Adapted from the New Organizing Institute Leadership Dev Initiative http://www.neworganizing.com

Originally adapted from the works of Marshall Ganz of Harvard University -- Hauser Center, Harvard Kennedy School, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge, MA 02138.

Public narratives are the stories that communicate our values,
bringing alive the motivation that is necessary for change.

Public narrative combines a story of self + a story of us + a story of now.

Strategy is leadership of the head. Narrative is of the heart. We need both to mobilize others to meaningful action

I Am - Your story of self helps the world understand why you are called to leadership. What your values are. Why you are called to make a difference. Why you are who you are

Every one has a compelling story to tell. We each have people in our lives whose stories of challenge, courage, and action influence our own values. And we have each made choices in response to our own challenges that shape our life’s path: confrontations with pain, moments of hope, calls to action.

Your story expresses your values, and in so doing, stimulates others to engage their own values, their own challenges, and inspires them with new ways of thinking about how to make choices in their lives.

To overcome the emotions that hold us back, and replace them with emotions that enable us to act

The key to our story is to uncover challenges and choice points in our lives and unlock their meaning to who we are now

Those moments in our lives when we brought our values to bear on choices in ways that shape who we become.

• When did you first care about being heard?
• When did you first experience injustice?
• When did you feel you had to act?
• Why did you feel you could?
• What were the circumstances?
• The place, the colors, the sounds?
• What did it look like?

Our story begins with an unexpected challenge that confronts us with an urgent need to pay attention

Why did you feel it was a challenge? What was so challenging about it? Why was it your challenge?

A word about challenge: Sometimes people see the word challenge and think that they need to describe the misfortunes of their lives. Keep in mind that a struggle might be one of your own choosing – a high mountain you decided to climb as much as a valley you managed to climb out of. Any number of things may have been a challenge to you and be the source of a good story to inspire others.

Why did you make the choice you did? Where did you get the courage (or not)? Where did you get the hope (or not)? Did the example or life story of someone you knew or loved teach you how to act in that moment? How did it feel?

How did the outcome feel? Why did it feel that way? What did it teach you? What do you want it to teach us? How do you want us to feel?