Exploring the Relationship Between Knowledge and Fiction (Part 1: A Review of Past Experience)

 

This is the first post in a “Knowledge and Fiction Series”.

Part 1: A Review of Past Experience

Over the years, I have explored the interplay between knowledge and fiction from several angles. I am glad my blog and other unpublished notes allow me to easily revisit these themes before I dive in again with fresh insights.

Around 2008-2009, I was reading a lot of  didactic fiction and business novels: Didactic fiction involves using storytelling to convey practical lessons in a way that engages the reader and encourages critical thinking rather than following a prescriptive path. I wrote one full novel in this genre. It was called “Learning Log”, with a subtitle that read “A Knowledge Management Novel”. I wrote an accompanying White Paper, “Integrating Didactic Fiction in Structured Training."  The format was an experimental TiddlyWiki, my favorite Personal Knowledge Management tool. Here are some related blog posts showing a clear concentration around the same timeframe.

• Fiction with a Mission (2008)
• Didactic... in a Good Way (2009)
• Didactic Fiction (2009)
• The End (June 2009)

I have also explored storytelling as a method for knowledge sharing, which revolves around using narrative as a tool for organizational learning. A lot has been written about that, but my own interest in it was accelerated with Steve Denning's book, The Springboard: How Storytelling Ignites Action in Knowledge-Era Organizations (2001) and later his business novel, Squirrel, Inc: A Fable of Leadership Through Storytelling (2004).  This second book aligned even more with my interest in didactic fiction.  Here are a couple of blog posts along those lines:

• The Springboard (2017)
• KM Chats (2011)

As an educator, I have dabbled in the use of fictional case studies for teaching. This involved crafting imaginary scenarios to deepen the reader or student’s understanding of a situation and sharpen critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Perhaps it is a subcategory of storytelling for knowledge sharing.  I mostly remember the  hand-drawn picture of a country I had named Kamala (nothing to do with politics) but I found much more in my files.  I found a small note attached to the case study itself that reads “GREATEST CRAZY IDEA” and then “Filed under Things that flopped” (see photos below). 

Now that I reread the few pages I kept, it seems it was my first ambitious effort to combine teaching or some form of knowledge transfer with fiction. And yet, I was not teaching or doing Knowledge Management work at the time. I would call that a fascinating creative flop because I still believe in what I was trying to do. I am not sure I even tried to sell it to my supervisor at the time. I was just having fun. This was, however, related to another recurring theme in my work: Technology. It was Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) then and it is Artificial Intelligence (AI) now.  There is a date on the document that accompanies the map, so I know that is where my brain was in 2006. 

Documentation of some crazy, perhaps creative, early work (2006 and 2009). The fact that I bothered to keep these paper copies in sleeves in a binder full of "important" documents suggests I was proud of those efforts and wanted to be reminded of the fun I had working on them. 

For teaching purposes, it is better to rely on case studies based on real “stories”.  I learned a lot about that in my NASA years.  Still, short fictional scenarios can be useful. In the context of my KM class at George Mason University in the Fall of 2024, I experimented with short fictional scenarios created with the help of generative AI and experienced some of the pitfalls of using AI for more creative work.

And then, on and off during my career in international development, I explored the fiction of international development, which is all about examining development themes through a narrative lens. This deserves a lot more attention because of the depth of issues that could be explored.  The theme that re-emerges today in the context of my current fiction work revolves around the telling of the story: “Whose story is it?  Whose experience?  Whose knowledge?  Who is telling the story?”  This last question is critical because as I start putting down some initial words for the novel, I need to settle on a Point of View (POV).  Here is a 2009 blog post related to the Fiction of Development.

Next, I will write about how my approach is evolving and my current and near-future focus.

The Boss, by Andrew O'Keeffe

Here is another business novel I came across last week, downloaded to my Kindle and just finished reading: The Boss, by Andrew O'Keeffe. I've read a good number of business novels and business parables in the last couple of years. This is the best to date, and probably the first I wouldn't mind reading again, and again. In fact, I might put a reminder on my agenda to read it every year a week or so before my employee appraisal meeting. And if I find myself in a job interview, I'd want to read it again as part of my prep work.

The story is written from the point of view of an employee facing a great cast of horrendous executives and according to the author, based on true stories. I find it hard to believe a company run by these executives would survive long but for the purpose of storytelling, it works.

