Stories are the way that we build meaning out of the world. They are also an effective centerpiece to social change. This book covers years of experiments - where activists and non-profits used narratives to achieve goals. The author outlines the three principles that all social change organizations and coalitions must embrace in order to be successful, and why these matter. He also summarizes the history of some past movements in the context of how understanding is embedded in stories.
Becoming a story-based learning organization isn't easy. It forces you to challenge what you assume to be true. It changes how organizations develop their strategy. Instead of deciding on a direction and then convincing people in communities to follow, we must listen and build relationships with people who care about the same problems. You define the agenda based on what they – the real experts closest to the problem – think the answers should be. And when the work is done, they take all the credit for themselves. You will be invisible, but because your work will be emotionally grounded in shared values, the people will sustain it and breathe a life and power into it that you could have only dreamed about, trying to do it all on your own.
This book also covers the technical methods of automating a lot of the work in listening to people. It is a field guide to complement storylearning.org, as well as a treatise on why it works.
Becoming a story-based learning organization isn't easy. It forces you to challenge what you assume to be true. It changes how organizations develop their strategy. Instead of deciding on a direction and then convincing people in communities to follow, we must listen and build relationships with people who care about the same problems. You define the agenda based on what they – the real experts closest to the problem – think the answers should be. And when the work is done, they take all the credit for themselves. You will be invisible, but because your work will be emotionally grounded in shared values, the people will sustain it and breathe a life and power into it that you could have only dreamed about, trying to do it all on your own.
This book also covers the technical methods of automating a lot of the work in listening to people. It is a field guide to complement storylearning.org, as well as a treatise on why it works.
