We all have a story to tell. Let me give you a little of mine: When I was 18, I graduated from high school and didn't know where to go from there. I knew college wasn't for me quite yet and I knew working as a waitress and staying in Tulsa, Oklahoma wasn't the right move either. I was inspired and motivated, but didn't know where to direct my energy.
This was in 2007. That February, Obama had just broken into the national spotlight announcing his run for presidency. I was curious, so I signed up to volunteer in Chicago. I was fairly active in politics growing up. My father was an elected official for a brief period of time. I had an idea of how politics worked. When I joined the Obama campaign, I didn't really know what I was getting into, other than that I was embarking on an adventure. During my first week, I quickly learned the ropes of a national campaign but also realized there was more to it: we had to tell our story. I didn't even know I had one worth mentioning.
The "story of self" has been used for many years for persuasion, organizing and content creation. But where did it come from?
There wouldn't be a story of self in contemporary modes of organizing without grassroots organizer Marshall Ganz. Ganz is credited as one of the most important organizers and storytellers of the 20th century. He constructed a pedagogy that stresses asking 3 fundamental questions:
- What am I called to do?
- What is my community called to do?
- What we are called to do now?
The Obama campaign integrated these Ganzian questions into trainings and discussions with voters. The point of Ganz-style organizing is to become comfortable with public storytelling as a leadership practice, translating values into action. Even my job at NationBuilder includes a robust amount of storytelling, documenting and understanding everyone that signs up for a nation and why. It's built heavily into our mission.
But the applicability of the story of self doesn't stop at organizing, it's become a common tactic in content storytelling for social good. Anyone can and should do it. It's super empowering. Today, content creators from writers to documentary filmmakers (including yours truly at NationBuilder) have taken a nod from Mr. Ganz and the organizing world.
For example, in a recent article published in Forbes, writer Lori Kozlowski discusses the Future of Content, Good News and Action. The article examines two excellent examples of the power of storytelling: Caine, a 9-year-old boy who built an entire arcade out of cardboard and Ryot, a news and activist resource dedicated to turning passive readers into activists. The 8-minute long documentary about Caine crafts a narrative around a little boy and turns the dialogue into a national call to action by the Imagination Foundation. Ryot, on the other hand, takes current news stories and pairs them with a petition or tweet, so that readers can take easily take action on issues they care about.
Regardless of what industry you're in, these acts of public storytelling and action as spearheaded by Ganz engage people far more than dispassionate, jargon induced writing. Story sharing is an opportunity for your organization to generate and disseminate new ideas and initiatives, reaching not only local audiences but global ones as well.
And a few resources to help you get started crafting your story of self:
- Check out Ganz's intro to Public Narrative taught at Harvard University.
- NationBuilder allows you to easily embed videos online
- NationBuilder seriously empowers everyone to be a leader and an organizer. Start your free NationBuilder trial to see what we're all about.
- Need inspiration on putting together a cohesive content strategy? Take a few tips from C.J. MinsterCheng and Kara Scharwath on developing a content strategy, visualizing the way we communicate, and designing a website that tells a story.
