Stories from the danger zone: Conversational storytelling and the meaning of work after a close brush with death.

(i.e., meaningfulness). Additional interviews culminated in a theoretical model where the raw materials of the close brush with death (loss of life, errors by the crew) created stories with more versus less dramatic tension. Differences in dramatic tension then shaped how story work (humor, poetic license) was used to craft the tale, how the tellings were experienced (teller emotions, audience reactions), and how gains in meaning as fulfillment (significance, belonging, esteem) were realized. In the end, participants with more and less dramatic tension in their stories were both able to use tellings to cultivate meaning as fulfillment, albeit in distinct and varying ways. Our findings therefore illustrate that the literatures connecting storytelling to the meaning of work have given short shrift to the power of stories. We discuss the implications of our theorizing for the meaning of work and storytelling at work literatures. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).