Here are some quick lessons about what works in the business novel genre:
* get to the point (the learning point), move on.
* a quick description of the setting, to the extent that it relates to the core of the story, is good, but there's no need to overdo it with beautiful prose. Simple prose, relatively short sentences, common vocabulary. It's meant to be read by busy business people, not for a day at the beach.
* keep it simple: No need for subplots or an extended cast of characters. Stick to what's needed to tell the story and not more.

This particular novel makes good use of Aesop's fables (an early form of didactic fiction), connecting individual fables to situations the main character is encountering at work.

Image by Carla216 via Flickr

I grew up with the Fables of La Fontaine rather than Aesop's fables but it's the same idea.

The story starts with a good amount of whining about how bad bosses can be, but slowly, the main character learns to handle her reactions to the three "Bs" (bad boss behavior) and how to not be a victim. The cases of bad boss behavior she confronts are a little exaggerated. They may all be based on true story but I would hope no one would be so unlucky to be exposed to all of them at once in one job.

I wrote in an earlier post about the role of the advisor in the business novel. This business novel doesn't have an advisor. There are a couple of people around the main character who provide useful insights and encouragement, but no single individual has all the answers. That worked very well in the story and it's much more realistic than the "all-knowing" advisor.

There are many parallels between this business novel and what I am trying to write in Learning Log. At the end of the book, there are discussions questions for facilitation, and sections meant for specific audiences (employees, leaders, etc...), something I've also tried to incorporate in Learning Log. In many ways, it's telling me that I'm on the right track and I have more work to do to make my novel as good as The Boss.

PS: I've also found 3-4 other business novels and discovered that Japanese business novels are quite popular. I wonder if the French have written any.

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• Using Stories to share knowledge (ericbrown.com)
• Clever Crows Prove Aesop's Fable Is More Than Fiction (wired.com)
• Didactic Fiction (knowledgefordevelopment.com)
• Didactic Fiction & Related Narrative Forms (knowledgefordevelopment.com)
• Didactic Fiction - Some thoughts (knowledgefordevelopment.com)

Fiction with a Mission

I can't remember a time when I was more excited and sure that I had come up with a great idea than when I suggested the use of fiction as a way of conveying key lessons learned around telecenters. I had been reading a lot about the use of storytelling as a knowledge sharing tool and then case teaching as a method for teaching. We were looking for something innovative, not just another toolkit or cookbook and so I suggested that we develop a fictional country with fictional characters and a plot. Through their experiences, the main characters would come to identify key lessons learned and develop a process for others to use. While the initial reaction to the idea was somewhat positive, the final word was "no, this isn't going to fly."

I've come to realize that an idea that fails isn't necessarily a bad idea. Sometimes the timing is wrong, the manner in which the idea is introduced is less than ideal, or some other contextual element is acting as a barrier.

It's quite possible that I could not have made it fly but I haven't given up on the idea of using fiction. Since then I've discovered a series of "business novels" that are doing something similar to what I meant to try. In other words, I didn't come up with a brand new idea. It already existed. I just wanted to make it work in the context of a development-related issue.

I've compiled a reading list related to this theme of business novels and I'm working my way down the list. I've now read "Jack's Notebook" by Gregg Fraley and "Who Moved My Cheese?" by Spencer Johnson. "Jack's Notebook" is about Creative Problem Solving and "Who Moved My Cheese?" is about change and how people deal or fail to deal with change. These two books are different in style: "Jacks' Notebook" has a real plot and characters, it reads like a simple novel; "Who Moved My Cheese?" is more akin to a fable. However, they are both written with a primary focus on conveying a set of key principles or concepts, using a storytelling approach. Mainstream novels may have an underlying theme but don't have as their primary function to teach anything. Their primary function is to entertain the reader.

Here's my reading list:

Patrick Lencioni's Business Fables

* The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable, by Patrick Lencioni.
* Silos, Politics and Turf Wars: A Leadership Fable About Destroying the Barriers That Turn Colleagues Into Competitors
* The Three Signs of a Miserable Job: A Fable for Managers (And Their Employees)
* The Five Temptations of a CEO: A Leadership Fable.

Jeff Cox's seven business novels

* The Goal
* Zapp
* Quadrant Solution
* Heroz
* The Venture
* Selling the Wheel
* The Cure

Other Examples

* Flying Fox
* Runamok
* The Management Game
* Who Moved My Cheese
* Jack's Notebook
* Twenty Eight Tales of Troubleshooting, By Steve Litt
* The Deadline: A Novel about Project Management

My hope is to learn from these examples of "didactic fiction" and come up with a development-related version. If you are reading this and you know of some existing examples in development-related fields, please let me know.