Richard Stone

Story Intelligence: Master Story, Master Life Richard Stone

Story Intelligence-SQ-helps you become a master of your story, a pursuit indispensable to personal and professional success. By developing your SQ, you'll amplify and unleash every aspect of your intelligence, including your IQ and EQ. In this book, you'll also learn how you're wired for story and the ways it can set a positive trajectory for every facet of your life journey.

Developing this level of mastery is imperative today because four in ten Americans have not discovered a satisfying life purpose. Nearly a quarter of us-about one hundred million people-do not have a strong sense of what makes our lives meaningful. We need more than ever ritual fires where we can gather to create new stories that transcend the old metanarratives that no longer enrich and satisfy the yearnings of our hearts and souls. Story is a potent medicine that can re-enchant our lives. By re-storying ourselves, consciously building it into everyday living, we can make space to hear ourselves better, listen more deeply to each other, and discern the tales the earth is quietly whispering in our ears. Hopefully, Story Intelligence will help you stoke a new kind of fire, assisting you in illuminating what the Japanese call "ikigai"-translated loosely as "that which most makes one's life seem worth living." Through mastering story, we believe you can build a more durable source of meaning and personal fulfillment, as well as have a broader impact for good in your community and the world. In this book, you'll also learn how to: harness the power of story to live with greater efficacy; become a more influential communicator; solve complex challenges using story-based solutions; transform your workplace and community; heal old wounds, change dysfunctional beliefs, and bridge differences by resolving deeply seated conflicts; and, acquire the narrative tools to craft a more desirable future.