Narativ Leadership Story Talks Narativ Inc

Julienne and Jerome speak with Amy Bach, founder and CEO of Measures for Justice, a criminal justice nonprofit that develops data tools and services that help communities, including the institutions that serve them, reshape the system.
A journalism fellowship led to a book idea, the book led to an idea for an organization, and now that organization (60+ employees and growing) is reshaping the justice system. In this episode, Amy talks us through some of the most crucial turning points along this journey and the power of the stories, and the people and relationships, that helped shape them. She tells the story that helped bring the organization to life and explains how the opposition her new organization encountered made them realize that they were really onto something: what started as a research organization in startup mode became a tech/product organization with established (people) operations processes.
Amy was ahead of the curve in recognizing systemic injustices within the criminal justice system and as the world changed, so did the organization and Amy as a leader. She tells us about the lessons she learned along the way, including the importance of diversity of thought, doing the work and making that consistent, and forging connections. Finally, she points out how in many ways, the process of raising children is very similar to the process of building an organization.
This episode is filled with thoughtful reflections, examples of small conversations of connection, and well-told stories. It's a must-listen for anyone interested in the process of building a disruptive organization within well-established systems- from the use of storytelling to make data come to life to the transition out of startup mode, this episode has it all. 
You’ll also hear about our latest online workshop offering “Leading with story”, which you can find out more about here. It’s a great opportunity to learn to tell and practice presenting your own leadership story, just like Amy did! 


Links and resources:
Website Measures for Justice
Amy Bach’s LinkedIn


Find out more about The Narativ Storytelling Method at
narativ.com
EMAIL Jerome@narativ.com
LINKEDIN https://www.linkedin.com/company/narativ-inc
TWITTER @narativ

What do Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Tim Cook, Barack Obama, Richard Branson, and Larry King have in common? They are great listeners and know when to stop talking.
In this episode Julienne and Jerome talk to Dan Lyons, New York Times bestselling author, screenwriter and journalist, about the power of talking less and listening more. Dan recently published ‘STFU: The Power of Keeping Your Mouth Shut in an Endlessly Noisy World’, a book he decided to write after realizing that his work to become a better listener was much bigger than himself. 


This episode dives deeper into how talking and listening shape not only our private relationships, but also leadership, business, social media and society at large. Dan talks about the science of how we relate to silence and why we often decide to talk rather than listen (and sometimes regret this). Although our world often encourages talking rather than silence and celebrates great talkers, Dan argues that listening more will really make your life better. And as organizations try to reconnect and rebuild post-covid and customer feedback is becoming increasingly important, learning how to listen is also more essential than ever.


Dan leaves us with a couple of great ideas on becoming better at being silent and listening and shows us that some of the most successful people, both in business and public service, are humble and quiet listeners. 


If you ever think ‘wow I really shouldn’t have said that’, or if you want to find out what is going on in your company, this episode is for you. 


Notes:
Learn more about Dan Lyons
Buy ‘STFU: The Power of Keeping Your Mouth Shut in an Endlessly Noisy World’
This is the study that shows how ‘Likes’ and ‘shares’ teach people to express more outrage online


Find out more about The Narativ Storytelling Method at
narativ.com
EMAIL Jerome@narativ.com
LINKEDIN https://www.linkedin.com/company/narativ-inc
TWITTER @narativ

Sooner or later, we all go through it: grief and loss. How do we deal with grief and loss, in the workplace and beyond? How do we remember, or re-member, our loved ones and how do we help others when they are dealing with loss?
 
In this episode, Jerome and Julienne talk about grief and loss. They provide guidance for employers on how to help employees who are experiencing grief and loss and for those who are experiencing loss on how to communicate what they need. Jerome talks about how storytelling can help us when we are grieving, and Julienne tells us how you can help people experiencing loss by genuinely listening.
 
Grief and loss are common denominators, but every individual’s experience at any point in time is unique. This episode reminds us of the importance telling stories about our loved ones, asking people how we can help them, and asking for help when we need it.
 
