Narrative Strategy: Reorient Around Meaning
Full disclosure, if you read my writing regularly with, hopefully, great zeal and attention to detail, you’ll probably notice that I oscillate between “thought leadership” on narrative strategy, self-depreciating commentary, and business acumen for those seeking new perspectives. I generally put a design together for what I intend to write and publish, but I’m also a spur-of-the-moment type of gal who sometimes just needs to write what’s rolling around in my head. I’m also not ashamed to admit I’m experimenting with LLMs role in my writing process and where it does and doesn’t serve me. This is all to say that this post is a break from me “writing seriously” and more of a riff that I thought I’d share, because why not? If you like this style better, please do comment below.
Stop Communicating. Start Making Meaning.
I think the greatest opportunity we have right now is the ability to reorient ourselves around what really matters to us. We get to decide what’s meaningful. With all the AI disruption, geopolitical complexities and general uncertainty that is the world we live in, we are at a turning point. A true crossing of the threshold. And this translates into what we do in our group settings. What organizations do as they unite individuals to achieve something of significance. And to achieve that something, that thing that matters most, requires a new era of communications that goes beyond informational exchanges and regular updates. We need communications that reenforce what matters to us. Communications that scale the meaning making that is essential to our collective flourishing. Instead of treating communications as a function that just keeps your organization “updated”, it’s the channel for meaning making to scale and transform. That’s where narrative strategy begins and old-school communications ends.
This looks like each new initiative being designed from a narrative-first perspective. Understanding that your organization is desperate for meaning and significance, understanding “the why and why now?” before anything can happen. Creating something new — be it a product, a policy, a organization, a movement — requires a deep commitment to narrative. Because we are already losing the plot with all the noise and overwhelm that has defined modern life. Help us find the plot. Help us find the why.
Ok, now what?
Ok, so you’re probably tired of everyone talking about the overwhelming complexity, compounding disasters and general clusterfuck that is 2026. I’m not going to harp on that. I want to provide an alternative. And no, it’s not a Pollyanna “everything will be fine if we all just get a long”. It’s a real strategy. A solution set that I’ve witness work across disciplines and contexts to create real outcomes in this reality. It’s…drumroll please…Narrative Strategy!
Let’s review:
1. Story-listening
Narrative strategy starts with listening to those around you. What I call story-listening. Listening for the desires and obstacles of those you work with, live alongside and generally share this world with. People who are important to you. These could be customers, team members, community members, anyone who you are in some type of relationship with. We’re all navigating our own stories, and what’s significant and matters most to us will be in the details of the stories we tell about ourselves and others. What does your customer hesitate around? What does your neighbor keep focusing on? Why does your teammate seem distracted? This is where we start dialing in on language, paying attention to the words used, the expressions made, the emotions shared. We need to know what story they are in and it starts with listening.
2. Storytelling
First, let’s me clarify
Communications = an exchange of information and delivery of messages, usually with the intent to inform others. That email you receive from HR is a communication. That conversation you have with your manager is a communication. That investor report is a communication. Communication is focused on “the what”: data, instructions, facts, and logical sequencing.
Storytelling = a form of communication that uses emotion to create meaning. I define a story as “what you want versus the obstacles in your way.” This is the definition I’ve used in my early career in Hollywood and my current work in innovation and it’s served me well. Storytelling is a proven method for knowledge acquisition, awareness generation, attitude shifts and action. But the best of storytelling uses meaning making to induce behavior change. And behavior change is where we get those pesky results we so desperately crave. Storytelling is focused on “the why”. If you want something to change, start with story. It influences awareness, attitude, action and behavior much more effectively than an email communication from HR.
So with that in mind, storytelling, as part of narrative strategy, is where we take our learning from story-listening and start designing a new system of stories, that offers new opportunities for meaning-making and resonance. This looks like stories that offer alternatives to how things are currently done, a potential future that gives people what they want even if they have to overcome obstacles to achieve it. This narrative — this system of stories—must reflect what was learned through the story-listening. The narrative must answer “why” for each stakeholder involved.
3. Story Stewardship
This is where we see the stories we’ve designed take on a life of their own. They are evangelized across organizations, repeated across channels and functions. What we’ve communicated earlier, in story form, starts to be lived as reality. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy because we’ve activated the behavior change mechanism that comes through meaning making. This isn’t some company motto being repeated ad nauseam, or a series of self-love affirmations that supposedly help you manifest your destiny — this is where words becomes reality because the narrative has given us meaning and momentum to do what needs to be done. Story stewardship leverages traditional communication channels to transform the status quo into a new paradigm. It goes beyond information shared to meaning made and motivation activated. Story stewardship solves for the unread emails and inattentive team meetings. It’s leadership on steroids; motivation at it’s highest form. It’s life being lived on purpose.
And that’s what we need in today’s age of disruption. Life on purpose is where we seize reality for what it truly is: possibility. It’s where we can wake up without being overwhelmed by dread and existential angst, finding a reason to go out and create something better than what we have now. It’s where we find and cultivate relationships that nourish us, create experiences we can cherish and be proud of it. It’s where we find the strength to overcome challenges that seem impossible, until they’re not.
When we use narrative strategy, we reclaim our life as our own. It fulfills that uniquely human need to understand “why”, while also being able to get us to participate in the world around us. This is my method for crafting irresistible futures and a better world. Give it a try and let me know what you think.
Let’s catch our breath
Ok, did you follow all that? Need more clarity, explanation and use cases? No problem, start here. I’ve written this piece as an exercise in expelling all the thoughts out of my head and reminder of my own passion for narrative strategy. If you’re still processing….good. Stick with it. If you’re following and want to know more, awesome. Let’s chat and see what fun is to be had.
If you’re intrigued and want to see how this can be used in your own life, check out my free webinar and white paper.