The Emergence of Chief Storytelling Officers
The following post is from Street Smarts: 101 Short Stories, Essays, and Insights to Improve Communication Skills
it came to my understanding that nowadays, companies are looking into a position called:
- CSO – Chief Storytelling Officer.
If you were to tell me this would be a position a couple of years back, I don’t know if I would have placed much importance on it.
Nowadays, it has my interest.
A couple of years back, I was doing my master’s in Business Analytics & Information Systems.
During my classes, I would hear that the hottest position one day would be:
- CIO – Chief Information Officer.
That made a lot of sense to me.
It wasn’t too long ago since big data became a thing.
Due to the rise in technology & storage spaces, companies have been given data on their customers like never before.
Companies knew the buying patterns of their customers, their customer’s background, what they were saying about the company’s products on social media etc.
The next question was, so what?
All the data doesn’t mean anything without meaning.
Data without meaning is like bricks without cement.
You just got a bunch of junk.
Structured Data = Information
You can have data without information.
But you cannot have information without data.
So as big data & artificial intelligence grew, it was obvious that information officers would be needed.
The CIO would be required to present knowledge to the higher-ups so the business flowed smoothly.
Well, fast-forward a few years to the present day…
And the more I write this, the more a Chief Storytelling Officer makes all the sense in the world.
Because think about it.
Structured Data = Information
Colored Information = Story
Imagine you are a big company going to the public with a bunch of information.
Now the public will be like, so what?
On the flipside, you wrap the information in a story & a segment of the public will find it hard not to listen.
We aren’t trying to appeal to everyone.
A segment is plenty.
It was just a matter of time before a CSO position was born.
The future is transitioning to a creative generation.
The beauty of storytelling is that you don’t need to run some Fortune 500 company to tell your story.
You just need to be the CEO of your own ship.
‘And what ship do I command?’
Your life.
If you have a life, then you have human experiences.
- Data.
If you have reflection skills, then you hopefully know how to structure those experiences.
- Information.
Alright bud, you know what the next step is.
It’s about learning to tell your story.
The beauty of storytelling is that it doesn’t need to be something grand.
You don’t need to book out stadiums to market yourself as some storyteller.
It is best to keep it simple & to the point.
Just understand storytelling as a:
- Connection of ideas.
These 3 simple words give the best insight into defining storytelling that I ever experienced.
When you get in the habit of connecting ideas for long enough, you’ll get bolder.
More fearless.
That’s when connections from different fields will occur.
The more stories you tell, the smarter you become.
It’s easier to see patterns now.
GET STREET SMARTS: 101 SHORT STORIES, ESSAYS & INSIGHTS TO IMPROVE COMMUNICATION SKILLS!
📖 Paperback/Kindle
📖 Audiobook
