(Another) Quick Riff on Narrative Strategy

One challenge of our era, if not the defining challenge, is to reach a coherent, actionable understanding of what is happening in our culture. This is always what I have tried to accomplish with my writing, and increasingly this is what I find myself doing in work. Little today is clear. There are still questions to be answered on how to orient to ... See more

It’s increasingly clear to me that a consultant that can help shape the narrative of an organization can have real impact on everything from the brand’s position in culture to the way product teams prioritize and ship features.

In this age of audience first brands, smart leaders are realizing the power of writing and the power of creating an ongoing... See more

I spend 90% of my time thinking about stories and narratives, and like so many other things, narrative formation is getting decentralized. This is my attempt to figure out what’s happening and where it’s heading.Crafting and telling stories is part of what makes humans humans. Stories let us coordinate across time and space. Stories are undeniably ... See more

We have a moral responsibility to shape the world with specific, defensible ideas that we believe in. Call it definite optimism, reclaiming agency, or finding your life's work. Building a great business, rallying a network, fostering a community – they all require redirecting collective attention. The technologist's job is not to redirect worship t... See more

At the top of every creative log are two prompts—“For others” and “For me”—where I articulate the purpose of the writing.138 Filling these in helps me determine the writing’s fate, so I try to be as honest as possible. No answer is off limits. No reason too egoic. “Wanting to better understand my thinking” and “Wanting to better position myself as

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