Stories Open Stories:
How we connected through Storytelling and the Open Movement
This is a blog in two voices (aka “diablog”). Carol Barash, PhD, is the founder and CEO of Story2, a global movement to expand communication and collaboration through the neuroscience of storytelling, and Lance Powers is the co-founder of Open Labs, a movement to make the workplace and the world open to the experiences and power of neurodiversity. Carol and Lance met through the Techstars community. Techstars co-founder Brad Feld has been quite open about his story of depression and how that led to Techstars’ commitment to all types of founder diversity. It started with Carol teaching the Story2 Moments Method® to the Open Labs community. And then, in the process of teaching, Carol discovered parts of her own story that she had not told before — which, as you can imagine, was game changing for her too! Carol and Lance teach and advocate together, across their companies and networks, for a world in which all people can live openly at their full potential at work and in the world.
Carol Barash: Lance, I’d like you to go first! Could you tell me a little bit about the role storytelling plays in Open Labs? How did you, personally, come to experience the power of storytelling in your own life?
Lance Powers: Shortly after I was diagnosed I was working with an advocacy group, and after a presentation in one of the local high schools, and I told my own story for the first time. I was very new to this work, and really had no idea what I was doing. But I knew I needed to do something. Afterwards, a young woman came up and thanked us. She told us her 18th birthday was a week away, and although she had planned on taking her life, she had decided to get help instead.
Carol: Wow. Every time you tell me that story it takes my breath away. I know as a trauma survivor that feeling of being completely and utterly alone. Our relationship, you and I telling our stories back and forth, has been extremely powerful and liberating for me. Could you talk a little bit about what you learned and what you were teaching me over the summer when we figured out the way I was thinking about Storytelling and teaching people to tell their stories, was related to the work of Open Labs.
Lance: I’m not sure I’m the best person to talk about what I taught you! What you taught me was that dropping labels and diagnoses and focusing more on experiences makes a connection. That’s the thing that wasn’t there before we started working together. And it’s something that I’ve instilled in all the work of Open Labs. Drop the diagnoses and focus on the experience and the moment.
Carol: You taught me that what people call brain disorders — or more commonly “mental illness” — is really a continuum, and I felt a kinship with the work of Open Labs, not only because my aunt had completed suicide when I was a teenager, and I’m pretty sure she lived with bipolar, but also because my own experiences, both of exhilarating highs and sometimes incapacitating lows are on that same spectrum. And I see how the work of sharing our stories enables us to create more open and positive communities for everyone.
Can you tell me a little more about what you mean by “open” and the importance of openness in the work of Open Labs?
Lance: The core idea is that there’s never been a time when stories had as much power and ability to do good as they do right now, in the present. I guess that’s always true, but particularly now!
Carol: Why is that Lance?
Lance: Not a lot of people are talking about brain conditions right now, but a lot of people want to. And often all it takes is one or 2 stories to be able to create that feeling of safety and freedom to shift the energy a person is losing by trying to live in hiding. Whenever someone tells their story, in their own way, they make a space for others to do the same. They help people to feel less shame and come out into the open. So I am always doing that for other people, so they can be open and experience that freedom.
Carol: Can you push that a little further, Lance, what does it look like when people in general are able to be open about their brain experience? Where is it that Open Labs wants to take us as a community?
Lance: We are creating a picture of what success looks like, the specifics of new workplace programs and what that looks like. Things like starting a meeting saying, “I’m in the red.” It may seem like a small change, but it helps to communicate more realistically about what is happening, and others can also communicate more fully. By hiding — or trying to hide, you can never really hide — the results people are seeing don’t make sense; they don’t add up. And so they don’t know what we expect, and we end up guessing, filling in the gaps. Those made-up answers are sometimes very destructive.
Carol: Can you give us an example of a specific workplace intervention that shows us the possibility of this larger move towards openness?
Lance: Our members are currently working on a scorecard that will help assess a company’s environment relative to being Open about a brain condition. There are 4 experiments we’re currently running. Including the Brain Crawls in Denver, I can say this for sure, we saw and were able to measure the power of being in the room with other individuals who are successfully living with bipolar. Seeing this happen — seeing people open up in a business setting — really shifts what is possible.
Carol: Remind me of that metric again.
Lance: The Open Evaluation.
Carol: Can you explain how that works?
Lance: It’s a series of Venn Diagrams, increasingly overlapping. The questions are How willing are you to share information about your brain condition in a given situation? From no overlap to complete overlap. At the Brain Crawl it doubled from the beginning of event to end of event.
Carol: Practically speaking, what does that doubling translate into?
Lance: That translates into higher likelihood that when people are given a chance to talk about their brain condition they’ll have a positive association and be more willing to be open when given the opportunity, and as a result they become points of reference and role models for people who are really struggling. Those shared stories and connections are some of the most powerful experiences we have.
Carol: You and I have talked about some of the risks involved in being open, some of the real discrimination people have faced, historically and even today, as a result of being open about their brain conditions. You and I both experience openness as a great force for healing and good in the community. But can you talk a little more about those risks and what you would recommend to people who struggle to be open and legitimately so?