 Resources:
 For more on re-membering, please refer to the works of Barbara Myerhoff. 
Find out more about The Narativ Storytelling Method at
narativ.com
EMAIL Jerome@narativ.com
LINKEDIN https://www.linkedin.com/company/narativ-inc
TWITTER @narativ

How are you spending your time? Are you intentional about it and do you take your wellness into account, or do you put in time just for the sake of it? And if you do want to be intentional about it, how can you use the connection between your body and mind to find out how to improve your productivity and well-being?

In this episode, Jerome and Julienne discuss well-being in the workplace and how this relates to how we spend our time. They talk about a study that showed how a 4-day workweek might improve productivity and wellness, and Jerome talks about how his transition from the corporate world to entrepreneurship changed his perspective on the value of (over)time and the value of mental and physical wellness. 

It takes self-awareness to understand what you need, both to be productive and to be healthy. This episode provides inspiration on how to gain this awareness and highlights the practice of body mapping as a tool to become more aware of the signals our bodies give us. These signals, in turn, can help inform how we spend our time and how (or whether) we take our own well-being into account.

Resources:
For more on the 4-day work week experiment highlighted in the episode
Find out more about The Narativ Storytelling Method at
narativ.com
EMAIL Jerome@narativ.com
LINKEDIN https://www.linkedin.com/company/narativ-inc
TWITTER @narativ

Jules and Jerome talk to Sasha Robinson, Head of People at Trainual, a company that codifies processes related to the people function of an enterprise, helping them to scale and grow, particularly around training and onboarding.
Sasha has grown teams everywhere she's been, always paying attention to engagement and the best ways to meet employees where they are. 
This episode tracks Sasha's non-linear journey from working in a civil rights non profit organization to meeting someone who led her to her first role in the people function of a company.
On the way to Trainual, Sasha learned the best ways to engage people and help them grow and develop. She tells us about being an empath and how this has always been an asset for listening to people and understanding them, and how it's also led to burnout, especially during the pandemic as suddenly so many more people were coming to her with their struggles. This was something that many of her peers in the people function were feeling at the time.
Sasha learned how to depersonalize decisions in order to achieve a better balance in her work.
She tells us how engagement has changed since 2020, the importance of balancing employee surveys with personalized conversations, activities, and the balance between in-person face time and online meetings.
She also shares that storytelling has been instrumental in gaining a deeper understanding of where people are at, what they expect, and what they want or need.
She tells us a story about an experience that has shaped who she is today, harking back to when she was just a teenager. A powerful story in which Sasha isn't afraid to be vulnerable, a great example of the power of a story to connect and relate to someone on a human level.  
If you're wondering how to scale the people function of your company, or if you're thinking about engagement strategies and tactics, this is a must-listen.

Notes:
Learn more about trainual
Connect with Sasha on LinkedIN
Find out more about The Narativ Storytelling Method at
narativ.com
EMAIL Jerome@narativ.com
LINKEDIN https://www.linkedin.com/company/narativ-inc
TWITTER @narativ

Garrett Richardson has had a sense of purpose ever since he did a summer internship at the Freedom School, mentoring young people in Newark to instill them a passion and enthusiasm for literacy.
Today, Garrett has leveraged all of his professional experiences to scale up mentorship as part of his work with Bloomberg Philanthropies in the city of London in particular.
In our interview with Garrett, we discuss his experiences and how mentoring became the through line in a career that has had many ups and downs including having to navigate being unemployed during the 2008 great recession.
Garrett never lost faith and always kept moving forward.
You'll hear how his values and purpose never wavered in the face of adversity, and how community has always been at the heart of his work and indeed his life, from a very young age.
His story of working on the Obama campaign of 2012 in Ohio, is a must-listen, as are all the other stories he graciously shared with us to convey his messages around leadership and the  power of mentorship and giving back.

Links and resources:
Garrett's consultancy Bride the Gap
Garrett's linkedin profile
Bryan Stevenson's TED Talks: We need to talk about an injustice and The fight for civil rights and freedom featuring John Lewis
Bloomberg Philanthropies web site
For more on the Mentoring Improvement Plan of the City of London web site 
Find out more about The Narativ Storytelling Method at
narativ.com
EMAIL Jerome@narativ.com
LINKEDIN https://www.linkedin.com/company/narativ-inc
TWITTER @narativ