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What’s Your (New) Story?I’m in the storytelling business. As a coach, I help leaders uncover their own stories about who they are and how their world works, and I help them discover how those stories sometimes limit them and keep them from getting the results they want.
Together, we explore the stories that belong to the organizations they lead, and unearth the stories of the space they occupy in the larger world. I often tell my leader clients different stories to encourage them to imagine ways in which their world could be different. And best of all, I work with them to craft new stories for themselves that open up all sorts of new possibilities for new ways of leading, and new ways of being in the world.
This is pretty heady stuff, and I consider myself extraordinarily fortunate to be invited in to play in the story game with so many master storytellers. We humans make up stories to make sense of the things we observe, assuming there must be meaning in everything. Stories are also the way we express our own identities to others, and not surprisingly they have the power to transform one’s self-identity. Stories are an
important tool of leadership, and good leaders understand how to use them effectively to express their values, their goals, and their hopes to the people they lead. A recent article in the Washington Post tells us about an example – a particularly
compelling one – involving an 88-year-old man who at age 20 survived the horrors of capture by the Japanese in World War II, the brutality of the Bataan Death March, and the trauma of imprisonment in a Japanese labor camp. Lester Tenney would have every right to live a life embittered by that experience. But instead, he decided that, in his own words, "A lot of killing was done by people who didn't want to kill. That became my new
story. This is what I did to make me feel better. I don't know if it's true or not." The new story enabled Tenney to become a leader in a movement of reconciliation, at the same time that he sought (and continues to seek) compensation for the victims. The transformative power of story is abundantly clear here. The literature of leadership is rife with such tales. We in the U.S. are now in the midst of a transition of power to the new Obama
Administration that carries with it a wholesale rewriting of the collective stories of our political culture, our social history, and our hopes for the future. It’s impossible to overstate the importance of the shift from old stories to new in this historical moment, both for our country and for the world. The stories we are writing now will either open up new horizons or close doors for all of us, and for the generations to come. It started
with the personal story of Barack Obama, so emblematic of the new makeup of the American citizenry. Obama himself mobilized millions of new voters, both young and old, with the transformative tone of the stories he told on the stump. And we are beginning to see the shape of the stories he will use to govern in a time of unprecedented challenge for our country. There’s a new opinion poll out that shows that with the election of Obama, the number of black Americans who view U.S. society as fair and decent has nearly doubled, to 42%. What’s different now from just a few months ago? Arguably nothing –
except the new story we Americans, all of us, are telling ourselves and each other. Despite a bruising presidential campaign, and no matter who we voted for, with our new story we are creating new possibilities for reconciliation – among the races, among the generations, among economic classes, among political opponents, among ethnic groups, among geographic locales.
The outcome of the election has enabled us all to recall the truly revolutionary subtext of the old stories of the founding of our republic, and to realize that the dreams of democracy and human dignity still animate the collective story of all Americans. Leaders in all places – not just the President-elect – have an extraordinary opening to shape new kinds of organizations, and a new kind of world, by tapping into this palpable
shift in the collective consciousness. What’s the new story you’ll be telling yourself and your followers in the days, weeks, and months ahead? Writing a new story for yourself and your organization can be a tough and lonely job. A coach can support you in taking on the challenge. Let’s talk. Call (410)626-6008, or email info@bloomfieldassociates.com. 
The Project for Excellence in Journalism reports that viewership of the network nightly news has dropped by 1 million viewers per year every year since 1983. The median age for a viewer of network news today is 61 years old. According to the National Small Business Association, nearly one-fifth of small-business owners leverage their business loans with a second home mortgage. As home values have plummeted in recent months, many were left with loans that outweigh the value of their homes, making the housing crisis a particular threat to small business. People are almost 50% more likely to lie when using email than when using pen and paper to correspond with someone they don't know, researchers from Lehigh University found in a recent study. 
Generation O In some social networking quarters, the new term for the people ages 18-30 or so who, in addition to being “Millenials” or “Gen Y’ers” by virtue of their birth years, have embraced all things Obama. No, you cannot be a member of Generation O if you were born a Baby Boomer – it’s not just a state of mind. Sorry. 
 Partnering Intelligence: Creating Value for Your Business by Building Strong Alliances, by Stephen M. Dent. What I like about it: I have recommended this book to my coaching clients for years, and last week had the opportunity to participate in a workshop on the subject by the author. He presents a powerful
approach to the challenge of working collaboratively across organizational boundaries, something virtually all leaders are required to take on these days.
Beth Bloomfield
Executive Coach, Strategy Consultant
Principal, Bloomfield Associates Share what you’re into — books, articles, movies, music, websites — with others on the list! Send us the title and author or other pertinent information, along with a
sentence or two on what you like about it, and if we use it in A Different Optic we’ll not only quote you, we’ll provide a link to you or your website. |
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"We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are."
-- Anaïs Nin |  |
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As I write this, I am on my way to the International Coach Federation (ICF) annual conference in Montreal, and hope to see many of you there. Look for our book, On Becoming a Leadership Coach: A Holistic
Approach to Coaching Excellence, edited by Chris Wahl, Clarice Scriber, and Beth Bloomfield, in the conference book store. Copies of the book will be available for sale at the ICF conference, or you can order the book on Amazon.com.
If you’re a Georgetown coaching grad or faculty member, meet us at the ICF conference at an alumni dinner planned for Friday evening, Nov.14 at 7:00pm. Contact Jennifer Whitcomb for more information by Thursday evening if you want to attend, please. Be sure to check out Beth Bloomfield’s A Different Optic blog,
dedicated to exploring what makes for good leadership, how to help leaders develop their skills and capacities, and how to create organizations that nurture and support good leadership. Join in the conversation by adding your own thoughts and comments. Subscribe to the blog feed and get notified by email whenever there’s a new post. Click here to get started.
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