We built EdgeTheory almost a decade ago around the premise that Conversation is either an organization’s greatest asset or greatest liability. Just as there is an art to conversation (listen, think, speak, analyze), there is also an art to narratives.
Narratives are simply conversations with goals. Narratives are created, spread, and grow every second of the day. Many times they are manipulated in order to achieve social, political, or economical gain. Organizations from small businesses to entire countries play in this battle-space every second of the day.
There are so many tactics being used right now with the current Ukraine Crisis that will be studied for years to come. One is Diaspora, the dispersion or spreading of something that was originally localized (as a people or language or culture). Here is a great piece from the Washington Post on this tactic being used outside and inside of Ukraine.
The following Global Narrative Intelligence Collection on Ukraine is tracking the narrative intelligence around how various narratives are starting, growing, spreading, and affecting this war. Each brief is a quick study of the narrative dynamics on a certain topic over a time period.
Large corporations to small businesses need to stop and take note and observe how this information warfare is playing out. There are lessons here that any organization can apply in building their own narratives and/or countering others' narratives.