And in my experience, it is essential that the story be based on a true story. 
   The story can be extrapolated. You may have noticed that in the Pakistan story, at the time in September 1998, when I told it, the insights about highway technology that had been learnt there had not yet been put on the World Bank’s external website. And so I said: “Let’s imagine. Let’s imagine what will happen if we continue with this strategy.
    Let’s imagine that this has been put on the website. Let’s imagine that other know-how has been put on the website.” In effect, I explicitly extrapolated and said that at that time this was still imaginary. It was something that should happen in the future. It  was not something that had already happened. In that sense, part of the story had yet 

Tell the story as simply as possible

    The story needs to be told as simply as possible.  In other words, I don’t use the standard tricks of an entertainment storyteller. I don’t tell you whether the health worker in Zambia was a man or a woman. I don’t tell you whether it was a doctor or a nurse. I don’t give you the color of the hair or the eyes. I don’t tell you whether it was hot or cold, quiet or noisy. I don’t tell you whether the air was fresh or dusty.  All of the tricks that would embed you in the situation in Zambia, I set aside. All of the things that get you to feel what it was like being with that health worker in Zambia, I set aside, because I have a different objective. I don’t want you too interested in Zambia. My objective is to create a space for the little voice to create a new narrative based on your context. If I get you too interested in the situation in Zambia, in the context of Zambia, you may never get around to inventing your own story, and spring to the new level of understanding that I am aiming for. So I tell the story in a very minimalist fashion. It’s quite different from telling a story for entertainment purposes.