Diego Horcajada, April 2019
I recently assisted to a 3 days workshop to learn about hosting and participatory techniques that can help surface the collective intelligence of small and large groups of people.
I’ve been reflecting on the many learnings of these 3 days. With like-minded people, we practiced different techniques such as “Appreciative Inquiry“, “Open Space“, “Collective Story Harvesting” or “World Café“.
If I have to name the most important learning of these 3 days, this would it be: learn to leverage the power of stories.
You might perhaps wonder what do I mean by the power of stories? what stories? old stories, new stories?
There is no right or wrong answer to these questions. Any story in the appropriate context, and told in the appropriate way, hold in it self a tremendous potential to create change; change for the best and change for worst.
The more I look around me and pay attention to what is happening in the world, the more I am convinced we are living in a period of profound and unprecedented changes. Changes that are happening at a speed never seen before in the history of humanity, and I would say in the history of life in this planet.
It was only after reading Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind from Yuval Noah Harari, that I understood what is powering these changes and their speed: Stories, stories are fuelling those changes. Stories, myths and imaginary realities have empowered Homo Sapiens to put at risk its own survival and the very tangible and beautiful realities of life in this planet.
I will not further develop what I discovered in Harari’s book, I do not want you to miss his clear, profound and some times sarcastic stile.
I invite you to enjoy one of the very best books I have read. Hopefully you will start questioning old stories and start constructing news stories to build a beautiful future.
Value Based Jumping 