I was very interested in both the podcast and readings provided for this subject. I have never truly reflected on the power of storytelling, but more particularly the power of pop culture and the societal norms we take for granted every day.
In Bezio’s podcast, the idea of storyteller leadership explains essential moments of human development. For example, Bezio brings up Robin hood as a storytelling character that reflected societal ideologies regarding class disparities, which aided in the social revolution necessary for the success of the economic revolution in England. Examples such as these narrate the power that storytelling, and eventually pop culture, has the capability of having. Author Michael Harvey described another key component of the storytelling leadership by describing the concept of leadership itself. In Harvey’s eyes, leadership is the “Process of influencing the activities of an organized group in efforts towards goal-setting and achieving,” which I view as being personified in the example of Robin hood. The character, who stole from the rich to give to the poor, influenced (or at least aided in the influencing) the actions of the English working-class. Those actions lead to the economic revolution necessary, or the “goal-setting and achieving,” mentioned by Harvey.
Bezio’s article sums up the intersecting works of these theories by explaining that storytelling can be a way for us to accept/ grasp emotional concepts that may be harder for us to learn in real life. This connection ties well into Harvey’s extended definition of leadership, in that storytelling allows for a society to identify their own morality and issues they wish to better. Storytelling allows for the transparent social analysis necessary for a society to be truly and justly lead. Leaders must work for the people, and provide them with the tools necessary to be able to understand the version of themselves they want to become.
In a sense, I feel as though leaders are equally as responsible for helping society gain a sense of independence as they are responsible for protecting that independence. The more powerful a piece of storytelling work is, the greater power it has to lead people into a greater sense of social self-awareness. Very interesting take on leadership that I had never considered before.
I agree, and I also think its interesting to see the relationship between leadership and storytelling, not only in helping social gain a sense of their independence and self-awareness, but also in shaping their community morals and identity. It brings up the question for me of who is determining the group’s identity, the leader(s) or the followers?
I think that the person who determines the group identity would have to be the leaders and the followers. In certain situations, the leaders are nothing without the followers, and the same could be said the other way. I also think that the Robinhood example was a great way to illustrate how storytelling, even if it’s not in a traditional sense, moves through society and has just as much influence as a history textbook.
I agree. I haven’t really thought about leadership in the sense of story telling. I think its an important aspect to realize that the way history is told shapes our world.
It’s always been so interesting to me how storytelling impacts society. Tales are passed down through generations that turn into books and movies that have the power to influence society. I like how you brought up social self-awareness. Robin Hood was the perfect example to illustrate the points of the podcast. I enjoy thinking of leadership in these terms.