Research Catalog

Title

Portrait of the manager as a young author : on storytelling, business, and literature / Philipp Schönthaler ; translated by Amanda DeMarco.

Author

Schönthaler, Philipp

Publication

Cambridge, Massachusetts : The MIT Press, [2018]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

DeMarco, Amanda

Description

vi, 126 pages; 18 cm.

Summary

Corporations love a good story. Microsoft employs a chief storyteller, who heads a team of twenty-five corporate storytellers. IBM, Coca-Cola, and the World Bank are among other organizations that have worked with storytelling methods. And, of course, Steve Jobs was famous for his storytelling. Today, narrative is a privileged form of communication for organizations. In 'Portrait of the Manager as a Young Author', Philipp Schoenthaler explains this unlikely alliance between business and storytelling. The contradictions are immediately apparent. If, as the philosopher Hans Blumenberg writes, stories are told to pass the time, managers would seem to have little time to spare. And yet, Schoenthaler reports, stories are useful in handling complexity. When digital information flows too quickly and exceeds the capacity of the human brain, narrative can provide communicative efficiency and effectiveness. Words and numbers both vouch for truth, are both instrumentalized by management, and are inextricably interdependent. What happens, if narrative becomes ubiquitous? Does the commercialization of narratives have an effect on literature? Through the lens of storytelling, Schoenthaler explores the relationship between economics and literature and describes a form of writing that takes place in their shared spheres. Most books on storytelling in the corporate world are written by business writers; this book offers the perspective of an award-winning literary author, who considers both the impact of storytelling on business and the impact of business on literature. Translated by Amanda DeMarco.

Series Statement

Untimely meditations ; 12

Uniform Title

• Porträt des Managers als junger Autor. English
• Untimely meditations ; 12.

Alternative Title

• Porträt des Managers als junger Autor.
• Storytelling, business, and literature

Subject

• Economics and literature
• Storytelling
• Communication in management

Note

• First published in German in 2016.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references.

Language (note)

• Translated from the German.

Call Number

JFC 18-482

ISBN

• 9780262535748
• 0262535742

LCCN

• 2018002501
• 40028430798

OCLC

1035785843

Author

Schönthaler, Philipp, author.

Title

Portrait of the manager as a young author : on storytelling, business, and literature / Philipp Schönthaler ; translated by Amanda DeMarco.

Publisher

Cambridge, Massachusetts : The MIT Press, [2018]

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

Untimely meditations ; 12

Untimely meditations ; 12.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references.

Language

Translated from the German.

Added Author

DeMarco, Amanda, translator.

Translation Of:

Schönthaler, Philipp Porträt des Managers als junger Autor Berlin : Matthes & Seitz Berlin, 2016 168 pages ; 18 cm (DLC) 2016592994

Other Standard Identifier

40028430798

Research Call Number

JFC 18-482