Story As Strategy
By Les Mottosky
Author Micheal Meade demonstrates the value of co-creating a story framework that everyone in your organization can see themselves in:
“Ideology tries to get all people to carry the same idea. Mythology tries to get each person to have their own idea of the same thing.”
Myth as a leadership strategy is a veritable tuning fork for these times. Ideology wants uniformity; demanding alignment, compliance and replication. Yes, it’s efficient and scalable, but it becomes fragile. Really fast. That's because ideologies collapse when people stop agreeing.
Mythology, on the other hand, invites interpretation. It offers symbols, stories, and truths that live in a tension spacious enough for each person to find their own meaning, while remaining securely tethered to something shared. That’s culture.
Great leaders don’t lead through rigid ideology. They apply living mythology. Using stories, values, and visions that resonate deeply, while leaving space for personal connection. They don’t force everyone to parrot the same belief. They offer a common core while letting people orbit it in their own way.
This approach unlocks something ideology can’t: authentic engagement. When people are allowed to internalize a shared purpose on their own terms, they don’t just comply, they care. They offer more of themselves to the work.
As a leader, your job isn’t to enforce dogma. It’s to craft meaning-rich stories and metaphors, to create culture signals that people can inhabit and interpret. Not “Here’s what to think,” but “Here’s what we’re creating. What does it mean to you?”
That’s not soft. It’s leadership. And in a world of people increasingly allergic to control and famished for meaning, it’s exactly what’s needed.
An exclusive focus on manuals, math, and metrics is the stuff of mandates.
If you want your people to give their all—to the vision, the mission, the values—hear their myth, and help them live it.
That's the path to the heart and mind. Theirs, yours and the customers you're all in service to.
TAGS: #Story As Strategy #Leading Is Listening #Mythology At Work #Wisdom In Leadership #Adaptation As Innovation
Les Mottosky
Adaptation Strategist // I help organizations turn creativity into their competitive advantage by aligning leadership, culture and strategy to unlock adaptive innovations.
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https://www.linkedin.com/in/les-mottosky-9b94527/
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