The Five Organizing Principles of Story
A narrative system for leadership
By Robert Dickman, Founder of FirstVoice

“All great leaders are great storytellers.”
– Howard Gardner, Harvard University

Story is the way we make sense of and give meaning to the world; it is the most powerful way human beings have for transmitting and retaining information. Over thirty years of research in the field of Cognitive Psychology supports this position.

Every successful story has five elements: fire/passion, earth/hero, air/action, water/awareness and space/transformation. These elements are central to our thinking process; they have the power to transform communication.

Before you go public with your story, ask yourself these questions:

Passion/Fire
Are you passionate about the story? Does your passion motivate your constituents to take positive action?

Hero/Earth
Does the story provide a clearly defined point of view?

Action/Air
Are the obstacles that confront the hero of the story, and by extension the audience, expressed clearly?

Awareness/Water
What new insight does your story bring to your audience?

Transformation/Space
Does the story have the power to change the life of the audience in a meaningful way?

Please feel free to contact me and let me know how The Five Organizing Principles of Story can transform your communications: bob@first-voice.com