chapter SEVEN

Narrative Purpose

In Chapter Six, I emphasized the importance of story in personal life. This chapter carries story to interpersonal and organizational levels. Doing this will prepare the way for our understanding some of CEO Ralph’s perceptions and behavior when we move to high-stakes moments at ClearFacts. As individuals create, perpetuate, and alter their own essential unifying personal stories, in their ongoing social interactions they also weave the stories of others and of organizations in with their own. Recall that at the synthesized core of a person’s stories lies the person’s identity. So, too, shared stories are essential to forming and perpetuating the identity of a group.

For example, a married couple’s unifying identity ...

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