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CHAPTER 8The Second Function of Leadership

Growing Spirit Through Collective Storytelling

Spirit evoked by vision can begin to realize its potential not only when the vision is shared but also when it is grown. Leadership has a central part to play in this process through collective storytelling.

Storytelling may seem a rather weak reed with which to build an organization, but that is to misunderstand the power of stories. When I say story, I am referring not to some idle or amusing tale, but rather, to the central vehicle through which the Spirit of an organization is gathered and focused on the job at hand. The story is the organizational mythology.

Having said “mythology,” I may have made the situation even less comprehensible, for to ...

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