Listening to the Volcano: Conversations That Open Our Minds to New Possibilities

by David Hutchens

Rumblings from a long dormant volcano provoke a crisis in the village of Smoldering Pines. Desperate to escape the flow of molten lava, the inhabitants meet to create a plan—and are soon at each other’s throats! But led by Milo, a group of neighbors discover a new way of talking and listening that taps fresh sources of creativity and unleashes the magic of collective thinking. While everyone knows how to engage in conversation, few of us practice the kind of meaningful dialogue that is crucial to leveraging an organization’s best thinking. Listening to the Volcano offers an engaging introduction to conversation as a disciplined workplace practice for sparking generative thinking, improving decision-making, and creating effective action. The fable features hilarious (and thought-provoking) plot lines and character illustrations and concludes with a group discussion guide to help you apply the ideas from the story to issues you face in your own organization.

82 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2005

About the author

David Hutchens is an author, business writer and learning designer who creates communication solutions for The Coca-Cola Company, Wal-Mart, IBM, GE, Nike, Bank of America, and others. He served as chairman of Storytelling in Organizations, a special interest group of the globally renowned National Storytelling Network.

He speaks to organizations and leadership teams all around the world on the topic of storytelling as an organizational capacity. His new book is “Circle of the 9 Muses: A Storytelling Field Guide for Innovators and Meaning Makers,” Wiley & Sons 2015

He is creator of the Learning Fables -- a book series that uses narrative and metaphor to illustrate principles of organizational learning. With titles that include "Outlearning the Wolves" and "Shadows of the Neanderthal," the popular business fables have have sold more than a quarter-million copies in over a dozen languages.

He is author of the book "A Slice of Trust: The Leadership Secret with the Hot & Fruity Filling,” which features a foreword by Stephen M.R. Covey.

In partnership with The Conference Board, he is creator and lead facilitator of The Team USA Leadership Experience, at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado springs; and he also facilitates The Apollo Leadership Experience at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

A nationally recognized developer of innovative learning products, David's work has been recognized with distinctions such as Training & Development's "Training Product of the Year" award; ASTD's prestigious "Excellence in Practice" award; Brandon Hall Gold award, and more.

David's newest product is "GO Team: Powering Teams to Perform," a just-in-time team training resource. GO Team's library of 18 team-related topics allows you to build your own learning agenda tailored to your team's needs.

Reviews

[Ryan Barretto · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very powerful book on how our words can build relationships or break them. Excellent use of metaphors to explain advocacy and inquiry.

Must read for anyone in the field of organization development.