Public narrative and creating an impact

Introduction

We make sense of the world through two ways: analysis and narrative. Applying rules of
critical reason to our experience through analysis helps us understand what we think
about things and guides us on how to act. Narrative, serves the complementary need, of
understanding who we are and why we should or should not act.

Through analysis we access the intellect and through narrative we access emotions.
Political scientist George Marcus posits that for constructive and creative action we need
to channel anxiety through hope. Narrative can create such hope, or as psychologist
Jerome Bruner would say, teach us how to cope with uncertainty, especially with respect
to others. Data about the experience of people afflicted with lesions on the amygdale,
the part of the brain central to our emotions, shows that people with this disability come
up with one option after another, but they can never decide because decisions ultimately
are based on values which can only be experienced through emotions.

Interestingly though, the way we feel about things often has little to do with the present,
but rather is a legacy of the emotional lessons we learned long ago. Hence, often an
effort to create an impact in a personal or professional setting requires engaging people
in an emotional dialogue.

Do you want to learn how to better connect with others one on one and with groups of
people so that you can help create an impact? How can you connect with the hearts and
minds of your family, friends, professional circles and audiences? How can you create
hope necessary for action? How can you move others? Moreover, do you sometimes
find yourself questioning what is it you want to do, or understand why you want to do it?

Learning begins from within. Rumi says, Out beyond ideas of wrong-doing and right-
doing there is a field. I'll meet you there. When the soul lies down in that grass, the world
is too full to talk about. We try to create that field for you, a safe space to help identify
your values, and turn them into action that affects others. This is a reflective process.
We use public narrative to construct that bridge.

Public narrative is a leadership art composed of three elements: a story of self, a story of
us, and a story of now. A story of self communicates who I am: my values, my
experience, why I do what I do. A story of us communicates who we are: our shared
values, our shared experience, and why we do what we do. And a story of now
articulates the present as a moment of challenge, choice, and hope. In this seminar, we
will use reflective practice for you to think through your value-based challenges
and narrate your public story.

Two 1 hr 20 minute sessions and one two hour session will be devoted to each element
of the story self, us, now, and linking the three. The first class of an element (1 hour 20
minutes) will explain that sub-story; the second class (2 hours) uses Havruta (explained
below) to think through the values that inform your action; and the third class (1 hour 20
minutes) will give you the space to present a version of your sub-story to the group and
get their honest feedback.

A Havruta, used in the second class of each sub-story element, is a traditional form of
value reflection: the shared interpretation of narrative text for instruction and inspiration.
Texts will be chosen from your suggestions to increase the opportunity for you to engage
with the challenges that face you in your personal and professional life. These
challenges are often around managing the interaction of self, other, and action in the
exercise of leadership. In each second class, students will pair off to consider questions
posed with respect to specific textual passages, each pair reporting on their learning
after 50 minutes. This learning then becomes the basis for facilitated discussion.

Requirements

This course is understood and taught differently than many others. It does not value
intellectual rigor as highly as it does emotional investment. The texts will not be
particularly long, and students should not spend more than 2 hours on each reflection
paper. This is to make sure that the work load is not very high. Yet, it can not be
emphasized enough that each student should be ready for the emotional commitment
required for contemplation in the course. Many a time such contemplation is common
amongst people who like to question and create. The course would aim to give you a
more structured way of doing that.

As a student of this seminar, you are expected to:

1- Have skimmed the reading in advance of every second class
2- Participate in each class (missing classes will be penalized heavily)
3- Submit a two page (double spaced 12 font) reflection paper every week.
4- At the end of the semester, you will (a) submit a 7 page paper (double spaced 12
font) in which you will apply your reflective skills analyzing a narrative source of
your own choosing to gain insight into your leadership challenges; and (b) record
a 5 minute public narrative video.

The instructor

The instructor, Noorulain Masood, loves teaching, and owes a lot of her own growth,
development and well-being to her teachers. She has been described by her former
students at the Harvard Kennedy School (Cambridge, US) as someone who is very
invested in each student as a learner. She is also an adaptive teacher, in that she builds
the course based on your experience and feedback. For questions about the course, you
can email her at noori.m@gmail.com.