At Bold Stories, we believe in the value of strategic design, to which many of our tools and methodologies are dedicated. we believe that strategy, combined with the power of stories, enables people to achieve their goals, just like the best Characters in films, series, novels, and other narratives.
Storytelling and Strategy have much in common, so much so that our co-founders Maurelli and Rossi thought it would be possible to unite their respective areas of expertise (creative writing and strategy in the corporate field) to create tools and frameworks for individuals, teams, and organizations.
This is a vast and complex field, but we want to offer you eight essential pillars common to both strategy and storytelling that you can use to start developing your strategic thinking.
8 Pillars for Strategy and Storytelling
- Goal: What you aim to achieve
- Identity: The characteristics of the entity pursuing the goal
- Context Analysis: Personal, social, political, and economic factors in play, along with favorable and unfavorable aspects
- Timeline: The timeframe and milestones through which you aim to achieve your goal
- Assets: The resources and assets available
- Conflict: The obstacles standing between you and your goal
- Relationship Analysis: The people involved, directly or indirectly, in the choices and actions you’ll undertake
- Impact: Social, economic, and environmental effects. The impact your strategy has on you and on the communities and places you engage with.
To see these areas in action, try to think of a goal you want to achieve and imagine yourself as the Character* in a movie. Let’s then go over the 8 pillars again, with some guiding questions you might ask yourself for your strategic planning:
- Goal: What do I want? What’s my urgency?
- Identity: What do I like and dislike? What am I good at? What are my values?
- Context Analysis: What’s my current situation? What are the rules or customs in my environment?
- Timeline: How quickly do I want to achieve my goal?
- Assets: What resources do I need to reach my goal? Are there any I can access right away? If not, can I acquire them?
- Conflict: What is the main issue making it difficult to achieve my goal?
- Relationship Analysis: Who do I need to approach? Are there people working against me? Who might help me?
- Impact: How can my actions improve the lives of those around me and my community?
Keeping these eight pillars in mind will give you a framework for orienting yourself as you develop strategic thinking, allowing you to make thoughtful, conscious choices.
