I wrote a while back about how much I love the Web site and company, a goodman.

A blogger named “gwennis48” has blogged at Luther I. Replogle Foundation about a presentation that Andy Goodman delivered sponsored by the Washington Grantmakers and Nonprofit Roundtable. The blog posting is a really nice little outline of Goodman’s key points. I thought I’d post and comment on several of them individually.

First up, Goodman talked about storytelling to form identity.

He suggested this exercise:
When you go home tonight, list the top 10 stories that you like to tell about yourself. What do they say about you? (Are they the right ones?)

The exercise is inspired by Robert B. Reich’s book Tales of a New America in which (quoting gwennis48 here):

Reich described the four stories (he calls them parables) that have formed American life for the past 400 years. Names change over time, but the stories remain the same.

Here are Reich’s four stories:

1. Mob At the Gate (guard against outsiders)
2. Triumphant Individual (Horatio Alger story/American Idol story; also all the redemption stories)
3. Benevolent Community (we will uplift the poor, heal the sick; witness the anger felt during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina)
4. Rot at the Top (guard against corporate and political corruption)