Decoder Ring: The Storytelling Craze
When did everyone become a storyteller? Decades after George Lucas and Steve Jobs made storytelling a big business, every company now wants to tell \u201cOur Story.\u201d Instagram and TikTok let everyone else tell their \u201cstories,\u201d and the number of people calling themselves storytellers on LinkedIn is now more than half a million. Something we have done for the entirety of our existence as a species has become just another fad.\xa0\nIn this episode of Decoder Ring, we\u2019re going to look at where this trend came from and where it\u2019s going. What Willa discovered changed the way she now thinks about stories\u2014and it might do the same for you.\xa0\nSome of the voices you\u2019ll hear in this episode include Margaret O\u2019Mara, historian and author of The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America; Michael Simon, director and producer; Francesca Polletta, sociologist at University of California, Irvine; Steve Clayton, Chief Storyteller at Microsoft; Seth Godin, entrepreneur and author of All Marketers Tell Stories; Everett Cook, Associate Editor at Axios Local; and David Paskin, Willa\u2019s father.\xa0\nDecoder Ring is written and produced by Willa Paskin. This episode was edited by Dan Kois and produced by Elizabeth Nakano. Derek John is Sr. Supervising Producer of Narrative Podcasts. Merritt Jacob is our Technical Director.\nIf you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at DecoderRing@slate.com.\nIf you love the show and want to support us, consider joining Slate Plus. With Slate Plus you get ad-free podcasts, bonus episodes, and total access to all of Slate\u2019s journalism.\n\n\nThanks\xa0Avast.com!\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices