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It’s high time to turn a simple story into a powerful narrative
It seems like yesterday we were writing and chatting about the hidden genius in you.
Polina Pompliano’s book Hidden Genius: The Secret Ways of Thinking that Power the World’s Most Successful People celebrated its first anniversary this week.
In our quest for evidence of deep work and scientific facts about gifted people in their adult years and well into their professions, I lined up for the release of this book. Would this book aid our quest to find evidence, stories, and insights useful to the blossoming conversations in the community of Gifted Professionals and Communicators?
The Road Not Taken? We Took Both.
What happened next was not what I expected and turned out to yield two paths for further exploration and better questions.
Even though the book used the word genius the same way others use it to apply to anyone, instead of the clinical and more labored explanations of neurodivergent adults with exceptional talents, seemingly perfectly normal, except for a few quirks, it provided valuable lessons applicable to different interests and traits of our audience.
It opened the conversation for everyone—not just the 10% on the upper right end of the curve trying to describe gifted and highly intelligent people.
At the same time, the book started a conversation among our subscribers about the primary purpose of communication,which is to unlock the secret language of connection.
That begs the question, if you discover you are a genius or gifted, what good is it if never communicated? Further, is storytelling good enough for this communication or do you need to update your skills to learn frameworks and narratives? Going even further, do you need to learn how to get that narrative into the world, where it can find meaning, understanding, and positive response? Maybe applause?
What Can We Take Away From This?
Pompliano worked five years at FORTUNE where she wrote more than 1,300 articles and earned the trust of entrepreneurs and investors. Hidden Genius explores the untapped potential within individuals and the factors that contribute to their extraordinary achievements. Polina’s five-year study of remarkable people reveals, traits, habits, several dominant themes, and valuable lessons applicable to different audiences.
Credit Sammy-Sander at Pixabay
Dominant Themes of Interest to All of Us
Most of the time we write about the specific combination of strengths and characteristics of professionals who happen to communicate well and also happen to experience the world with a neurodivergent mind, sometimes called Everyday Genius. You don’t have to be all three at the same time to find immediately useful themes in Hidden Genius:
- Resilience and Perseverance: Many of the individuals studied by Polina demonstrated remarkable resilience in the face of challenges, emphasizing the importance of perseverance.
- Lifelong Learning: A commitment to continuous learning and self-improvement is a recurring theme.
- Passion and Purpose: Finding and pursuing one’s passion and purpose are key drivers of success.
- Effective Habits: The cultivation of effective habits and routines that support productivity and well-being.
- Interpersonal Skills: The significance of emotional intelligence, empathy, and effective communication in achieving personal and professional success.
From the interviews with various individuals, key lessons came through.
Lessons for professionals:
- Building Systems: Establishing reliable systems and processes to streamline work.
- Networking: Cultivating meaningful professional relationships that foster growth and opportunities.
- Goal Setting: Setting clear, achievable goals and creating actionable plans to achieve them.
Lessons for communicators:
- Authenticity: The importance of being genuine and authentic in communication.
- Active Listening: Developing the skill of active listening to understand and connect with others better.
- Adaptability in Messaging: Tailoring messages to suit different audiences and contexts.
Lessons for adults with exceptional talents and traits of giftedness:
- Embracing Uniqueness: Celebrating and leveraging one’s unique talents and perspectives.
- Collaboration: The value of collaborating with others to enhance ideas and achieve greater results.
- Growth Mindset: Adopting a growth mindset to continuously improve and evolve.
Credit StartupStockPhotos at Pixabay
When Your Connection and Meaning Need to Matter, Work on the Narrative
Back to the basics of human connections, here’s the question: If you discover you are a genius or gifted, what good is it if never communicated? Further, is storytelling good enough for this communication or do you need to update your skills to learn frameworks and narratives?
A story is a simple recount of events, while a narrative adds depth, meaning, and connections between those events. Creating a better framework for your narrative means understanding and explaining why your experiences matter and how they shape who you are.
Next time you’re talking about your life or work, think about not just what happened, but why it’s important and how it fits into the bigger picture. That’s how you turn a simple story into a powerful narrative!
When is a Story Not a Narrative?
A story is not a narrative when it’s just a simple recount of events without deeper meaning or connections. When you list what happened – “I woke up, I walked my dog, I ate breakfast, I went to work” – that’s a story. It doesn’t become a narrative until you add details about why those events matter or how they’re connected.
Confusing Framework with Story
Sometimes people mix up creating a framework for their narrative with telling a story about themselves. Here’s what that means:
- Framework for Your Narrative: This works like planning out the big picture of your life experiences, trials, triumphs, and great wisdom gained plus the big picture for all of your career moves. It’s about understanding the important parts and how they fit together. A professional communicator, for example, might have a narrative framework that includes your values around truth and accuracy, the challenges you’ve faced, and your future goals. It’s like mapping out the key points that make your story meaningful.
- Story About Yourself: This is no more than telling the events that have happened to you. For example, “I became a professional, I’ve written 2 books in 10 years, and I work in the company I founded 15 years ago.” It’s a list of facts without much depth.
Confusion in Real Life
People often confuse these two because it’s easy to think that just listing what you’ve done is enough. That’s not communication. It’s too much of your ego and not much about the interest of the person who needs to listen to you, understand what you say, plus raise eyebrows signaling, What! What? Tell me more.
To connect with others, you need to create a strong, succinct narrative. Here’s where the confusion happens:
- Telling a Story at Work: If you just say, “I completed five projects last year,” that’s a story. But if you explain, “I completed five projects last year that generated a 25 percent profit, and through them, I learned how to better manage my time and lead a team,” you’re creating a narrative. You’re showing how those events are part of a bigger picture of your growth and abilities.
- Talking About Life: If you say, “I moved to a new city,” that’s a story. But if you say, “I moved to a new city, which helped me become more independent and find my true passion,” you are at the beginning of creating a narrative. You’re adding meaning and explaining the impact of that event on your life.
When it’s high time to turn a simple story into a powerful narrative
If you are a hidden genius, you know it. You’ve known it for a long time and books can help you find the words to get clear and less confusing, less frustrating with your communication.
Many highly intelligent professionals feel like they are a best-kept secret. That’s when they look for me. I’ve gone through years of figuring out how to bring out the hidden genius in a narrative, held together with seven words. Those seven words were buried for nearly 40 years or more of multiple attempts to write, speak, draw, photograph, and convey a super short, precise narrative about why I live and who I serve. When done right, we discover and articulate as accurate a description of you as your DNA.
Get in touch with me by email if you need a guide to help you find the “true you—the natural state of you” and become the professional and communicator you need to manifest for yourself and the people standing right in front of you.
