Organizational Storytelling Review
Volume 1, Issue 1 – December 2023, p. 94 -1043

Witmer, H. and Ritter, E. (2023) Together-telling: The 7 Principles of Storytelling – A Co-created approach for Teaching Leadership for Sustainability in Higher Education

This article argues that sustainability courses in business administration programs typically are based upon a philosophy that does not take into account the entangled relationship of humans with all living beings. As an alternative, a different approach is suggested that opens up the way for non-linear solutions and collaborative meaning making. As an example, a one-year master program in leadership and organization for sustainability was framed around story and storytelling with a focus on the process of together-telling and the co-creation of stories. The teaching concepts use the 7 Principles of True Storytelling, an approach that aims at encouraging sustainable changes in a team or organization. It is based on the understanding of the interdependence of the human experience with connections to nature. The teaching process of the master program is described in four phases: 1) the individual story, 2) the collective cohort story, 3) the development of “storying” moments, 4) the carrying of story into the world. The example illustrates how learning activities structured around storytelling can facilitate individual and co-creative moments, thereby creating a momentum for sustainable transformation.

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