COURSE NUMBER: MBA291T.1B
COURSE TITLE:
Storytelling for Leadership
UNITS OF CREDIT:
1 unit
INSTRUCTOR: Arina
Isaacson
E-MAIL
ADDRESS: arina@haas.berkeley.edu
CLASS WEB PAGE
LOCATION: http://bspace.berkeley.edu
MEETING
DAY(S)/TIME: Tuesday, 2:00PM – 4:00PM during Fall B (10/15- 11/26)
PREREQUISITE(S): None.
CLASS FORMAT: In
class presentations, skill building exercises ,
lecture and one case study.
REQUIRED
READINGS: One textbook on Storytelling, two articles and several video viewings.
BASIS FOR FINAL
GRADE: A mixture of class participation, storytelling presentations, one
out-of-class coaching session and a short final paper in the form of a story.
ABSTRACT OF
COURSE'S CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES:
The journey to authentic
leadership begins with understanding the stories of your life. Your life story
provides the context for your experiences and through it,
you can find the inspiration to make an impact on the world.
The ability to
create and tell certain kinds of stories is not only a useful tool, but an
essential prerequisite to being an inspirational leader. Stories provide visual
maps and images for conveying who we are, where we came from and why we are
going in a particular direction. Storytelling is data with a heart and soul.
You will learn to harvest your own experiences for powerful lessons and
identify the authentic moments that resonate with the audience. For leaders, whose job it is to manage change,
storytelling facilitates learning and is a vehicle to assist others in
overcoming obstacles, generating enthusiasm and team-work, sharing knowledge
and ultimately leading to building trust and connection. It is an effective way
to communicate to various stakeholders at every level of an
organization. This session will give you strategies, skills and
tools for connecting to and speaking from the place of your rich life
experiences and true, natural voice.
The goals of this
elective are for you to internalize the
fundamental principles behind stories that educate, influence, motivate,
inspire and connect. You will practice the three elements of telling powerful
leadership stories:
· Story Structure: crafting concise
and powerful story from personal experience that paints a picture and lands the
message.
· Story Content: defining the intent behind
telling the story, identify the heart of the message, and being authentic.
· Story Delivery: using voice, breath and
mental centeredness to connect with the audience and be fully present while
storytelling.
There will be an
in class analysis, in terms of structure, story and delivery of several CEO’S
that use stories in their presentations. These case studies provide you with
real world examples of how to communicate narratives that are the building
blocks of how to inspire, motivate, and persuade as a leader.
You will practice
crafting and telling 'Who I Am Stories” ? These
are our leadership journey stories.
There will be
crafting and telling three leadership journey stories, outside reading, video
viewing, a visual story project (River of Life) and one written story as a
homework assignment.
BIOGRAPHICAL
SKETCH:
Arina Isaacson MA is a
communications consultant and executive coach specializing in Authentic
Presence, Presentation and Storytelling. For 20 years, Arina has worked with
leaders and senior leadership teams in Fortune 500 companies and institutions
around the world and across diverse cultures and industries. She teaches
expressive communication and presentation in executive education programs at
the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, UC Davis Graduate School of
Management, the Kellogg School of Management at
Northwestern and the Olin School of Business at Washington
University. Arina is the
principal of Arina inc, an
executive coaching and consulting practice that specializes in developing
authentic presence and creativity through communication and speaking coaching.
She serves as an executive coach to seasoned senior executives, leaders,
managers and entrepreneurs as well as emerging, aspiring young
leaders. She is a senior consultant with Corporate Scenes, Inc., an
international communications consulting firm that creates cutting edge culture
change in the corporate world.
Arina is an award
winning director, improvisational actress, visual artist and master
storyteller. She is the founder and artistic director of the San Francisco
School of Improvisation.