People Change

This makes the breadth of our narratives and plot equal to the depth of our memories and that held the closest, our identity, the least negotiable. If this is true, then, one cannot change the story of another. Instead, change in another’s narrative must come at the hand of its author. People change then is not something that leader’s do but something they provide the means for by telling another story, giving, as it were, people opportunity to see themselves differently. As such narrative leadership seeks to change human organizations by leading their members to write a new story of their organization. This entails an appreciation of the essential nature of narrative within human sociality, its power over social actors, and a commitment to determine the individual and corporate narratives within the scope of its influence. Further, narrative leadership takes as primary the human as social actor and refuses to delegate that place to any other entity. This focuses the leader’s effort in a people centric fashion and places human concerns, if not above, at least on par with those of the organization.