Story Thinking Cycle™ (Innate Lesson Cycle) Story Thinking Cycle
We are wired for "story". Storytelling uses story as a communications strategy. Story Thinking uses story as an operational strategy.
Currently, we have business “change” models that are completely different from every known model of learning. The Knowledge Economy requires that we solve the needs of business and learning with a combined model. The Story Thinking “ADIIEA” model is the first strategic business model designed specifically to support a Learning Organization. 6 Phases of ADIIEA Story Thinking Cycle ™
This cycle is the mind’s natural model for change and learning, and is formed by the relationship of our workability beliefs (Does Work, Won’t Work, and Could Work) and our response modes (Reactive, Reflective, and Questioning). And this cycle contains six phases: Automation, Disruption, Investigation, Ideation, Expectation, and Affirmation, or simply called ADIIEA (pronounced uh-dee-uh). The location of each phase is like working against gravity; we tend to rest at the bottom and operate in automation, without much thought. This cycle is at play within every business project, every classroom lesson, and even for how a bill becomes a law.
Understanding this cycle allows us to evaluate each individual phase, and holistically manage an organization’s ability to prepare, innovate, change, and perform. And it allows us to connect the now-separate functions of Idea Management, Risk Management, and Operations Management:
Methods from the last age were linear and prescriptive: Do-These-Steps-In-This-Order. ADIIEA is a method that is cyclic and descriptive. It provides the phases of thinking through a lesson, which allows for "rocking" between phases, but it begins and ends in our most natural state: automation. Oliver Wendell Holmes once said “I wouldn’t give a fig for the simplicity on this side of complexity, but I would give my right arm for the simplicity on the far side of complexity.” He was describing the difference between simple procedure memorization within the mindset of automation, and the elegance found only after knowing the options and choices considered throughout the story structure which leads to a state of proficient automation, with understanding. |
About the BooksStory Thinking expands our knowledge of storytelling, for how we should talk, to apply this sense-making pattern towards how we should work. As a new unified model of change, 30 commonly used models are compared to show why some work due to their alignment with story thinking, and why some do not work based on misalignment. The biggest implications from the research shows that our institutions of education and policy making follow process models that do not align with sense-making.
The Explanation Age acknowledges that the goals of the Information Age have been achieved, but that the information found online relates mainly to the fundamental questions of WHO, WHAT, WHEN, and WHERE. The most important question (WHY) is the least supported. The underlying methods from the last age were created by reviewing the "systems" in place: these were the factories and classrooms seeking zero defects and maximum efficiency. The methods for the next age need to be created by reviewing another system: the system of explanations, which have a pattern and consistency that can be modeled and managed across organizations. The biggest implications include detailed cognitive and emotional relationships, required for psychoanalysis and natural language AI technologies. |
Story Thinking Visualization
“Lewis poses the tantalizing proposition that poor results in education, innovation, and policy-making are rooted in a breakdown between the rational mind and the fundamental models that govern institutions.”
— Kirkus Discoveries Review
— Kirkus Discoveries Review
Over 50 of the world's top change models have been compared to the sense-making structure of story, providing insights into the mental models that drive our current frameworks of thinking. Here are some visualizations of Story Thinking concepts and comparisons:
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Story Thinking Concepts
1. Story Structure Mindsets 2. Quotes 3. Lingering 4. Agile Navigation 5. Continuous Improvement 6. Project-based Learning Objectives (sample) 7. Emotions (cognitive relationships) 8. Half-Pipe Thinking (transactional vs transformational) |
Story Thinking Comparisons
9. Hero's Journey 10. Scientific Method 11. Memorizing 12. Policy-Making 13. Healthcare SOAP notes 14. Six Sigma DMAIC 15. Trust but Verify 16. Explanation Reasons |