High Concept and High Touch....is Storytelling the way of the future?

I was just looking at Ron Shewchuks' latest posting High concept and high touch, where he explores the ideas presented by Thomas Friedam in The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century (Ron - you are right - this is a superb read!).  In his posting Ron captures a Daniel Pink (author of A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future) quote that Friedman referenced.  The quote (see Ron's piece for the entire text) that there is a need to supplement our high tech abilities with high concept and high touch so as to "...detect patterns and opportunities, to  craft a satisfying narrative, and to come up with inventions the world didn't know was missing" (the high concept side)  and "involves the capacity to empathize, to understand the subtleties of human interaction, to find joy in one's self and to elicit it in others, and to stretch beyond the quotidian in pursuit of purpose and meaning" (the high touch side).

As Ron summarizes correctly there is a direct relation to employee communications implicit in this argument.  He could not be any more right!  I have spoken on this idea for a number of years now and am amazed at how people respond to their workplace environment when 'concept' and 'touch' are the foundation. 

In a media interview last month I was asked about how we can overcome the apparent emphasis on technology in communicating with staff if indeed there was a need for more touch.  My response, offered without taking time to think about the implications was that it is for this very reason that storytelling has not only emerged as a powerful tool in knowledge management, communication and engagement, but will gain momentum and establish itself at the forefront of  those fields.