CHANGE THE STORIES THAT SHAPE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
IN ORGANISATIONS. IN LEADERSHIP. IN LIFE.
The stories we believe shape what we notice, what we expect and what we do.
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I help organisations and leaders uncover the hidden narratives shaping strategy, culture and change — and individuals change the stories keeping them exhausted, stuck or unable to move forward.
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Story Leadership™ for organisations
Close the gap between the story you tell and the story your people actually live.
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The Story Solution™ for individuals
Change the stories shaping your relationship with work, achievement and yourself.​
Two ways to work together.
FOR ORGANISATIONS
Story Leadership™
Strategy doesn't fail because people don't understand the plan. It fails when they don’t believe the story.
Strategy may begin in the boardroom, but it has to travel through an organisation. People interpret it through their experience of leadership, culture and previous change. They create stories about what it really means — and behave accordingly.
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Story Leadership™ helps organisations close the gap between the story they tell and the story their people actually live.​
FOR INDIVIDUALS
The Story Solution™
Private coaching for high-achieving people who are exhausted, stuck or at a crossroads.
​I work privately with thoughtful, high-achieving people experiencing burnout, exhaustion, self-doubt, overthinking, loss of direction or major personal and professional transition.
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The Story Solution™ helps you identify the deeper narratives keeping you stuck and develop a wiser and more useful relationship with yourself and the life you want to build.
The hidden gap between strategy and performance.
CULTURE ISN’T A “PEOPLE” ISSUE. IT’S A PERFORMANCE ISSUE.
Most organisations do not lack strategies, values or transformation plans. The problem is what happens to them after they are communicated.
People interpret what leaders say through what they see and experience every day. When leadership behaviour, organisational systems and lived experience contradict the official message, another story emerges.
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The Official Story
What the organisation says it values, believes and intends.
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The Lived Story
What people actually experience — and come to believe about how things really work around here.
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The gap between the two is the Story Gap™.
That gap matters because the stories people believe shape the behaviours that ultimately determine whether strategy succeeds.
Gallup's major Q12 meta-analysis, covering 3.35 million employees across 90 countries, found that highly engaged teams achieve:
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23% higher profitability
18% higher sales productivity
10% higher customer loyalty
21–51% lower employee turnover
78% lower absenteeism
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Deloitte similarly found that organisations successfully creating the conditions for human performance were 1.8× more likely to achieve desired business outcomes.
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Culture is not a soft investment around the edges of the business.
It is part of its performance infrastructure.
STRATEGY → INTERPRETATION → STORY → BEHAVIOUR → CULTURE → PERFORMANCE
STORY INTELLIGENCE™
A key capability for an age of accelerating change.
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Story Intelligence™ is the capacity to recognise, interpret, challenge and consciously shape the stories that drive human behaviour.
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We use stories to understand who we are, who other people are, what is happening around us and what the future might hold.
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That makes Story Intelligence increasingly important for leaders navigating complexity, uncertainty and AI-driven change.
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Data can tell us what is happening.
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Stories shape what we believe it means — and what we do next.
Former Professor of Cultural History • Executive Coach
Creator of Story Leadership™ and Story Intelligence™
Bestselling author of books translated into 5 languages
Order my new book and learn to change the stories that hold you back
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STORY LEADERSHIP™
Change the stories that change what people actually do
Story Leadership™ is an evidence-informed approach to organisational change, leadership and culture based on a simple premise:
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People don't respond to strategy alone. They respond to the meaning they make of it.
We identify the stories already circulating through an organisation: about its strategy, its leaders, its culture, what is changing, what is rewarded, what is safe to say, and “how things really work around here.”
We then examine the organisational conditions keeping those stories alive.
Because sometimes the story needs changing. Sometimes the system generating the story needs changing.
Usually, both do. Story Leadership helps organisations:
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SEE
Surface the stories shaping behaviour and identify gaps between organisational intent and lived experience.
SHIFT
Challenge narratives that undermine trust, change or performance — and address the conditions sustaining them.
