At our last gathering in Pune, a foundation from the US sent us some money to give away.  We evenly distributed it amongst 50 people, and asked everyone to let it ripple it out.  Lots of stories emerged, but some recipient asked why we should bother sharing stories at all.  It forced us to articulate some of the key points ... 

Stories speak to the intangible: In our metric-driven world, it takes stories to highlight the importance of things that we cannot quantify.  There is no number to signify a shift in thinking, but it can be illustrated beautifully in a story.  It is a way to articulate what is happening holistically to those who would only look to more metric-driven definitions of outcomes.

Stories allow for personal reflection: As Vinoba would say, for action to create shift in thinking and being, reflection is also needed.  Requesting people to share stories offers an opportunity to ensure such reflections take place, allowing each person to see for themselves how invitations to shift thinking leads to broader shifts in micro-actions.  

Stories give importance to small things: Again, from numbers driven perspective, we as a society lose sight of small things.  The starfish story as a telling example, stories are a method to transcend that bias and help people understand that the world is simply an amalgamation of the small :)

Stories facilitate transformation of all parties: While it would be one thing to think of transformation as ‘ones own’, reality is that we are all deeply interconnected to each other.  In that space, the ability to share our transformation on any level offers an invitation to those connected to us to explore the same.  Consequently, one’s family members, friends, even funders of the flow funds can receive a message for transformation that would not be accessible otherwise.