Michael Lissack
for informal narrative exchange that would happen naturally in physical environments. “Working in a fully distributed company requires much more explicit storytelling,” explains Gitlab’s Head of Remote, Darren Murph. “The narrative glue that holds everyone together has to be consciously created and maintained. You can’t rely on the informal stories that would emerge naturally around the water cooler or in the hallways.” This insight applies to organizations across the remote-hybrid-onsite spectrum. As work environments become more distributed and digital, narrative coherence must become more intentional. Counter-Narratives and Narrative Resilience Not all stories that emerge in organizations are positive or helpful. Counter-narratives—stories that challenge official versions of reality— are inevitable in complex systems. The digital age has dramatically ampli- fied these narrative divergences, as social media and messaging platforms enable stories to spread and evolve beyond organizational control. When United Airlines dragged a passenger off an overbooked flight in 2017, their carefully crafted brand narrative of “friendly skies” collided with smartphone videos showing a bloodied passenger being forcibly re- moved. The counter-narrative spread across social platforms within hours, overwhelming United’s messaging and dramatically impacting their rep- utation and stock price. Organizations with narrative intelligence don’t try to prevent counter-narratives—they develop narrative resilience. This means: 1. Creating narrative environments where constructive counter-stories can emerge internally before they explode externally 2. Developing the capacity to listen to divergent narratives without defensive reactions 3. Being willing to evolve official narratives based on legitimate challenges
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