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Abstract

When story is released from the prison of narrative, we learn that the complexity of story is astounding. Narrativists confine story to a chronology with linear plot, a cohesive telling with beginning, middle, and end. If we release story from narrative's prison, then especially in organizations, there is complex storytelling system icity that I call storytelling organization. This essay explores the ways story in storytelling organizations can leave reductionist narrative shackles behind. I do this by reviewing storytelling organization research on "Goldco," an office supply company, Disney, Nike, Enron, and McDonald's. The contribution is a theory of story that works well with strategy, leadership, and complex ways of telling and retelling stories in organizations.

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