Shaping Narrative - A Leadership Imperative

Great leaders have used storytelling to inspire, mobilise or connect with their audiences or stakeholders since time immemorial. They build and leverage storytelling skills, guided by intuitive wisdom and conscious strategic choices to achieve desired objectives. While most of us comprehend the art of storytelling in varying degrees having heard and told hundreds of them consciously and subconsciously, our discovery of Narrative- often used interchangeably with storytelling-as a structured art is a relatively recent phenomenon. To be sure, narratives, like stories, are as primal as the human race and are inseparable from stories, but are not interchangeable. Therefore, a Narrative as a separate and much stronger force of nature has been visible only to the most discerning and perceptive--those capable of leading--who have wielded its power with telling effect in all disciplines including religion, history, literature, politics, philosophy, psychology, trade, and I dare say, even in sciences.

My friend Abhinav Sahay, a senior journalist, who has closely witnessed the play and power of narratives in the political, social and organizational space, says, "Simply put, a Narrative is a strong undercurrent common to several stories on the same subject. Once absorbed, it resides in the deep subconscious extending beyond the analytical powers of mind and shapes our worldview and choices with an invisible hand."

This 'Invisible hand' has been continuously shaping our likes, dislikes and choices in all walks of life for centuries, and a case can be made that its influence has been overbearing in shaping our view of history, politics, religion and literature more than any other area. My close assessments of organisational leadership and structures have convinced me over the years that narrative-building potential has been under-utilised in this sphere, and, while organisations and their leaders are often made or undone by narratives, they have limited control over it, partly because its 'unseen' and therefore evades definition, comprehension and application.

So, how are winning narratives made, why is it so important for business leaders and those who aspire to be one and how is it linked to storytelling? Well for starters, let's understand what most successful leaders do.

As Napolean once said, 'a leader is a dealer in hope', real leaders are creators who can sell their vision to their audiences (stakeholders). All top leaders use narratives to build a larger purpose in their vision to galvanise an organisation's internal and external stakeholders for navigating complexities and transformation. They tell stories of hope, aspiration, and pride, and act consistently to reinforce and bring their vision to fruition. In the process, they turn indifference and apathy into attachment and endorsement. That's how legacy brands and businesses are made.

A winning narrative is embedded in the DNA of the organization. From top to bottom, even the walls of its building glow in the light of the narrative, let alone the people who serve it and the consumers who consume its services or products.

Narratives, as stated before, are much deeper and much more powerful than stories, they are the essence of stories that seep into our bones and are absorbed by our muscles after making our subconscious its home. Most stories are transactional, and if not part of a narrative, their power to influence behaviours is limited. In comparison, Narrative-shaping is a strategic work that requires breaking down the vision to provide directional clarity, purpose and common cause.

For example, Jeff Bezos envisioned Amazon as the earth's most customer-centric company, differentiated with technology. The directional guidance to achieve this narrative was provided by three timeless functional and tangible benefits- faster delivery, variety, and low price. This made Amazon's essence crystal clear to all stakeholders, who knew what they were signing up for.

The same applies to the Narrative-shaping of individual leadership brands. It is the difference between a leader who creates a legacy and another who fades into obscurity. A great leader not only walks and talks his narrative but becomes it. The integrity of his/her narrative inspires teams and businesses to become an extension of the larger organizational objectives.

Once formed, integrated narratives create emotional engagement with the entire stakeholder universe, turning them into brand endorsers and ambassadors, accelerating an organisation's growth like wildfire. It is common to mistake this state for Customer Advocacy- itself very hard to achieve, but integrated narratives go beyond achieving Customer Advocacy by creating brand cheerleaders beyond the customer universe.

A Narrative's power is all-pervading, it not only facilitates market penetration, product launches, revenue generation, and global expansion but also provides a cushion in unavoidable crises such as product or leadership failures or layoffs, to name a few.
Internally, it provides the purpose for implementing transformational changes such as organizational restructuring, enhances productivity and helps retain top talent in addition to motivating people to achieve excellence.

An integrated narrative not only aligns a leader's brand with that of the company but is reflected in all small and big actions apart from communications, thus minimising dissonance for internal and external stakeholders. Such brands are trusted beyond their stakeholder universe and everyone wants to work for them.

The ability to shape narratives needs to be cultivated as a leadership skill. Very little compulsion has been felt in the business space to dissect narratives to understand their working parts and dynamics. It hasn't been reverse-engineered into a tool to be wielded with telling effect and control. If not done, as history teaches us, those without a compelling narrative will find themselves at the periphery of their consumers' and stakeholders' attention fields, that too, if they are lucky, the rest will be remembered only through their relics.

(The author, Vivek Tiwari is the founder of Pragyan Advisory, specializing in Leadership, Team and Organizational culture consultancy. He has also worked with Amazon, PwC, and American Express.)