And if that is so, then narrative intelligence—the ability to “think narratively” about the world—is central to leadership.32 But what exactly does it mean to think narratively about the world? It means the capacity to understand the world in narrative terms, to be familiar with the different components and dimensions of narratives, to know what

Enabler #2: Committing to the Story of Change Managers are appointed by other people. Leaders appoint themselves. Deciding to be a leader is a choice we have to make on our own. No one else can do it for us.

Enabler #1: Articulating a Clear and Inspiring Change Idea

By contrast, the true language of leadership feels fresh and inviting, energizing and invigorating, challenging and yet enjoyable, lively, spirited, and fun, as when equals are talking to equals.

Leaders who talk in this way sound very different from typical authority figures of the past—managers, teachers, parents or politicians. True, some of those people were inspiring. But most of them communicated in the familiar top-down, paternalistic, authoritarian, domineering, I’m-in-charge-so-I-know-what’s-right manner that people in positions of

And it’s not “just” a story. What’s generated becomes a new narrative to live by,

Quickly stimulating desire for a different state of affairs is the most important part of the communication: without it, the leadership communication goes nowhere. It’s also the piece that is most consistently missing in the communications of aspiring leaders.

In fact, some of the strongest stories are the smallest and the least pretentious. It’s precisely because they are small and unpretentious that they work their magic. It’s a question of understanding the right form of story to elicit desire: generally, it’s a positive story about the past where the change, or an analogous change, has already

Social scientists have also shown that negative messages are more attention-getting than positive messages.