We humans interpret the present and make decisions based on our personal experiences and how we frame the past. A large part of our worldview is essentially a narrative about the past – what happened, why, who were the good guys, and who were the bad guys. Let’s walk through history to see the power of narrative, and then pivot to organizational leadership.
An ironic quip in the Soviet Union: “We are certain of the future. The past is always changing.” In 1981 I asked my college friend Sergei about Stalin and Khrushchev; he acknowledged they had done evil things. I asked him about Brezhnev, the premiere at that time. He shook his head, replying, “I don’t know, he hasn’t died yet.”
Indeed, apart from mathematics and some scientific disciplines specifically useful for weapons programs, the USSR regime brutally suppressed any historical information that did not fit their preferred narrative. Maoist China did the same thing. I witnessed this pattern first-hand in Venezuela in 2002-2004. George Orwell made the theme of a totalitarian state controlling the narrative about the past a central element in his novel 1984. The main character destroyed facts about the past by tossing them into the “memory hole.” Communist and Fascist leaders alike know that governing the narrative about the past is crucial to maintaining control. Many people have observed that the dominant history is written and passed along by the victors.
The pattern is not limited to “evil” authoritarian governments. The US, France, Germany and Japan all shaped how the history of WW2 is taught in their schools. Today Americans shudder at the conquest ethic and the colonial practices of Western European nations (which were commonly done by every expansionist empire for thousands of years, on at least 4 continents). Many settled peoples were killed or forced off “their” lands, and exploited. It was a practice going back in related forms for several thousand years on at least five continents. Near where I grew up the Shawnee and the Delaware tribes were displaced as European settlers moved west past the Ohio River. The frequently warring Shawnee and Delaware had pushed out several other tribes from the area about 120-150 years earlier. There are large earth mounds at Marietta, Ohio from a sophisticated civilization that predated the Shawnees by about 2400 years, built on top of what looks like an even older agricultural community site. In all these kinds of situations, where do you start and stop your timeline to form the narrative about who is good and who is bad, and what happened why?
What narrative gets told and is accepted about the Industrial Revolution, pollical events in the 20th century, labor unions, mercantilism, corporations, “Robber Barons” (or “Industrialists”) like Andrew Carnegie and John Rockefeller, the racism and religious beliefs of country founders and prominent leaders, the role of judges, protests against standing laws and governments, entertainment, books, medical practices, and on and on and on? Consider how much energy and effort goes into political campaigns to control the narrative. I once interviewed a political consultant who said that when a campaign gets a voter to cherish a preferred narrative, it would very difficult for anyone to persuade them otherwise. Labels and group names are powerful tools in shaping a narrative about the past. The narratives can and will be re-shaped over the years as well.
A useful test is to ask “Had the historical events turned out differently, what narrative would be told?” If Gandhi’s efforts had not led to end of the British Raj, what stories would be treasured about him? If Abraham Lincoln had not held the US together, would there be a massive monument with his likeness in Washington, D.C.? These illuminate the “who benefits” question.
Another lesson from historical narratives: Most people gravitate to simple narratives that leave out messy details. Read “Mein Kompf” and you’ll see how Adolf Hitler narrowed the downfall of Germany to an impossibly narrow set of causes, and ultimately persuaded millions of people to “forget” well-known truths about what had happened in their lifetimes.
Your organization, your industry, your competitors, and your customers all have narratives. A subset are cherished by one “side” or another.
Historical narratives are a ubiquitous part of business:
- Every time there is a change in leaders, be aware of the narratives.
- Every reorganization becomes a narrative story. Often there is a campaign to reframe the past in a particular narrative.
- Often two groups inside a company or non-profit shape a historical narrative about the other, and both are partially correct.
- Older organization members selectively shape the “we used to be…” or “in the bad/good ‘ol days we did…” stories.
- Every top-down change initiative must manage competing narratives to “capture” hearts and minds.
- Every negotiation (with vendors, partners, and portfolio priority stakeholders) has underlying historical narratives.
- Customer experiences either reinforce or scrape against a narrative.
Strong leaders, aware of the power of narrative, consciously use it in persuasion. Even when you are aware of revisionist history narratives, you can still be victimized by them. Be particularly aware of the simplistic narrative that leaves out nuance and inconvenient facts.
