This book shows how to work with stories and narrative approaches in almost all fields of action of a company, and demonstrates the added value resulting from a holistic narrative perspective. The authors take thereby a practice-based perspective from the viewpoint of managing directors, the C-suite, organizational developers, corporate communicators and advisers with a rich description of the methods and implementation.By the employment of these narrative methods, leadership styles, communication, knowledge and change management can be planned in such a way that on the one hand the identity-core of the enterprise remains always apparent and on the other, the organization can develop in an agile fashion into the future.

Introduction: Storytelling, Storylistening, and the Stories About Your Boss.- PART I: THE NARRATIVE SIDE OF ORGANIZATIONS.- Stories: What Organizations Are Made Of.- The Cartography of Narrative Organizations.- Why the Future Belongs to Narratively Competent Organizations.- INTERMEZZO: CLEARINGS IN THE JUNGLE OF NARRATIVE TERMS.- PART II: CHANGE, TRANSFORMATION, AND RENEWAL.- Rabbit Holes to Narrative Organizations.- Narrative Interviews: The Big Stories.- The Storylistening Workshop: Sharing Experiences.- Event Curve: Identifying Central Experiences.- Learning Histories: Learning from Multiple Perspectives.- Core Story: Finding a Common Denominator.- Case Study: Storytelling in the Press and Public Relations at Porsche AG.- Narrative System Map: Analyzing the Culture of Organizations.- Case Study: Narrative Knowledge Transfer with Leaving Experts.- Actants: Establishing the Field of Relational Forces.- Springboard Story: Using Stories to Win Over People.- 90 Second Backstory: Saying aLot in a Short Time.- Working with Metaphors: Building Parallel Worlds.- Case Study: Storytelling for Urban Development in Bad Bergzabern.- Narrative Change Architecture: Making Change Accessible.- Narrative Strategy Development: Narrating the Path toward the Future.- Case Study on Future Stories: A Narrative Change Process at the Vorarlberger Kinderdorf.- Epilogue: Five First Steps to Become a Narrative Organization.- The Elixir: Seven Classics on the Narrative Perspective.