New York: Penguin. 
. 
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innovation. California Management Review, 40(3), 112-132. 
. 
Leonard, G. (1992). Mastery: The keys to success and long-term 
fulfillment. NY: Penguin. 
. 
Lindgren, M.& Bandhold, H. (2003). Scenario and story planning: the 
link between future and strategy. NY: Palgrave Macmillan.  
. 
McElroy, M. (2003). The new knowledge management: Complexity, 
learning, and sustainable innovation. Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann. 
. 
Nonaka, I. & Takeuchi, H. (1995). The knowledge-creating company: 
How Japanese companies create the dynamics of innovation. New York: 
Oxford. 
. 
Owen, H. (2003). Growing your personal capital. Cambridge, 
Massachusetts: Perseus. 
. 
Own, H. (2001). Just how good could you be? Grow your personal 
capital. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Books. 
. 
Ringland, G. (1998). Scenario planning: Managing for the future. 
New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 
. 
Rosell, S. A. (1995). Changing maps: Governing in a world of 
rapid change. Canada: Carleton University Press. 
. 
Schaetti, B. F., Watanabe, G.C., & Ramsey, S.J. (2000). 
ÒPracticing personal leadership and the SIIC intern program.Ó 
Effective intercultural teamwork: Exploring personal leadership. 
Portland, OR: Intercultural Communication Institute. 
. 
Schank, R. C. (1990). Tell me a story: A new look at real and 
artificial memory. NY: Macmillan. 
. 
Schwartz, P. (1991). The art of the long view. New York: 
Doubleday. 
. 
Senge, P. (1994). Learning to alter mental models. Executive 
Excellence, 11(3), 16-17. 
. 
Senge, P. M., Kleiner, A., Roberts, C., Ross, R. B., & Smith, B. J. 
(1994). The fifth discipline fieldbook: Strategies and tools for 
building a learning organization. New York: Doubleday. 
. 
Serban, A. & Luan, J. (2002). ÒOverview of knowledge 
management.Ó In Serban, A. & Luan, J. (Eds.). Knowledge 
management: Building a competitive advantage in higher 
education, 113. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. pp. 5-16. 
. 
Steinberg, J. (2003). ÒInformation technology and development: 
Beyond ÔEither/Or.ÕÓ Brookings Review, 21:2. Pp. 45-48. 
Available online at 
<www.brook.edu/press/review/spring2003/steinberg.htm>. 
. 
Swap, W., Leonard, D., Shields, M., & Abrams, L. (2001). Using 
mentoring and storytelling to transfer knowledge in the workplace. 
Journal of Management Information Systems, 18(1), 95-114. 
. 
Textor, R. [selected articles and unpublished manuscripts on the 
use of Ethnographic Futures Research, a Delphi process employing 
key scenario and story methods]. 
. 
Van der Heijden, K. (2005). Scenarios: The art of strategic 
conversation. NY: John Wiley & Sons (2nd edition). 
. 
Van der Heijden, K. et. al. (2002). The sixth sense: Accelerating 
organizational learning with scenarios. NY: John Wiley & Sons. 
. 
Von Hippel, E. (1994). Sticky information and the locus of 
problem solving: Implications for innovation. Management 
Science, 40(4), 429-439. 
. 
Von Krogh, G., Ichijo, K., & Nonaka, I. (2000). Enabling 
knowledge creation: How to unlock the mystery of tacit knowledge 
and release the power of innovation. NY: Oxford University Press. 
. 
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society. Boston, MA: Harvard 
University Press. 
. 
World Bank. (2003). ÒLifelong learning in the global knowledge 
economy: Challenges for developing countries.Ó TechKnowLogia, 
January ÐMarch. Pp. 77-80. Available online at 
<www.TechKnowLogia.org>. Accessed March 8, 2003. 
Web Resources: 
. 
Business Scenario Resources 
<http://www.well.com/~mb/scenario/> 
. 
Creating an Innovation Strategy (via scenarios) 
<http://www.1000ventures.com/business_guide/innovation_strateg 
y_dsw.html> 
. 
The Economist on scenario and story planning 
<http://www.unipa.it/~bianchi/eng/workshop/workshop01c.htm> 
. 
Frankl, Victor: 
. 
Critiques of Frankl and Other Visionary Humanists 
<http://www.crosscurrents.org/lakeland2.htm> 

. 
A Frankl Tribute 
<http://www.empirezine.com/spotlight/frankl/frankl1.htm> 

. 
A Frankl Interview When He Was 90 
<http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft9504/scully.html> 

. 
Viktor Frankl Biography (excellent) 
<http://www.ship.edu/~cgboeree/frankl.html> 

. 
Retrospective of FranklÕs works 
<http://www.geocities.com/~webwinds/frankl/frankl.htm> 

. 
Viktor Frankl at 90: An Interview 
<http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft9504/scully.html> 

. 
Viktor Frankl Institute 
<http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://logother 
apy.univie.ac.at/&prev=/search%3Fq%3DViktor%2BFrankl%26hl%3 
Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8%26sa%3DG> 

. 
Introductory Definition of Scenarios 
<http://www.infodesign.com.au/usabilityresources/design/scenarios.asp> 
. 
Plausible Futures Newsletter (w/OECD higher education scenarios) 
<http://www.plausiblefutures.com/index.php?cat=6691a > 
. 
Scenario and story planning for Uncertain Times 
<http://sbinformation.about.com/cs/newseconomy/a/scenario.htm > 
. 
Scenario and story planning Links 
<http://www.icra-edu.org/page.cfm?pageid=anglolearnscenariolinks > 
. 
Scenario and story planning Resources 
<http://limnology.wisc.edu/peterson/scenarios.html > 
. 
Scenario and story writing Outline 
<http://activities.tjhsst.edu/fps/resources/inside_future_scenes.htm > 
. 
Scenario and story writing Rules for Students 
<http://www.cps.k12.ri.us/glenhill/mcaulay/scenario/scenario.htm > 
. 
Scenario Publications 
<http://www.fpsp.org/catalog/scenario.html> 
. 
United Nations University Millennium Project Annotated Scenario 
Bibliography 
<http://www.acunu.org/millennium/sof/app-f.html> 
. 
van der HeijdenÕs Selected Scenario Resources 
<http://www.cob.sjsu.edu/yu_o/bus264/Scenario%20Planning%20Select 
%20Bibliography.htm> 
. 
Vinge, V. (1993). The singularity. Accessed online at 
<http://singularity.manilasites.com/stories/storyReader$75> 

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