Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER 13

Storytelling by Committee

Finding big stories to capture the essence of an organization, candidate, or brand is the Holy Grail for many newcomers to storytelling. They seek a brand or organizational story that packs an emotional punch and replicates and travels like a virus before they’ve learned good habits by practicing personal stories. They want a story that is simultaneously personal and collective, a story that sweeps attention and conclusions to a desired position.

After 9/11, the “freedom is on the march” story was powerful and motivating, and it was one of those stories that pre-interpreted all dissent as being “against us.” It was a resilient enough story to contain contradictory data successfully. It created a metaphor that ...