Public Narrative

In 2023 I was lucky enough to take the Public Narrative (Leadership, Storytelling and Action) course over 17 weeks with Professor Marshall Ganz at Harvard Kennedy School. This was a profoundly influential experience and one that i am deeply grateful for.

I wanted to share information about Public Narrative with you as a tool to explore, learn from, work with.

💡 Public Narrative is a leadership-development practice developed by Marshall Ganz. He teaches, researches and writes on leadership, narrative, strategy and organisation in social movements and politics and was instrumental in the design of the grassroots organisation for the 2008 Obama campaign.

💡 Ganz defines leadership as accepting responsibility for enabling others to achieve shared purpose in the face of uncertainty.  Public narrative is an exercise of leadership by motivating others to join you in action on behalf of a shared purpose.

💡 Stories are how we learn to make choices to access the resources we need to face the uncertain, the unknown, and the unexpected mindfully. Because stories speak the language of the heart, they teach us not only how we “ought to” act, but can inspire us with the “courage to” act.

In Public Narrative we create the story of Self, Us and Now and then combine them to make a powerful whole story for change.

✍ A story of self: Why were you called to motivate others to join you in this action? What stories can you share that will enable others to “get you.” How can you enable others to experience sources the values that move you not only to act, but to lead?

✍ A story of us: To what values, experiences, or aspirations of your community will you appeal when you call on them to join you in action? What stories do you share that can express these values?

✍ A story of now: What urgent challenge do you hope to inspire others to take action on? What is your vision of successful action? What choice will you call on members of your community to make if they are to meet this challenge successfully? How can they act together to achieve this outcome? And how can they begin now, at this moment?

🌍 There are so many great leaders, activists and organisers out there trying to help spread the light and offer solutions in the face of darkness, despair, chaos. I wanted to share this model with you and highlight some places you can go to learn more.

💡 Further Resources
Leading Change Network: https://lnkd.in/ewZ8FQyF
Harvard Open Article: https://lnkd.in/ey9A4wfp