Biden knows it and so does Zelenskiy: success depends on telling the right story
T he art of success in politics, economics and even war is to tell compelling stories. Data, formal speeches, slide decks, clever debating points and tools of close analysis all have their place – but the trump card in persuasion and winning hearts and minds is a good story. To win is to have owned the best narrative. Get the message wrong and it turns into an unbelievable, losing fairytale.
Thus, one of the reasons the Russians will ultimately fail in Ukraine is as much their weak story as any military frailties, while the Ukrainian account in response is so strong. Few, even inside Russia, believe Vladimir Putin’s story that Ukraine was always and immutably Russian, justifying such death and destruction to reassimilate it into its “natural” motherland.
It’s an evil fable. Ukraine’s counter narrative – that it is fighting for its sovereignty and freedom before an unprovoked aggressor – is genuinely more credible. So when last week there was claim and counter-claim about the drones that attacked the Kremlin in an alleged assassination attempt on Putin, the bar of neutral opinion sided with the more successful storyteller – Ukraine.
A successful narrative has to have roots in reality and involve struggle against obstacles – the participants so gaining wisdom. Even economists, the lovers of data, spreadsheets and charts above any other, are increasingly recognising the value and importance of narratives.
Yale University’s Nobel prize-winning Professor Robert Shiller has even written a book about it, Narrative Economics. Throughout history, he writes, human beings have found themselves telling similar stories about new technologies threatening or creating jobs, about economies needing more conspicuous consumers or more frugal
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