“I SIGHT” Part 2 – The Future Informing Power of Stories

As a Christmas gift for a good friend, I gave 12 small journals. I gifted myself a separate set of 12. One journal for every month.  But what to fill them with?

Have you ever read an old journal? Or even old emails from a pivotal life moment? We see so clearly how events unfolded (and what we would have done differently) when looking into the past. Hindsight is 20/20. Which had me wondering, what if our present-sight could be closer to 20/20? What if there was a way to better understand in the present?

With that in mind, the premise behind the 12 journals was to shift attention from figuring out the future to capturing a deeper understanding of the present. Often when we set out to create our future we focus on variables and uncertainties – both positive and negative. But perhaps, as our 12 journal experiment taught me, you can’t get clarity about your future if you don’t have clarity about your past and present. If you separate conversations about your future from the past or present you’ll end up feeling anxious, disconnected, and disengaged from your choices.

Martian Heidegger, a German philosopher, captures this idea brilliantly. “A curious, indeed unearthly thing that we must first leap onto the soil on which we really stand.” (Heidegger, What Is Called Thinking?) We spend an exorbitant amount of time and energy (not to mention money) looking to the future while attempting to escape present realities. Are you living into the best possible future? For your leadership? For your business? For your family? Answering those questions requires a giant leap into your present versus an exodus from it.

Storytelling, through personal narration, is a powerful way to gain direction for hopes and aspirations that are grounded in the present. Stories, when told well, ground the teller and listener in the now. Think about the best story you have ever read, seen, or heard. The best stories, whether they happened decades ago or will happen decades from now, are the ones that are experienced as if they’re happening right now. That’s why the conversation with a spouse minutes after hearing you were promoted, or fired, is so powerful; the thought and emotion are recent. The experience of the present is what shifts a story from informative to transformative.

Daniel Taylor says it this way,

“You are your stories. You are the product of all the stories you have heard and lived – and many that you have never heard. They have shaped how you see yourself, the world, and your place in it…Our stories teach us that there is a place for us, that we fit…the more conscious we are about our stories, and our roles as characters in them, the more clarity we have about who we are, and why we are here, and how we should act in the world.” (The Healing Power of Stories)

We regularly work with leaders and their teams to craft and learn from these “present tense” experiences. Unpacking these stories yield a wealth of insight about where they have been and where they need to go in the future. Our Stories from the Future®, push leaders and teams to look at what has been or what could be through a completely new lens. Ultimately helping decrease the need to rely solely on hindsight and begin building true foresight. Storying provides individuals and groups a safe context to coalesce around common potential, reflect on and plan for that potential, and not wreak havoc on the business in the process.

Here’s a high level look at the process. You can personalize it for your own use, or can follow the tips as you invite others to pen their Stories From the Future.

Steps	Tips
Begin with the premise that futures are not predetermined, but written.	Gain clarity about authors’ mindset or the cultural mindset of the future. Work to overcome any ‘victim’ mentality, helplessness or a ‘my hands are tied’ cultural mindset.
Decide the story’s scope and desired impact.	What does the story need to accomplish? (e.g., transform a leader’s behaviors or reinvent their leadership for a new role or career season? Or is it four distinct businesses whose parent company wants to integrate under one umbrella?)
Set the story in the Past (e.g., A record setting performance) or Future (e.g., Washington Post Cover Story On Your Success).	Focus on 3-5 past or future stories versus mixing past and future together. The goal is to learn from a set of like stories versus one story.
Create guideposts for your authors.	Provide some general topics for authors to cover in their writing. Be directive, but not overly leading. (e.g., your efforts made a fundamental difference for others and you knew it as opposed to detailing the difference they made.)
Have authors write their stories.	Live/relive the event versus tell/retell it. Don’t edit; let your impulses run. The most difficult part is starting.
Debrief stories to identify patterns and insights.	What recurring themes or dissonance surface? What implications do they have on your core purpose and future endeavors?
Create an action plan based on the findings.	Pick 2-3 things to work on. Find a partner to journey with you. ‘Learning Labs’ create a safe environment to skin your knees. Make hypotheses based on your work and test them.

For my friend and I, the 12 journals told a profound story of our past year in present tense narrative. At the end of the year we booked a long weekend to reflect and play. We skied and did après to the full. During fireside moments we discussed how our reflections on the near-present may impact our future. Our vision for the future improved because our vision of the present was clearer. That was a gift much greater than 12 stapled piles of paper.