Narrative Strategy: No, it's not logical
Being a narrative strategist is not very logical. Because I’m more of a belief steward and champion for the unrealized than a communications professional or wordsmith. There’s no empirical evidence or materialist proof that what we’re creating is real…yet.
But with the right narrative, the schema of potentiality takes shape, unfolding into the infrastructure we need for an innovation to come alive.
It’s more than pure optimism or wishful thinking though. I’m not yelling at my team that we will create the next great invention or solve some wicked problem. It’s not a “say it-do it-done” type of process, nor is it an empty promise or corporate slogan.
Instead, I help teams find the pieces of truth that resonate with them. I listen to their stories, understanding what’s important to them and what brought them to this moment. And their beliefs start to emerge, creating a landscape of motivations and meaning making. These beliefs might be heuristics that allow them to navigate the uncertainty of life. They might not have any “proof”. And they’re not quite logical.
But that doesn’t matter.
Because when we’re creating something new, we need to release ourselves from logic and let belief guide us. Narrative strategy gives feel and form to what we can’t always prove. It’s a leap of faith, but instead of leaping blindly, we have stories of possibility and a vision of the future to help us soar, rather than crash.
When we think of belief, we often go straight towards religion or politics. But there’s also the beliefs we have about ourselves. The belief in what were capable of, what’s possible. These beliefs, which tend to be molded by our emotional experiences and story driven sense making, are not simple algorithms that we can rely upon to perform. They don’t follow a linear, repeatable process. Instead, I hold the space for a collective belief to emerge. For individual stories to weave themselves into a shared narrative. For the parts to become whole.
It’s not logical.
And that’s the point.
"By believing passionately in something that still does not exist, we create it. The nonexistent is whatever we have not sufficiently desired."
Franz Kafka