Thanks for visiting again. Please leave a comment or ask a question.

Nearly 20 years ago Robert Reich made a big claim: Americans can't change who they are until they change the story of who they've been. His book, Tales of a New America detailed classical American stories: the rot at the top; the mob at the gate; the rise of the individual…

It's only in changing the story that we can be someone different.

I've come to believe it's our stories that anchor us — that keep us from achieving what we say we want. Norman calls it resistance. But that presupposes intentionality. In other words, resistance is cognitive. That doesn't make sense to me. If anything, resistance is instinctual, and whether it means going for the online business degrees you really want over a career in a florist's or resisting arrest – it's not something we consider, just something we do.

Ecomomic theory at least as far back as Adam Smith claims that people do what is in their self interest…that they make rational choices. Huey. People are not rational. We know that to be true because each of us recognize our own irrationality. Sure, we can be rational…for short spurts, but that is not the way we are. For the most part, humans act without consideration. We act in historical ways. At the same time, we have the capacity for ahistorical actions — we can break from the story of who we are. And most of us don't.

Our stories are insidious: I'm a poor boy who never got a break. I'm a good girl who never took a chance. I'm a scholar who's never been good at sports. These are stories. Stories that maintain a status quo. It's only in changing the story that we can be someone different. Why aren't we changing? It's really simple. Managers got to be managers because they succeeded in the non-lean world. They tell themselves (and others) the keys (stories) to their success. Doing something different would put their career and the company at risk. They have too much responsibility to take that risk. And they tell themselves that. It's foolish to think that it could be different. Unless…until…somehow we break with history…the history that lives in our stories of who we are. That ahistorical break depends on leadership.