LEAD
Create credible shared narratives and translate them into leadership behaviour, decisions, rituals and everyday ways of working.
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WHEN STORY LEADERSHIP HELPS
Story Leadership is particularly valuable when:
Strategy isn't landing.
People understand what has been communicated but don't believe it, prioritise it or know what it means for their behaviour.
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Change is generating resistance or cynicism.
Previous experience has created powerful stories about what will really happen this time
Culture doesn't match stated values.
There is a gap between what the organisation says matters and what people experience, observe and see rewarded.
Leaders are sending conflicting signals.
Different interpretations of strategy create fragmentation, uncertainty or competing narratives.
Engagement has fallen.
People have lost trust, meaning, agency or confidence in the organisation's direction.
From Story Gap™ to Shared Direction
Find out what story your organisation is actually living.
A focused diagnostic identifying the narratives shaping strategy, trust, culture and change — and the gaps between leadership intent and employee experience.
01 STORY LEADERSHIP
KEYNOTE
Discover how the stories circulating through your organisation shape behaviour, engagement and culture — and how leaders can influence them more consciously.
02 STORY CHECK™
Find out what story your organisation is actually living.
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A focused diagnostic identifying the narratives shaping strategy, trust, culture and change — and the gaps between leadership intent and employee experience.
03 STORY LEADERSHIP
LABS
Build Story Intelligence™ in leaders and teams.
Highly practical workshops helping leaders recognise the stories shaping behaviour, challenge unhelpful interpre-tations and lead change with greater narrative awareness.
04 STORY LEADERSHIP TRANSFORMATION
Move from diagnosis to sustained organisational change.
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A tailored programme combining diagnostics, leadership development, executive coaching and organisational interventions to align strategy, narrative, behaviour and culture.
05 LEADERSHIP
DEVELOPMENT
1:1 Story Leadership™ coaching or group coaching for your key leaders to turn them into powerful story stewards who can consciously shape the stories that determine organisational thriving.
ABOUT ANNA
I am a story-leadership™ coach & consultant, keynote speaker, bestselling writer and INSIGHTS discovery practitioner exploring the stories human beings tell in order to thrive and make meaning of their lives.
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I used to be a Professor of Cultural History, but I am feeling much better now. I combine narrative psychology, solution-oriented coaching, leadership development and cultural insight to help individuals and organisations transform the stories shaping how they live and lead.
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My work sits at the intersection of psychology, organisational development, cultural history and philosophy. I am the author of several books which have been translated into five languages, and my work has been featured in the BBC, the Guardian, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Psychology Today, TLS, National Geographic and many other national and international media.
TESTED WITH LEADERS AT INSIGHTS
Story Leadership™ has been developed through work with senior leaders at Insights
Story Leadership™ is being used by INSIGHTS, beginning with their Global Leadership Meeting and extending into leadership labs, workshops, executive and team coaching.
"Storytelling is not a nice to have -- it's a core leadership skill. It is how we connect strategy to what it really means day-to-day, consistently and simply, in a way that people can see themselves in. And it is how we turn direction into momentum."
Angela Brennan -- Global Head of Learning & Talent, Insights
Global Leadership Meeting, Edinburgh
"Absolutely super execution of one of the best leadership events I have been to… and I’ve been to many! Superb execution and to work on the actual work that needs done with the wonderful Anna Katharina Schaffner was simply inspiring and superb."
"Thank you Anna for your huge contribution to our Global Leadership Meeting - it is a privilege to work with you and I look forward to seeing meaningful impact as we continue to cascade ‘The Story Solution’ throughout our business."
Tricia Nelson -- Global Marketing, Brand Sales Director, Insights
Sandy Wilson -- Head of People & Strategy, Insights
Global Leadership Meeting, Edinburgh
Global Leadership Meeting, Edinburgh
Find out more about the pioneering collaboration of the Story Leadership™ and INSIGHTS. Management Issues and Customer Experience Magazine (CXM) have published articles about it.
