By Janus Boye
My copy of the book which was written by Frank Wolf to help individuals and organisations to develop better narratives
The Narrative Age is a new book that came out in April written by our friend and Staffbase co-founder Frank Wolf. It provides compelling insights into how successful narratives go beyond storytelling to create messages that inspire change and support success.
In a world where story and narrative are often used interchangeably, understanding their distinction holds the key to giving organisations a significant edge in building compelling, authentic connections with their stakeholders. “The Narrative Age" explores how the world's most successful organizations and movements, from SpaceX to DeBeers to the Barbie movie, have harnessed the power of narratives to inspire their audiences.
The Narrative Age makes you think differently about the way you perceive the role of communications in shaping organisational vision and direction. It offers a roadmap to navigate the complexities of modern communication and stakeholder engagement with confidence and clarity.
In a recent members’ call Frank joined us for an informal book launch. He shared a few slides (download as PDF) and we talked about the book. The conversation, as per tradition, started with ‘why’ - what was it that triggered our dear friend Frank to write 200+ pages on narratives?
A book on narratives that inspire change
If you don’t know Frank and the company Staffbase that he co-founded with Martin Böhringer, it’s actually quite an impressive journey of what’s today a software unicorn. Founded in the unlikely tech hub of Chemnitz, Germany, they began with an initial focus on employee apps for internal communication, but today they have a broader focus on corporate communications.
Frank traveled with us in the early days of Staffbase and visited several of our German and Swiss intranet expert groups about a decade ago. Back then, as you can imagine, just the idea of having an employee app was quite a game changer.
In our conversation, Frank paraphrased the famous quote by American poet Maya Angelou:
“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Still, as Frank also mentioned in the book launch, success is actually seldom about the technology and getting an app out the door. Success is more likely determined by whether you succeed in getting the employees engaged. But how do you accomplish this? How do you keep employees engaged, productive and reduce sick leave? Or, considering the political arena, how do you gain support for your campaign and get elected as a candidate for office? Well, you need more than just good storytelling!
You need to change hearts and minds, and for this you need a compelling narrative. In his conversations with customers over the past decade, Frank had heard over and over again that customers wanted a new narrative. Yet, Frank found that little was seemingly written on this topic beyond academic circles, and based on this the idea of the book took shape.
The foreword is written by Staffbase co-founder Martin Böhringer, and he introduces the book by drawing parallels to the somewhat sad and polarised evolution of Twitter. From a global town hall to what X has become today: An algorithm-driven machine that confirms our viewpoints and rewards controversy. Having set the stage like this, Martin looks towards the big challenges in society today and nails the big problem also mentioned in the subtitle for the book: The need for leaders to inspire change in a polarised world.
Let’s move onto one of the key points in the book: Inspiring change is about more than storytelling.
Story versus narrative
From the slide deck that Frank Wolf shared in our members’ call
So, what’s the difference really between a story and a narrative?
Frank put it like this:
“Narratives are patterns that emerge from stories”
In the beginning of the book, Frank talks how the narratives connect to your reputation, and how you can’t fake it.
The title of the second chapter also gives it away: “Stories Win Games, Narratives Win Championships”. This chapter explains how stories help us make sense of the world and then how narratives are those patterns as described in the quote above.
There’s also a part in the chapter on the framing that connects stories and narratives, where he uses an anecdote that’s used throughout the book on how David Beckham engaged in the Remain campaign for the Brexit election in 2016 (spoiler: He couldn’t bend it).
The seven narrative virtues show how narratives are in many ways more powerful than stories. Here you go:
Narratives are the basis for action
Narratives are inclusive - it’s about me
Narratives are open-ended
Narratives grow stronger with every story
Narrative frame stories and create confirmation bias
Narratives are how we share our opinions
Narratives measure the outcome of communication
Talking about the seven narrative virtues, it’s the famous Barbie movie from 2023, which is weaved in and actually throughout the book you’ll find wonderful familiar and less familiar examples of powerful narratives.
Finally, as a way to visualize it, Frank also shared the below slide as a way to illustrate the connection from story to narrative onwards to reputation from a strategic communications point of view.
Creating a narrative map for space travel
Let’s move onto an example from the book, where Frank talks about north star narratives. He compares the narratives from aerospace companies Blue Origin, founded by Jeff Bezos with SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk.
The current Blue Origin tagline reads: “For the benefit of earth", while SpaceX says “Making humanity multiplanetary”. Similar, but different, right?
Below is a sample narrative map for space travel and you can also find more in the slides from the call, where Frank illustrated with color how people might have a positive, neutral or negative connection to the narratives on the map. An important point being how changing the narrative can make a negative connection go away.
There are several narrative maps in the book - also one for plant-based meat
PS: So, is it a Staffbase book? No, not really. While it does mention Staffbase here and there, it never comes across as a marketing brochure and it’s quite a helpful book actually. More than a text-book and really a good read for anyone working with communication. Thanks, Frank, for finding the time to do it and become better at working with narratives.
Learn more about narratives and storytelling
During the conversation with Frank, I was reminded of our 2020 call with American psychologist Susan Weinschenk who talked about the power of self stories to drive behavior.
On the closing slide and also towards the end of the book, Frank mentions that Staffbase is now focusing on what he refers to as CommTech; helping identify, manage and measure narratives. Back in April I attended the big communications convention that Staffbase put on in Berlin where inspiration, engagement and narratives took the center stage. Read more in my trip report: VOICES 2024: Listening to the changing tune of Staffbase.
For additional background, Frank last year also hosted a popular call on Intranet Strategy Trends for 2023 and we profiled him way back in 2017 among '10 Employee Experience Professionals to Watch'.
The conversation about narratives and more broadly the future for communicators naturally continues in our peers groups and conferences. At the Boye Aarhus 24 conference in November, we have a dedicated employee experience conference track.