Selling the story: the role of narrative in business

作为其高级别技能议程的一部分，AHRC强调，将叙事理解为一项基本的商业技能、使用叙事所需的创造性和沟通技能以及成为语言使用方面的专家的根本重要性被忽视了。关键利益相关者，尤其是政策制定者，未能认识到人文学科(广义定义)提供的技能，这是一个真正令人担忧的问题。与商业相关的核心技能是叙事的创作、传递、理解和接受。人文科学几乎所有学科都广泛教授这种技能，但很少用这些术语来描述。此外，在许多促进人文学科的倡议中，没有一项明确地着眼于这一角度。这样做可能是一种强大而新颖的方式，可以交流为什么人文学科与商业相关，更广泛地说，与STEM学科、政府、教育和社会本身相关。因此，该提案概述了一个研究如何在业务环境中理解、部署和评价叙事技能的项目。将对来自不同企业和组织的首席执行官进行快速采访研究，以产生一份报告，AHRC将能够在其网络中使用该报告来提升艺术和人文学科的形象。已经组建了一个高调的指导小组，以确保前所未有地接触到关键的企业领导人，并确保该报告在媒体以及商业和政策背景下具有最大的影响力。

As part of its high-level skills agenda, the AHRC has highlighted that the fundamental importance of understanding narrative as an essential business skill, of using the creative and communication skills that narrative entails, and of becoming an expert in the use of language has been overlooked. The failure by key stakeholders, and policy makers in particular, to recognise the skills offered by the Humanities (defined broadly) is a real concern. The core skillset relevant to business is that of narrative creation, transmission, understanding, and reception. This skillset is taught broadly across almost all disciplines within the Humanities, but it is rarely described in these terms. Moreover, none of the many initiatives to promote the Humanities has explicitly focused on this angle. Doing so is potentially a powerful and novel way of communicating why the Humanities are relevant to business and, more broadly, to STEM subjects, government, education, and society itself. This proposal, therefore, outlines a project to examine how narrative skills are understood, deployed, and valued within business contexts. A rapid interview study will be undertaken with CEOs from a diverse range of businesses and organisations to produce a report that the AHRC will be able to use across its networks to raise the profile of the Arts and Humanities. A high-profile steering group has been put together to ensure unprecedented access to key business leaders and that the report has maximum impact in the media as well as business and policy contexts.