Lance: I think that’s right, legitimately so. The responses I’ve received have been overwhelmingly positive. But depending on the role a person plays in your life, it could threaten your job or do damage to family ties that are already strained or broken. But if you share your story in a way that is without labels, and talk about “people in my situation…” You can state, confidently, “More than 80% of us find success in treatment…I’ve done these things, to be responsible for myself, and these are the things that I can do to will help me own this and find the best ways to address the condition.” It’s really up to each person to communicate what you want and need from others, even if that’s nothing. “I don’t need you to do anything. I’m doing great. I just wanted to talk about it and be open about it.” The power comes from people who are living with it successfully opening up. These differences in brain experiences are much easier to trust, say as a manager, if your star employee opens up when they are doing well. You will have a positive point of reference when that person, or maybe someone else is struggling later.
Carol: So again, Lance, it’s this idea of laying down positive associations with stories about people successfully living with different brain experiences. It’s almost like we’re rewiring the culture to experience this not as threatening, but as something that happens sometimes.
Lance: Even more than something that happens, bipolar for example is a condition that has its strengths as well as its difficulties. It has very strong associations with intelligence and creativity. A smart employer will hire that person and give them the support they need to be successful. That type of thinking leads to innovation, and that’s a type of thinking and leading that not everyone has.
Carol: So it’s an asset to an employer to include people with bipolar in their teams. Do you want to remind us of some famous people who lived with bipolar?
Lance: One of my favorites was Robin Williams. Also the actress Carrie Fisher, the singer-songwriter Demi Lovato, Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Woolf, Abe Lincoln, Vincent Van Gogh. Steve Jobs suggested that he was on this same spectrum. And when asked, Elon Musk’s first response was “yes,” and then “maybe.” So some of the most influential artists and thought leaders, historically and today. If you removed them from history, there’d be some big gaps! And it would be a much more boring world!
Carol: If you could distill storytelling down to a couple ideas that everyone can take away, what would you tell people?
Lance: I would say “tell a piece,” choose a piece and based on the situation you may tell it differently to different people. I’ve learned from you that you don’t need to tell your whole story. Part of being open is being able to talk about it on an ongoing basis. Figuring out how to do that has been huge for me. If you’re trying to make a case for something that’s not storytelling based, you can still use a story to set up that message. My writing has vastly improved in our working together.
Carol: Thank you! I’m blue skying it here, what do you see that I can do and Story2 can do, in addition to working directly with the Open Labs community, to foster the spirit of openness that gives people both courage and the safety net of community when they are struggling?
Lance: One thing I love about where you’ve been from the start, it’s more about telling a story. It’s about telling a meaningful, impactful story — that applies not only to brain disorders. It applies to everything. Encouraging people to tell the stories that matter. The focus on the background of neuroscience and how stories affect the brain, is not only really great but helps to frame the brain through stories that are ok to be talked about. “This is a functioning organ; it’s not just a bunch of gray mush in your head.”
As far as how to help people who have a difficult time when they tell their story, helping them to prepare their story is really important. The prep work is giant. What can we do to prepare for the negative experience? There’s a cathartic experience from describing the negative experience, and working through that experience and matching it with something that is more supportive.
Carol: Lance one of the things you said was that sometimes it’s easier if you tell one person first. That setting yourself up for something that’s almost a public confession is maybe not the best way to go.
Lance: That’s the idea of “disclosing” vs. “being open.” Disclosing doesn’t set up a true value. There’s no ongoing discussion. Just telling your stories, simple tiny stories, can create a real opening. Things like “I’m struggling today…” are sometimes the best way to start. I tend not to lead with stories from the inpatient psychiatry unit!
Carol: Isn’t part of what you’re suggested here that once you put certain things out there, people may only see that, and may not even see your experience but a kind of general set of ideas they have about the label itself.
Lance: Absolutely. If I go in and tell my employer, “I’ve been meaning to tell you this for a while. I’ve been afraid to tell you. I have a bipolar disorder.” They first thing they will go to is examples of people they know. I used to think there was a negative view, batshit crazy or whatever else. There’s a tiny percent like that. But that’s a very small group. There’s a lack of people who are thriving sharing their voices.
Carol: So the one person who harms themself or harms someone else makes the news and the other 99% no one hears about.
Lance: But it’s more like 999 out of 1000. People with bipolar are very empathic and love to listen.
Carol: Yes! They take it all in and then are exhausted.
Lance: Exactly. They harbor it on their shoulders.
Carol: Is there anything else you want people to know about living with bipolar or people with bipolar as co-workers and community members?
Lance: I think the first thing I would say is they are incredibly brave and courageous individuals. The process of integrating the disorder into your life in a way that works for each person, that is a huge accomplishment. I think we should stop trying to identify and project an image of normality, and start to embrace the condition as a whole. I’ve been amazed at the company I’m in as more and more people have been open.
Carol: Thank you.
